Art with artists

It's strange living on the sea and not having a horizon. The Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Island where I am taking part in an art retreat has many fingers of land reaching out into the sea and Lochmara Lodge is deep inside and the bush covered hills give an enclosed feeling which doesn't sit well with me. It does give a better insight to the NZ character of introspection though. In saying that it is a beautiful place, the sun comes late preceded by a mist that hits the ridge opposite and seeps down through the trees and hangs above the mirror of water. Seals and dolphins visit, breaking the mirror for a while and the cruising gannets leave a shaft of white and boil of water in their headlong dive.
The artists are similar, coming out of their bush studios to feed a while and talk of stone fractures and am I really a sculptor and those wekas are such funny birds, stealing my biscuits and did you see Deborah in the bush wrapping an old tree stump as if a bandage is going to bring it back to life.
I feel at home with them. They have the same anxieties and insecurities but with faith that what they are doing can make a difference. I'm happy so far with what I have done (I would show you but the camera is buggered, I'll try and borrow one), still 5 days to go so should finish it in time.
It's dinner time and in the lounge musicians are playing guitar, violin and harmonica. Beautiful.A