Less than a year ago I would have been writing about the way the crazy people here drink their cider. Now it just seems like yet another local custom. I'm sure the locals take it very seriously mind.
Think this blog is getting a bit boring. I'm getting a bit bored. A brief explanation of my day will probably best explain where I'm at. I have had to save a bit of cash for an excursion, so I've been putting in the hours even if I haven't been hard selling. I've been in Oviedo for Four days now. I have a pitch that is far from good, but police leave me alone. People now know where to find me.
9AM - 11AM complete a few A4 sketches of scenes around town. I'm now carrying a folder with a stock of sketches from various places I've visited.
11AM. Put big sketches on display with smaller sketches (and today another 360 degree umbrella panoramic). Usually, I would sketch another 3 Meter x 1 Meter to gain attention. Today, I had more than enough commissions to keep me busy.
And, there you stay all day until 8PM. Hassle to pack-up and come back, and you never know if you might miss someone looking for you.
With angle grinders from pavement slab cutters going in the left ear, pneumatic drills from a building site in the right ear, and lump hammers through the spine and into the center of your brain all day long you sketch, and sell, and try to communicate with people in Spanish and deal with the wind that blows sketches around whilst irritating everyone. A very long day.
Sold umbrella sketch plus one more ordered. €70
One small commissioned sketch of a chapel. €20
Set of 4 small sketches from photographs. €60
Two sketches sold from stock. €30
Total €180
Outgoings (materials, umbrellas, bed and meal) €46
Saved from the day €136
(Plus a generous donation of €5 and about €6 in dropped coins).
That represents an average day if you know what you're doing and put in some hours. It's work. It's not particularly nice work. The pay is OK.
A better pitch, another day, a bit of selling without the noise and the wind, takings might double. On the other hand, it may bloody well rain. Three wet days in a row will see €136 disappear very easily.
It's all work and no play at the moment. I'm not enjoying it. Could be worse I know, but it should be much better. I was having far more fun and a far better adventure when I was surviving on virtually nothing. Those days of pilgrimage are going to be far more memorable and a great deal more valuable.
Not sure where I go from here other than towards Santiago again. It will no doubt change completely once more again very soon and I'll have something new to moan about :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
How about a walk into Portugal and down through the countryside there?
or down through estremadura?
the blog isnt boring (just a little bit slow with the next instalment sometimes).
keep up the good work, you are living my dream to travel on foot through spain.
Hi,
I've decided to simply walk on to Santiago and finish this route. Just been feeling like I have been stagnating a little recently. Two months in Santander recovering from injury. Two weeks in the very small Santillana del Mar restoring funds. To easy to focus on cash making in every city/town of reasonable size. That really isn't what I wanted this experience to be about.
So, onwards I walk towards La Coruña.
I have to go to Barcelona at some point. I want to visit good friends there, but I have to make the most of a work/fund raising opportunity. I hate Barcelona.
Onwards and upwards. I have nothing to moan about really.
I haven't been to Barcelona for many years(before the olympics there)I liked it then but I guess it may have changed. love Valencia which I've visited a few times but prefer the little villages in Andalus these days. I lived in Torrox for 2 years and miss it's backward charms, cheep bars and rush hour of two donkeys and six school kids that would stroll passed my door each day.
maybe some day soon I will embark on a trip across spain either walking or cycling, my only problem being my lack of artistic talent for making cash along the way. well keep up the journey and blog. I have been following since you began it.
Post a Comment