tuesday, march 7th...the dawn brings a mixture of tragedy and beauty. there has been a fox massacring the chickens and geese in the hen house the last few nights and last night it killed one of our ducks which was in the process of hatching her eggs. during the night i heard her scream and got up and quickly ran out to try and chase the fox away, in the process locking myself out of the house. great; 4 am and everyone is asleep - will i have to sleep outside with the dogs now? fortunately, gill had not locked the door to the residents' house and i was able to go in and sleep on one of the beds. then around 6:30 or so, the sun began to come up and a beautiful rainbow formed over the valley...that's life i guess. in the afternoon, carlos lerias and his friend pedro com by to help me tear down a wall in another space which will be used to house more residents in the future. thanks to them; they are super generous...later in the evening. luis and fatima and fatima's sister bela drive us back to lisbon with all the luggage and equipment and we drop one of the pieces at braco de prata...then dinner and early night as i am completely exhausted form the early morning adventure. at least spring is here:)

monday, march 6th...we begin the countdown to the show. gill puts some finishing touches on his piece and cleans up his studio.

sunday, april 5th...this morning i help luis plant some peppers. for lunch we have grilled sardines - the first of the season i think. this afternoon i update the blog. gill is hard at work. in the evening he goes out for a walk...these are some photos he took while out walking...

saturday, april 4th...countdown to the show begins...new things of beauty are emerging from old things of beauty.

friday, april 3rd...yes, things are looking good. gill cooks an amazing pasta and after dinner, fatima and i go over to gill's studio and help him a bit while he prepares the board for one of his installations.

thursday, april 2nd...while gill is working away in his studios, i take carlos and pedro to see an old house i would like to renovate for housing future artists. first thing to do is tear down a wall in order to create a large common kitchen. the farm is beginning to feel a lot like a place where art and community are happening. in a couple of days they will come back to help tear down the wall and we will shoot some footage of the process.

wednesday, april 1st...financial fool's day at the G20 summit in London - ok, that's a sidetrack; nothing to do with the residency per se...today we came back to the farm and now begins the work of the beginning of building the installations...