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At Rest - San Miguel Island © Marian Fortunati 8" x 10" Oil on RayMar canvas panel

Introduction
Initially, I was going to do a post for each day we attended the fabulous adventure on the Channel Islands with David Gallup and Stephen Mirich.  However, I decided to break it all up into small bits and include a painting in each post and a few photos, too.  I know the doing was something I can never duplicate but I hope you can get a taste for it and perhaps do a bit of adventuring of your own because of it...

A Story About Grabbing The Moment
This story came in today's email and although I've read it before, I thought it was just right to start out this adventure.   It's always a good reminder that all of us need to "run in the rain" just to celebrate being alive:

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in WalMart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. 

 It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout.. We all stood there, under the awning, just inside the door of the WalMart. 

We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. 

I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day. 

Her little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in, 'Mom let's run through the rain,' she said. 

'What?' Mom asked. 

'Let's run through the rain!' She repeated. 

'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied. 

This young child waited a minute and repeated: 'Mom, let's run through the rain..' 

'We'll get soaked if we do,' Mom said. 

'No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning,' the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm. 

'This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?' 

 'Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, ' If God can get us through this, He can get us through anything! ' ' 

The entire crowd stopped dead silent.. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain.. We all stood silently. No one left. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. 

Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith. 

'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just need washing,' Mom said. 

Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They got soaked. 

They were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.
 Take the time to live!!!

The Adventure Begins
Twenty four excited people began boarding the motor vessel, “Conception”.   We are all part of a great painting adventure led by David Gallup and his friend, Stephen Mirich. David has been painting the Channel Islands for the last several years and will soon have a show that will travel across the United States to museums and other venues that features the various climates, seasons, wildlife and plant life in and around the Islands which are one of America’s beautiful national parks.

David Gallup's lingcod painting

A few people painted the harbor lights under the almost full moon, but most were too busy finding a bunk and gathering their things together.

The boat left about four a.m. for the long trip to the most northern island, San Miguel. Although I went to bed rather late for me, I didn’t sleep well, and got up early to take a shower… (Initially quite cold… didn’t realize it would get warm until I was mostly finished.) Unfortunately at that point I began to get seasick in that closed-in shower stall.   I also got my pinkie toe caught in my pants and either broke it or badly bruised it.  I thought the entire day would be a disaster, but after I lost my breakfast and had been sick for a while, David found some Bonine for me which combined with a brief snooze in the sun, helped immensely!

David and about half of the group took kayaks and inflatables to the island. They walked around and painted there. Others went kayaking and some (like me) stayed on the boat and painted.   I did one 8 x 10 looking at the north point of the bay. In the background you can see the faint outline of the mainland 45 miles away. I was fairly satisfied with it and when lunch was served, I left my set-up outside. This was not a good move because during lunch the wind came up and almost blew my whole set up over the side of the ship! Luckily, all that happened was that the painting fell into my palette adding a row of the primary colors to the side of the painting.   I cleaned up everything and got it out of harm’s way.

David said that he has been coming to San Miguel Island off and on for the last five years and this was the first day that the seas and winds were calm and the weather was warm. We were so lucky!   It was just gorgeous!   In fact it even got almost too warm. We had a great lunch, and then I watched David paint a few fish that had been caught. One was a very large Ling Cod which had absolutely beautiful color son it and was almost prehistoric looking.   David uses really thick paint and loads colors over other colors. His finished pieces are very textural and so different than most.

I hope your days are filled with adventures...