I unpacked my things in the rain, underslept and underprepared – thunder and lightning having woken me earlier from my fitful sleep. Crouched over my painting to protect it from the rain, I looked down towards the lake Åsemyre.
Later, after several hours sheltering under the tarp in a foul mood, I began to question the whole LAND project. I felt imprisoned by the rules and structure I had imposed on myself. By Lilleborg, an old castle ruin situated deep in the forest, I made a quick painting of the forest reflected in the moat, before the rain returned.
Later, in another short break from the rain, I made a few quick sketches of the damselflies skimming back and forth across the lake.
Eventually the rain passed, and with it my negativity. A bashful sun returned, and the forest felt renewed, the colours, sounds, and smells intensified.
I walked through the woods heading west, at one point exploring an overgrown but fascinating arboretum. Later, in an overgrown granite quarry, of which there are many in the area, a large stand of thistles was covered with bees, moths, hoverflies, beetles, and butterflies.
A little later still, close the edge of Grankule lake, I tried to paint the light in the trees again, this time a little more loosely.
From here I crossed the main road and headed once more into Bornholm’s fieldscape. The narrow road was unmetalled and snaked through pea fields, filled with wildflowers, and visited by bouncing charms of goldfinch. I joined a larger road and enjoyed, for the first time during the LAND project, a view west, over rolling fields all the way to the sea – my LAND home for the next many months.
I headed south for a while, and then back into the forest – on a bit of a mission to find ‘Bobbastenen’, a huge granite erratic boulder deep in the forest. It was not signposted, which made it all the more special when I finally found it, gargantuan and nestled between the boughs of the trees that had grown up around it.
From here I walked to the old quarry at Bjergebakke, one of my favourite places on Bornholm and the venue for many paintings and installations. All the more irritating then that my painting of the dynamited granite walls was so unsuccessful.
A short walk then took me to my final destination, the standing stones at Store Bjergbakkegård. I managed to make a quick sketch before the day was done – and so was I.
LAND 29
WEATHER REPORT – rain in the morning, then sunny periods. Temperature 14 – 19 degrees. Wind 1 – 6 m/s, from the W. Hours of precipitation: 3.5 hours. Hours of sunshine: 6 hours.
STOPS with the BIVVY – 1
KILOMETRES WALKED – 16.85 km
DAY LASTED – 16h and 31 m
PEOPLE TALKED TO – 1
BIRDS SEEN and HEARD – 41 species: 0 new = 123 species
LESSONS LEARNED – I learned how to make a fork out a twig (forgot my ‘spork’)
IN MY HEAD – My week teaching at the højskole filled my head. Also relationships – especially a long and wonderful one.
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