Today was lovely, with ample opportunity to paint both on land on board. A highlight was visiting the historical British base, Port Lockroy, which was renovated in 1996 to operate as a ‘living museum.’ At Port Lockroy, I met one lovely Rachel Hazell, who has been living on the small island with two other folks, hosting a small gift shop and operating a post office for the Government of the British Antarctic Territory. Each season, more than 70,000 cards are posted around the world by cruise and expedition ships! The cards are stamped at Port Lockroy, shipped to the Falkland Islands, and flown to Britain where they are then finally sent off to their final destination. The process can take 2 – 6 weeks to arrive.

Rachel and the other Port Lockroy hosts visited our ship to shower and have supper, and I discovered that in addition to being a post-mistress, Rachel is an artist and has participated with Quark Expedition’s artist-in-residency program. Since her first voyage to Antarctica, Rachel has been sculpting icebergs, exploring their forms. She also designs books and has a beautiful website. It was great fun to meet her.

Painting on land and on deck, I noted the colors and light diffuse through the clouds. The blue sky was a gradient of ultramarine, cobalt, and cerulean blue. Shadows on the snow and ice held tones of ultramarine blue and carbazole violet shadows and the light was blushed with rose madder.