Vigo & Ourense.

Just went to visit whilst I had the opportunity. My intention was to walk north along the coast from Vigo. However, I got eaten alive by mosquito blanco - I seem to be a bit allergic to them. My body is covered with scars.

Vigo was OK. Expensive and overated. Had the feel of a very tired end of season tourist town. Loads of roadworks and building restoration going on, so perhaps I'll give it another chance another time. Can of lemon pop €1.80! Sketching paper (usually €1) €3. I left pretty quickly and took a random bus to Ourense.

Ourense has hot water mineral springs. Exactly what the doctor ordered. Beautiful city. There are so many in Spain. Ourense would make my top 10. If you ever visit be sure to cross the roman bridge and visit the part of town where all the real people live away from the tourists.

Back in Santiago. No sleep for Two days. Still very itchy and sore. Plan to sketch and sell here (police permitting) for the weekend and then head to the mountains to visit friends.

A call for pledges.

Anyone interested in getting the ball rolling financially on my next charity project can make a pledge here.

It is simply a pledge. As soon as an account has been set-up and new charity established (or, possibly an existing charity) you will be sent an email reminder to honour the pledge paying the charity directly.

Absolutely no idea how much I will raise myself from sales of paintings, but I'm hopeful for around €10K. A lot will depend on publicity - anyone reading who knows how to do that, please let me know.

An Intro to My Next Project.

Almost finished walking. A fabulous experience, but I'm looking forward to a more static life for a year at least.

I am going to rent a place on the North West coast of Spain and paint 5 seascapes a day. I will auction all paintings on the internet to raise more money for charity - hopefully a new charity that will offer camino experience to disadvantage people with a mentor. That is going to take a fair bit of organising. Until everything is established I'll try to raise funds to get the project started.

It's going to be a very wet seaside winter for me :) Don't care. I care more about having my own bed.

I have some work and exhibition commitments to fullfill next year, so will have to take a few short breaks from painting seascapes. Not entirely sure how this is going to work yet. It will happen mind, and I'll continue blogging here with pictures of each new painting. You will be able to see how my... erm... 'style' develops over the year.

For my own income I will be selling prints and sketches on the streets of Galician cities at weekends.

A loose plan at the moment. I'll post confirmed details here as soon as they are confirmed!

In praise of La Coruña bus station cafeteria.

Almost forgot this.

Burger with pork, bacon, egg, cheese and salad plus chips - €4.40. Take that Mr Kebap Pathetico man.

Tourist info incredibly helpful also.


I am getting ridiculous hassle from Policia local here in Santiago. Apparently it is illegal to sketch the cathedral. Blimey! I'm going to sketch a legendary LostPhotographer 360 degree panoramic umbrella this evening. Roll myself a big fat one and just sit in the middle of the plaza sketching and sketching and sketching. I can't see one single legitimate charge for sketching on an umbrella. I'll display a large 3 Meter x 1 Meter sketch also. Someone may ask me if it's for sale. Pathetic tossers. Arrest me if you so wish and I'll take every ounce of publicity from it. Arrested for sketching. Come on then.

Beautiful city. Love it here, but I actually got 2 police cars and and 4 police last night for having the audacity to sketch the cathedral without permission. I guess there's not a lot of real crime here to deal with.

Santiago de Compostela II

For all the walking I have (and have not) done this is only my second visit to Santiago. It's even more beautiful this time of year than it is at Christmas. The next couple of visits will happen far more quickly - just a case of filling in camino gaps rather than any more 1,200KM treks.

My excursion along the north east coast was fantastic. The most beautiful hiking I have yet to find in Spain. One stretch in particular was paradise. Lump in the throat natural beauty at every turn. Varied also. From boulders of granite to soft, pale dune beaches. A relatively easy 14KM hike along the coast from Laxe to Camelle following the obvious PR-G 114. Stunning!

