The sun doesn’t always shine, even in sunny Spain, and contrary to the saying, the rain in Spain may fall in the mountains as well as on the plains.

We were scheduled to have a day trip to the nearby village of Alpandeire, but the clouds loomed and the forecast was not encouraging. Knowing we’d have no shelter there in an open plaza, our group of 15 artists and companions elected to stay indoors here at the hotel. While the non-painters enjoyed the library and video collections, the painters scattered upstairs and downstairs and throughout the halls.

Painting from life is good indoors as well as out, and there were so many subjects here in the hotel and just outside the windows that none of us lacked for inspiration. Our group painted stairways, still life compositions of dried flowers in vases, chestnuts from the trees in the valley, and views of the buildings and streets from windows and terraces.

We had a lovely lunch served in the hotel, and at the end of the day as we watched the rain come down, none of us felt we’d missed a thing.

Tomorrow the sun’s supposed to shine and we’re going to Zahara in Cadiz Province. It should be another wonderful day.

(Photos of paintings:  Copper Bowl, by Janette Dickerson; Looking Up, by Len Slesick; Reflections, by LaDonna Escamilla. Photo of painter: Len Slesick working on one of his hanging plant studies.)