I made this study of the man reading today that I previously made an ink drawing of shared on this blog. I’ve been thinking that this may become a painting so decided to play with a bit of colour and then draw in pencil on top.  The image of the man and the way he was so totally absorbed in his reading has stayed with me way beyond the holiday. I feel this is an image of solitude when you are totally at peace and happy in your own company. The context of Bruges marries perfectly with this sensibility. I feel the man had very deliberately chosen the bench, and it has a certain ‘Genuis locii’ as one of my twitter followers Lydia Stuasberg observed.