Fish from the sea, fish from the rivers. Peaches, apricots, apples, pumpkin, sweetcorn, sweet juicy blackberries and much more all for free. I ran out of cash at Camelle after an almighty through the night fiesta and made way directly to Santiago, so I still haven't actually reached Finisterre. Maybe walk from here after all.

I have also met someone who has told me about an alternative 'pagan' route to Finisterre that follows megaliths and ancient monuments rather than Catholic churches and stuff. Interesting. I will investigate more.

My current plan is to rent a cottage on the coast in paradise for winter and spend a few months painting seascapes. Off season rentals are cheap and plentiful. I can make plenty of cash on the streets of Santiago de Compostela provided I get permission. I can't currently. Apparently all permissions are booked until November. I have one sketch half complete that I am determined to finish. There is absolutely no law in the world that can prevent me from sketching the cathedral surely?

Hopefully make a bit more money here before heading back to Oviedo to walk Camino Ingles. Rough plan. I am having to be very flexible.

My Holiday.

I'm walking from La Coruña to Fisterra. It's not a camino route. I'm walking with sod all cash. No map. No guide. My intention is to forget about money completeley for a week, or so and just fucking well enjoy the real spirit of camino (even though this isn't a proper camino de Santiago).

It's beautiful here. Stunningly beautiful. Atlantic coast surrounded by lushness. Tiny little fields and fertile flood plains around bays and estuaries. Dramatic, mellowdramatic and subtle all at the same time. I want to enjoy it whilst the summer lasts. I may not get another chance. For all I know I could get stuck back in the rat trap one day and regret not doing it now, so now I do it.

It's almost harvest time. There's plenty of free food growing everywhere. Mushrooms are already about (oh dear! :D) and I have a fishing rod. I will sleep wherever is dry.

Feel like I sort of lost my way a little on a money focus. Raising money for good causes mostly, but I'm getting grief for that and it's spoiling my own experience.

This is my holiday. No internet. No mobile. No cash. No nothing.

I will enjoy :)

Camino de LostPhotographer - the wobbly route to Santiago.

The Worst Kebab Shop in the World Ever...

... is in La Coruña. €5 for the most pathetic mouthful of meat, dribble of lettuce and white stuff. Not 100% sure, but there may have been a very small piece of onion in there also.

Just thought I would mention that.

Other than that, I like La Coruña. Money isn't good and it is expensive, but I like it. Not Spain's most beautiful city, but I like it. Fantastic swimming beaches.

Not sure what's going on on the sales front. Saturday and Sunday were business as usual. Yesterday was absolutely dire. Today has also been crap so far. Nothing has changed as far as I can tell. Just seems that everyone is in a dead grumpy mood and not interested in sketches at all. Rain is on it's way and I'm near skint. Expensive bed. Expensive meals.

Huge thank you for the tinned fish, bread and pears. You know you're in a good city when people go to that sort of trouble.


How did I get here? I cheated. Sort of. There were Three options from Oviedo. Three different routes and I wanted to explore all of them. I walked for about 60KM from Oviedo, then took the bus to La Coruña. From here I will walk to Finisterre before getting a bus back to Oviedo and walking a Third distance along the Second route.

It is just getting more and more beautiful. I'm almost speachless about the beauty of the countryside here. Tiny little fields cut out of forests and shrubs. Enchanting. Magical. If fairies exist they live here. I would like to live here also despite the rain.

Rain cometh. No money :(

Just another day.

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 :)

Rains lots here :(

Hardly surprising. The countryside is lush as it gets. Dramatic mountains giving way to dense eucalyptus forests. Beautiful little bays, estuaries and beaches. It's like living in a 17th Century romantic landscape painting.

But, it's crap for street artists desperately trying to make money. To be honest, all this rain along the coast has taken me a little by surprise. Expected some, but not this much.

I'm off to shelter in a bar and watch Villa get demolished at Anfield. Has been a shit day, might as well end on a bum note!

Oviedo.

I'm supposed to be in Barcelona. I'll be there Tuesday.

I'm glad I came to Oviedo instead. Picos de Europa, the Asturias generally and a very nice little city. I plan to live here. No need to say more really. Fun place. A little expensive, but worth it.

