We spent the first couple of days in the Arctic at the lodge meeting each other, getting last minute supplies rand touring the town.
Longyearbyen is a Norwegian mining town and is the northernmost town with more than 1000 people.
There are surrounding towns but they mostly cannot be accessed by road and getting there requires snowmobiles, dogsleds or boats.
Even walking a few minutes outside of town is not recommended due to potential encounters with polar bears.
So far the weather has been grey and drizzly so it there haven't been good opportunities to paint yet. But there have been good opportunities to test out my cold weather gear on hikes around town. My boots are super warm and comfortable.
There are about 20 artists on the expedition, many photographers, video artists or conceptual artists. There are also a couple of other painters. Tomorrow we will be boarding the boat and adjusting to our new home, then by the next day, we can begin our projects! I'll be sending another update in a couple of weeks when we return to Longyearbyen...
