Casa Calvet

Another building by Antoni Gaudi.  This one snuck up on me as we were walking. I was blown away by it, but  didn't realize it was his until later, when I was reading a book on him. I'm doing these watercolor and ink studies to map out how I'm going to do it as a lino print. This was complicated. It'll be a challenge for sure. 

And in black and white before I painted it

I'll make some adjustments before I start to carve it, but these really help me work out what's what. 

Park Guell

Guess who's been colouring again. These tiles were fun to paint. I'm working on the carved version of this right now, along with 'Floristeria'. Lots of detail in both.  I'm also doing the ink drawing for Casa Calvet, another Gaudi architectural masterpiece. 

I'm still loving life on the vineyard. There's a big lemon tree outside our door. No shortage of lemonade for us. Other than stopping for food and water breaks I haven't done anything but work on these pieces. The others are heading in to Barcelona tomorrow to hit the art supply store. I may tag along. Or I may sit all alone in the middle of the vineyard and wail on my guitar while no one can hear. 

First Blush of Spanish Colour

Time for some colour!  These were really fun to do. It's so conducive to getting work done here. My life for the past 2 days has been lived in a 20 foot radius. We've had the tunes cranked and were in the flow. I've got one other drawing ready for colour...

and four pieces transferred to lino ready for carving 

I guess you could say I'm on a roll. These are going to be com freakin' plex to carve. The next two I have planned are no simpler. Oh well, if it's not a challenge where's the fun!?

Más Els Igols and a Good Start

Well I've made it to my residency at Mas Els Egols. I'm sitting in a sun filled kitchen while one of my new roomies resurrects an old Bialetti coffee maker we found here. This region is beautiful, with little villages and endless vineyards and olive groves. I arrived Sunday and was swept up with our hosts to go to a pizza party on their friend's land up the road. What a great welcome. Their friends, a couple from San Francisco, bought a vineyard and are planting lavender fields as well. There's no house on the property (unless you count the adorable tree house all the kids were playing in) but they'd built a beautiful outdoor kitchen/eating area with a big bbq and a wood pizza oven. Those are some excellent priorities. When I arrived the kids were all rolling out pizza dough and building their masterpieces. There were 5 or 6 families from all over the place. The kids all spoke several languages and were jumping back and forth.  They speak more Catalan than Castillian Spanish here, which does not help our friend carol very much, but it's interesting. 

The residency house is great. We're nestled into a vineyard. There's a shared kitchen/eating area with four rooms leading off in different directions, each with its own bath. Two other artists have arrived now; Moises from the Dominican Republic and Candice from Boston. There's one more arriving in the next day or so. We have four big studio spaces to share with high ceilings and great natural light. We had a good communal dinner last night. I have a feeling we're in for a good month here together. 

Here's the view from the studio

and a couple of the pieces I'm working on ...

I realize I've posted nothing from Barcelona. I have a half written post that il resurrect to fill in the gap. It's not like nothing happened there. What an incredible city. 

Details to come. 

First Sketches, and a Canadian Camper in the Crystal Palace?!

Another great day of wandering yesterday. We shopped our way down Fuencarral from Gran Via, visited the museum of history, then cabbed our way east to explore Plaza Mayor, Mercado de San Miguel and the Palace 

True to my word in my last post, I finally hunkered down at a cafe table to sketch. We found a great little pub on Calle Mayor. Part way through this top drawing the proprietor came out to ask us to move. I tried to explain that that would change my perspective and so was not possible. He pointed out the policia who was about to write him a ticket for having his terace sprawl too far into the street.  Policía trumps perspective. We moved. 

Tomorrow we head to Barcelona. The only thing that was left undone on my must do list was visit Buen Retiro Park. Greg wasn't feeling great so I headed off on my own. I wanted to see the row boats on the lake and the crystal palace. They were goth amazing, but the big thrill was inside the crystal palace. Parked in the middle of this big open glass covered space was a circa 1960's Canadian travel trailer with BC plates! The windows were removed so we could peek inside.  It was filled with magical little mechanized puppets, both finished and under construction. One side of the camper was converted into a tiny puppet theatre, and the puppetress could be seen sleeping on the berth at the back of the trailer. She was made of wax, and was so real you could see the tiny spider veins on her legs poking out from under the sheet. There was a big odd antiquated speaker turning slowly on the top of the camper, broadcasting warmly carny music out into the glass shell.

Trippy. 

Big FCA News and 2 More Days in Madrid

I'm opening with my big news (since I know not everyone makes it to the end of my ramblings). We got back to our little pad late last night and I decided to check my voicemail for the first time. There was a message from the Federation of Canadian Artists; my piece 'Rooftops of Montmartre' won FIRST PLACE at their annual Landscape Show!  Yes I did just yell that. I'm feeling so honored and excited. 

What an amazing couple of days. We've hit the Museo del Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, and a pop up show at Cibeles spanning centuries of masters. The stand-outs for me?  All three had Van Goghs, always a fave, but the most surprising was Hieronymus Bosch. His 'Garden of Earthly Delights' (circa 1500) was for sure the inspiration for everything Dr Seuss ever drew.  It's a crazy and colour soaked depiction of heaven and hell. I wanted to buy a book with a picture of it, but  none of the reproductions came even close to capturing its magic. Pics on the internet don't do it either. You'll just have to go to the Prado to experience it.  Immediately. 

Last night we wandered up the street to Casa Patas Flamenco Show. It's like a wild passionate mix of tango and tap, opera and folk. We were wedged right up against the stage (perfect) as their feet drove into the raised wooden floor so fast and hard, the guitar player's fingers flying as three men dressed all in black sang their souls out into the darkened room. Mind blowing. 

Food continues to be amazing everywhere we go, and the architecture is spectacular. My husband continues to tolerate the endless hours in museums and is lugging around all the art books I keep buying. Full points.  We both keep marveling at how beautiful the people are here.  It's been too cold for sketching outside, but I might brave it today.  No other plans, except to enjoy the day. 

Spain Trip - Él Primer Día

It's 5 am and I'm nestled in my cozy loft bed on Calle Juanelo. We slept as we flew through the night, the world turning 9 hours ahead beneath us, and landed in Madrid at 7pm.  My bag caught a later flight, but we managed to round up, catch a cab and head into the heart of the city. Yes, we.  In an amazing last minute decision Greg arranged to come with me for the first week of my trip. We cruised through the city with our cabbie friend pointing out all the sites; Retiro Park, Reina Sophia, the Prado, it all looked beautiful lit up against the night sky. I love coming into a city that way. 

We met up with Emi, our airbnb host, and got settled into our little Madrileño nest. It's perfect, with brick and plaster walls, ancient wood beams in the ceiling and an adorable little terrace.  There's an ancient looking gate, heavily locked, right off our terrace which apparently leads to the massive network of underground passageways beneath the city.  These tunnels were used over the centuries as everything from wine cellars and storage to escape routes and prisons.  You won't find that in a Holiday Inn! 

We are right in the heart of things here.  Emi left us a great list of tapas bars near by, but we decided to just wander out into the night and let our Jedi knight skills find us the perfect spot. It worked. We ended up in this very cool place called China Mandarina, packed with locals, and we blindly took all of our waiter's suggestions.  It was amazing,but we both agreed that the croquettes will be on our short list of best things we've ever eaten in our lives.  

Now we're waiting for the sun to come up so we can head off, painting bag in hand, on our first day of adventure.