I backtracked to Santander to get a night bus to Barcelona. I don't like Barcelona, so when the ticket office man told me the buses were fully booked I was quite relieved. Decided to spend night in bus station. Got bored. Got first available bus out. Happened to stop in Oviedo and I liked the look of the place, so here I am. I may stay here forever one day.

Santillana del Mar.

If you ignore the hundreds of tourists snapping away on their Nokias, it's like walking back in time. A World Heritage site - a perfectly preserved/restored little medieval town with prehistoric cave paintings just a short walk away. All of history is here.

Thanks to a friend in Santander I already had contacts here. Good contacts. Contacts like; here's your bed, here's your food, here's your drink, here's my number for any help you may need - now get to work :) My sort of people. Staying for 2, or 3 days.

Interesting trip to get here via the Atlantic on a yacht! (Sort of).

It Rains Lots Here.

Lots.

It's a problem. This was supposed to be the easy route. Far from it. Whilst I've been stranded in Santander (still can't walk) I've picked up good work, met good people and received lots of help. But, outgoings have been high and it rains lots and lots.

I'm back to square One cash wise. It's raining and my boots leak. Foot is still painful. I'm not happy.

Think I will just start walking again on Tuesday regardless. A few strong painkillers. I'm beginning to wonder if my foot will ever get better. I think it might be fucked for good :( Can't hang around in Santander stagnating much longer. Something has to change.

A Manifestation of Sardines!

Never seen anything quite like what I watched this evening.

Sitting on the prom, finishing a portrait when about 10 trawlers moored up and started blowing their horns.

News quickly spread. Free sardines were up for grabs. Millions of them. No exageration. People teamed in with empty carrier bags and left with as much as they could carry. Why?

Initially, I thought it was some sort of annual fiesta thing. But, no - it's not normal - I was told. Apparently, they caught far more than they could sell. Some freak sardine university caught in the drag nets? Who knows.

A very strange thing to watch. Millions of free fish. Millons.


On a different note...

My own kitchen, my own shower, my own bed and my own bog. Want, want, want, want. Want now. Getting very tired of travellers life. Very tired.

Fisherman's Blues?

I wish I was a fisherman
tumblin' on the seas
far away from dry land
and it's bitter memories...

I Won't Stop Walking Until I Know Where I'm Going. Part 2

I've bought a diary. A diary for planning rather than recording. Work is getting busy.

I won't stop walking until I know where I'm going...

I was always going to Santiago de Compostela. This time I'm going to stay there. Or, at least sort a place to move all my crap out of storage and into a flat, or house, or summat.

Staying in Santander for a while longer. My foot still needs time. Then walking to Santiago from here. Organising an abode. Then back to Granada to repeat route 1. Then staying in Santiago for a year at least. Opportunity knocks. Somewhere in between I have to fit in trips to Barcelona, Berlin and London to arrange future projects.

Busy. Long days. With a diary. It has almost become a proper job.

Radio Radio!

Nobody told me it was going to be LIVE!!!

Panico! Spanish and confidence deserted me some what. Less said the better. Moving swiftly on...


Main fiesta week has arrived in Santander. The city is teaming already. I have a free fab studio plus a huge supply of free MDF. I'm firing out 30 minute small, psychedelic panoramics and selling at €30 a time. All other jobs currently on hold (I have some very interesting work lined up) whilst I concentrate on making some decent cash.

Why didn't anyone tell me it was going to be LIVE! Oh well, live and learn. Better prepared and (hopefully) better Spanish next time. Thanks for the opportunity anyway :)

Staying Put for a While.

Nice fresh sea breaze. Tourists. Studio space. I plan to stay for while and make the most of it. I need new boots and clothes. Hoping to save enough plus more to get me to my next destination.

This is almost like a real job. Work place, daily routine, regular clients.

I might be on the radio. We'll see how my Spanish goes!

How the F*** Did I Get Here?

