SEVILLA, VISTA DESDE LA CAMPANA, watercolor and ink

SEVILLA, VISTA DESDE LA CAMPANA, watercolor and ink, 6x9 in.
La Campana is a wonderful bar with outdoor tables, in the heart of Sevilla. This is where the classy calle Sierpes ends, and a few steps from this corner you can visit the 5 story high El Corte Inglés, and have a glass of Cava (champagne) in the terrazza, overlooking the city.

Or, from this same corner, you can walk a few steps in the opposite direction, and visit "Las Setas", and its incredible museum: Antiquarium de Sevilla. Either way, Sevilla has it all, ancient, ultramodern, and you hear English, French, and a few other languages as often as Spanish!

PARTHENON DE LIBROS, watercolor and ink

PARTHENON DE LIBROS, watercolor and ink in my art-notebook.
Visiting the MACBA, Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona, I saw the temporary exhibit: Art and Language. The one which impressed me the most was the collection about Martha Minujin's PARTHENON DE LIBROS, which she presented in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1983. She actually had a building similar to the Parthenon, built with metal tubes, from which they hung thousands of books wrapped in plastic for protection. Thousands of books. A Parthenon of books. Impressive and beautiful!

PLAZA DE CATALUÑA II, BARCELONA, watercolor

PLAZA DE CATALUÑA II, BARCELONA, 6x9 watercolor.
Las Ramblas, that wonderful avenue full of people, flowers, outside bars, tree-covered souvenir shops, tourists, well-dressed people, poorly-dressed people, people of all colors, shapes, shades, religions, intentions, desires and dreams, this avenue starts in Plaza de Cataluña. I tried several times to walk it to the end, on the Mediterranean sea, but couldn't, not because it is too long, but because it is too interesting! So many places stopped me and engaged me!

Including, of course, stopping to paint. Voila! Enjoy!

LAS RAMBLAS, BARCELONA, watercolor

LAS RAMBLAS, BARCELONA, watercolor, 6x9.
Walking along Las Ramblas in Barcelona is one of the pleasures of this city, particularly when the weather is so warm and lovely as we have had these past few days.

One evening we found "El Museo del Jamon", amazing!! Beautifully set up, you can learn the history and different ways of feeding the pigs to produce the best hams ever! You can not only see but also taste the differences in their fabulous tasting rooms, or have a wonderful dinner of cheeses, hams, salads, delicious breads, good wine....is your mouth watering already?

PLAZA DE CATALUÑA, BARCELONA, SPAIN, watercolor

PLAZA DE CATALUÑA, BARCELONA,  6x9 watercolor on paper, painted plain-air on location, yesterday morning. We are having beautiful weather in Barcelona, and this central square is home to hundreds of birds flying in and out, keeping the people happy and entertained.

Barcelona is a very international city, I hear French, English, Spanish, Catalan, and a few other languages, some I cannot identify. Dress code is also international, free and creative, like its incredible buildings. I visited MACBA, the Contemporary Art Museum, and loved the building more than the art inside, just like the Guggenheim in Bilbao. The MACBA building, all white and glass, without barriers, is the brain child of Richard Meier.

TERRASSON, FRANCE, watercolor on paper

TERRASSON, FRANCE, watercolor on my art notebook.
Beautiful citadel, high up on a hill, buildings in stone, and classic gardens overlooking the river. There is an old bridge nearby, from the XII C. , where the open air market takes place every Saturday morning. That's right, on the walking bridge. Beautiful town, Terrasson, about an hour from Brive la Gaillard in France.

AFTER MAX RAEDECKER's gouache, watercolor on paper

AFTER MAX RAEDECKER'S gouache. I visited Max Raedecker's exhibition at the Musée Labenche, in Brive la Gaillard, France, last week. He was born in Amsterdam, and died in Corrèze, 1914-1987. He worked with white wax and gouache on paper.  I painted this with white wax and watercolor on paper. Some of his works are more traditional, landscapes, portraits,  his abstracts are very interesting.

ALFONS MUCHA, watercolor and ink on travel note-book

ALFONS MUCHA, watercolor and ink in travel note-book, after Alfons Mucha's poster.
Mucha was from Prague, the Check Republic, and became famous in Paris, almost overnight. He designed one poster for Sarah Bernhardt, and she loved it so much, she immediately offered him a 5 year contract. His posters were a fantastic success, contributing to the birth of Art Nouveau.

His best works show figures with a longing look, almost in a hipnotical state. His own immersion in art was often in a state of trance. His drawings and pastels show he never stopped drawing.
We should learn from him. Never stop, keep drawing, practice, practice!

FAREWELL TO CAUTERETS, watercolor in my carnet de voyage

FAREWELL TO CAUTERETS, (France); watercolor in my carnet de voyage. Last view from the second story window of my apartment this year. The mountains around town are changing colors daily. I painted this a week ago, they must be more red today. The contrast with the rooftops, all made of grey/black slate, is always beautiful, more so in the Fall. Enjoy!

C'EST QUOI LE RAPPORT? watercolor - carnet de voyages

C'EST QUOI LE RAPPORT? watercolor in my carnet de voyages. I just read this book, very cute, by Jake Oliver, asking about different things which apparently may not have anything in common, but they do. You are supposed to guess WHAT is it that they have in common. For example: what do the "coquille St. Jacques", the "limace" and the "Poisson-clown" have in common?
They are all  Hermaphrodites. Some are simultaneous hermaphrodites, while others are sequentials. The simultaneous have both sexes all their lives and use them according to who's their partner. The sequential hermaphrodites, like the "poisson-clown", are born with one sex that can change according to the needs of the group.
It is nature. It is their nature.

LISA EN LAC DE GAUBE - watercolor in sketchbok

LISA EN LAC DE GAUBE , watercolor in my travel sketchbook - carnet de voyages.
This lake "lac de Gaube" is after the famous waterfalls "Pont d'Espagne", near Cauterets, France. Lisa   Marie Evans is a video artist who did a creative residency with me. At the end of her residency, offered a film in creative animation, presented at  the Bibliotheque de Cauterets. It was very well received.

LE CLOT, HAUTE PYRENEES, France, watercolor

Le Clot, Haute Pyrénées, France, watercolor, 9x12 in.

While resident artist in Cauterets, France, I was invited to paint plein-air in this beautiful place, with a group of beginner artists, including Theo, a 12 year old artist from the region. It is very interesting the way the French refer to a "beginner" artist, they are called: "artist en herbe" = "artist who has started to grow like grass" (at the ground level, I guess it means). Idiomatic expressions are always funny when translated from or to another language.

Le Clot is behind Le Pont d'Espagne, a beautiful waterfall in this region, up high in the Pyrénées.