MARBELLA FOR GABRIELA, watercolors on black canvas

MARBELLA FOR GABRIELA, watercolors on black canvas, 16x20 in.

As I said in my previous post: "Sevilla for Gabriela", I prepared these two compositions of small watercolors as a special present for my daughter Gabriela, who lives in Sevilla and vacations in Marbella, Spain. These are watercolors done over several years, on my visits there. The last two, at the bottom of this collection, were done in the airplane one very early morning, leaving to Paris. I had both views, AT THE SAME TIME! to my left: the sky with the moon and an engine, to my right, the sun coming up on the horizon. It was incredible!!! I had to paint it!!!

SEVILLA FOR GABRIELA, watercolors on black canvas

SEVILLA FOR GABRIELA, watercolors on black canvas, 16x20 in. canvas.

I have been visiting my daughter Gabriela in Sevilla, Spain, for over 15-18 years. I sketch and paint small watercolors and "carnet de voyages" wherever I go. A couple of months ago, revisiting my travel sketchbooks I realized I had a good collection of small watercolors done in Sevilla over the years, and decided to put them together in some way. I selected a few, tried different ways, finally deciding on a black canvas background. I glued "photo corners" on the canvas, so each watercolor could be viewed like this, all of them together, but also you could take one out and see the reverse, where typically I write the title and/or date of the painting. I made this one with all paintings done in Sevilla, some inside my grand-daughter's bedroom, and the other canvas are watercolors in Marbella.

CATEDRAL, SEVILLA, watercolor sketch

CATEDRAL, SEVILLA, watercolor sketch, painted on location - plein air- while visiting my daughter Gabriela in Sevilla, a few years ago. It is a very small watercolor sketch, probably 4 or 5 inches long, and 2 inches wide. The view is from an archway nearby, I think it was from El Patio de los Naranjos,  I am not sure. Sevilla, Spain, beautiful city. The Cathedral is gorgeous inside and out. Go visit!

SEVILLA, OLD AND NEW, watercolor sketch

SEVILLA, OLD AND NEW, 4x6 in. watercolor sketch, painted on location six or seven years ago. Each time I visit Sevilla, Spain, I walk around town marveling at the beauty of these old buildings. They have the system of public bicycles, many stations around town where you can rent a bike for an hour or more, and return it in a different location. It is a great system, and very convenient for a city relatively flat,  and so beautiful! Behind the guy is one of the typical old walls, I think it was the wall to the Jardines de Murillo.

EL ALJIBE, MUSEO DE BELLAS ARTES DE SEVILLA, watercolor

EL ALJIBE, MUSEO DE BELLAS ARTES DE SEVILLA, watercolor in my sketchbook.

It is such a pleasure to visit this art museum, every time I'm in Sevilla, Spain. In my experience, it is always open, free, and with patios to rest between visiting galleries of paintings and standing on your feet for a long period. Then a patio with plants, a water fountain, or an "aljibe"= water well, appears for your rest and comfort. It is walking distance from downtown's El Corte Ingles, from the famous bar "La Campana", and the elegant shopping Calle Sierpes.  When I rest for a few minutes, I do a little sketch or watercolor, like this one painted a few years ago.

SEVILLA, FUENTE AVE. DE LA BORBOLLA, watercolor

SEVILLA, FUENTE AVE. DE LA BORBOLLA, watercolor, 4x6 in. painted in 2012, during a trip to Sevilla, Spain. I love to do small watercolors when traveling. Sometimes I do the drawing with a black ink pen, then watercolor, sometimes I do a quick sketch with a pencil.  It seems that this one didn't have a pen drawing.

TERRAZAS DE MARBELLA I, watercolor sketch

TERRAZAS DE MARBELLA I, watercolor sketch, 4x4

Marbella is a beautiful and elegant town on the South of Spain, where Dali sculptures grace the downtown plaza leading from the gorgeous beach to the lovely Old Town shops, bars and restaurants area. This is a sketch of a quite villa of condominiums nearby.

To get to Marbella, you can fly into Malaga, and visit the several Picasso museums in Malaga, since he was born there.  His native house in front of the plaza is one of the museums.

SEVILLA, Rio Guadalquivir, watercolor sketch in art notebook

SEVILLA, RIO GUADALQUIVIR, watercolor sketch in art-notebook.
Beautiful river in Sevilla, Spain, where two clubs on the river allow people to do canoeing, kayaking, and other water sports. La Torre del Oro, where once the Spanish conquerors deposited the gold they brought from the Americas, stands still, watching time go by...
I painted this sketch while navigating in a turist cruise along the river at sunset.

Antiquarium Museum, Sevilla, watercolor and ink

Antiquarium Museum, Sevilla, Spain, watercolor of ancient tiles in my art-notebook.