10 years ago, almost to the day, I found myself on the rooftop garden of a penthouse appartment in downtown Manhattan. 3am, beautiful company, bottle of champagne, views up both sides of the Hudson and just the WTC towering above us. "How the fuck did I get here?" I wondered. "How the fuck did this happen to me?". It wasn't what my life was supposed to be. Just a couple of months earlier I was sleeping on sofas of friends and family in the Black Country. Nothing wrong with the Black Country, it's just that it's about as different as life can get to NY as far as city living goes.

And, today, I find myself working in a dream studio - a funky modernist building. A huge space losely reflecting the bridge of a ship with 280 degree windows centered on a NE aspect. Views across the bay of Santander. A 7 Meter x 3 Meter canvass streched out before me. Quality free meals (fresh off the boat haddock in a rich cream sauce with peas - food doesn't get any more perfect in my book). Free drinks. Materials and paints all supplied. A dream job in a dream studio. I suspect this is actually as good as an artist's life can get. "How the fuck did I get here?". It's not what my life was supposed to be!

It's fucking good mind, and you won't catch me complaining. Hoping I can make it last through the summer. It won't last forever. I know that. Make hay whilst the sun shines. My life is lacking very little at the moment, but sometimes the little things are the biggest and most important. Not that I'm complaining. Yet.

How Quickly Things Change!

You have to remember this. Everything can change without notice in a moment. From good to bad, or from bad to good.

I can't really say that Santander has been particularly bad. It is very good in many ways ;)

And, it just got really good. My BIGGEST commission to date. 7 Meter x 3 Meter paintings to adorne the ferry terminal. Very nice work.

They could get me hooked on €30/day doing this - it's all I need. But, I'm hungry for more, so the business head in me is saying 3 days and get the fuck out unless they're happy to pay for another 3 days at the rate I'm getting used to.

My client list is beginning to look very, very impressive already.

A HUGE 'thank you' to the guys and girls at the Brittany Ferries terminal. Far from a finished job, but hope you like it when it is finished. Support is greatly valued. Good bunch of folk. My next visit to the UK will avoid the airports for sure.

Vagabonds, Vagrants & Immigrants.

Possibly, no - undoubtedly a bit of all Three in me.

I wasn't born in Spain - I migrated.

Vagrant, to a certain extent. I have an official address and all that, but I haven't actually slept there for a long time.

Vagabond? Not to sure what a vagabond is!


When people percieve you as being poor you see the World in a completely different way. You see the worst and best of people. Experience higher highs and lower lows. Above all, you feel suspicious. You are the guy the supermarket security watches. You are the man on the street that is obviously a thief. Truth is, that as a poor person you are actually the most vulnerable to theft, manipulation, crap and other stuff. A soft target to all those that most perceive as being rich, trustworthy and acceptable.

The camino, as far as I can tell, existed originally to enable itinerants to travel cheaply. To allow people to move and follow work. A migration route for those with little money. See, this is what really fucks me off today - credit card toting 'pilgrims' who moan about poor people abusing their network of cosy, safe cheap hostals for the middle classes. Bigoted fuckwits who think anyone with an Eastern European accent is obviously a thief, or a beggar. I could rant forever here. It is the reason I'm giving up on chosen routes. I'll be spitting at people if I hear much more of it.

One exception; I will repeat my original route (Mozarabe/Via de la Plata) on September 22nd, but with new knowledge, a new image and photographing what I actually want to photograph for my own pleasure. Money won't be an issue this time around.

In the meantime, I'm going to meander my own gentle route along the coast for Summer.

Foot is still borked. I've well and truly fucked it. But, I'll manage and enjoy with the aid of pain killers and stuff.

I have a nice commission to complete tomorrow. Looks like I'll be leaving Santander unpaid for a couple of jobs - fuckwits. That could have been a few hundred Euros to charity. Instead some supposedly rich, respectable type is pissing it away and snorting it up his nose. Cunt, quite frankly.

May stay for the weekend. Someone very lovely here who I would like to spend more time with. Tell me more about Marine Biology