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.

THE MASTER AT WORK, pastel

The Master at Work, pastel, 12x9 in.
This is a pastel painting of internationally known DJ Dan DeLeon, who can often be seen playing at the best night clubs in San Diego, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, in California, or in Shanghai, Singapore, Brazilia, or Barcelona, as his music takes him.

It was not love that Paul Gauguin searched in Tahiti, but paradise. He found in such luxurious vegetation, an explosion of colors...and the absence of temptation.
---It is a land, --he assured his friends-- where there are no snakes and no apples. For that reason, the women there are not dangerous. 

from Les Mots les Plus Drôles de L'Histoire, by Bernadette de Castelbajac.