A few years ago, they started excavating in downtown Sevilla to build a much needed underground parking, and found: treasure!!! Ancient ruins from the Phoenicians and Romans dating back more than 2000 years! Among them, beautiful tile floors of ancient homes, workshops, etc. They built a very modern, interactive museum with their findings instead of the proposed parking space.

This is the most comprehensive collection of archaeological treasures from this city. I strongly recommend visiting it. It is underneath "Las Setas", a modern structure in the shape of mushrooms, in front of Plaza de la Encarnacion, downtown Sevilla.

Picasso's Birthplace, Malaga, Spain, watercolor and ink

 Picasso's birthplace, in front of Plaza de la Merced, in Malaga. I happened to visit it last Sunday, October 25th, exactly on his birthday!!!
I painted this quick sketch viewed from the corner across.

He would have been 133 years old.
To celebrate his birthday, they had prepared thousands of birds "palomas", his favorite bird, and hang them from the entrance door, plus all over the square, and different balconies around the square.
Here is the picture of the same corner, with the colorful paper "palomas":

after Picasso: ACROBATA, watercolor

after Picasso: ACROBATA, watercolor in my art-notebook.
Visiting the Picasso Museum in Malaga, Spain, I discovered this "Acróbata", painted in Paris in 1930.  The capricious disposition presents the figure in a rotation movement without end. The original painting is square, which may suggest you can hang it from any angle. We could actually rotate it, and the figure almost seems to move around, reminiscent of a circus, or even the Cirque du Soleil.
Impressive!!! He did this in 1930!!!

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.

SAN SEBASTIAN, INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, ink and watercolor wash

SAN SEBASTIAN, INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, ink and watercolor on my art-notebook. Last weekend, Lisa Marie Evans, filmmaker, multi-media artist and superstar, and I drove from the Pyrénées in France, to San Sebastián, in Spain.

We happened to arrive the first day of the San Sebastian International Film Festival. It was very interesting and fun. We saw some stars walking down the red carpet, tons of people everywhere, and one movie that day: HAPPY TO BE DIFFERENT, an Italian movie-documentary about older gay people who suffered discrimination from society, and even their own families, when they were younger,  in the 50s,  60s and 70s.  It was beautifully done, a wonderful movie.

EUGÉNIE DE MONTIJO, pencil sketch

Eugénie de Montijo, l'impératrice solitaire, pencil sketch in my art notebook.

I was reading the lives of famous French women, who have done something special to be remembered. Eugenia was born in Spain, in 1826, to well educated parents, the Counts of Teba. Her mother was a modern aristocrat, travelling all over Europe with her daughter since she was very young. This is almost 200 years ago!

Eugenia and Luis Napoleón fell in love when she was 23, on a visit in France. They got married a year later. She was intelligent and contributed to make the Suez Canal a reality, which she inaugurated in 1869. She worked hard in the social sphere, among other things: improve the condition of women, at work and more schooling for young women. She supported George Sand when they wanted to suspend her publications. She visited victims of cholera in 1865 and 66. During WWI, she offered her hatch to organize an ambulance for the sick, etc. She died in 1920, at 94 years of age. She's my heroine!!!

COLLIOURE II, FRANCE, watercolor on Arches

COLLIOURE II, FRANCE, watercolor on Arches paper, 7x5 in.
Collioure is the extreme South of France, next to the border with Spain. Actually, it is the very last town in France where the train goes. Matisse took the train to the very last station in France, and started painting there. Later his friend Derain came over, too, they started painting the beach red, and using strong colors, plus black lines, and....voilá! Fauvism was created!

Anyway, here I was in Collioure, enjoying the beautiful light, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, the boats, the lighthouse, and the beautiful and colorful town.

DEJA VUE, acrylic

Déjà Vue, acrylic, 16x12 in, at Art Cuestion, Spain
At this moment, you can see several of my paintings with Art Cuestion in Ourense, Spain,  at Arte Studio Ginestrelle in Assisi,  Italy, at Ricklundgården Museum in Saxnãs, Sweden, and in two places in Cauterets, France: la Mairie de Cauterets (City Hall), and Agence Immobiliere Bordenave. At this moment, you can also see my work in San Diego, California, at the following places: La Jolla Art Gallery, in La Jolla, California, Petrini's Restaurant in San Diego, California, Women's Museum in Liberty Station, San Diego, California, and  San Diego Art Institute, Museum of the Living Artist,  in Balboa Park, San Diego, California.
You are invited to the upcoming reception at La Jolla Art Gallery on Saturday, November 16, 5:00-7:00 pm. Come on over! It's a beautiful little gallery!

AFTER THE RAIN, watercolor

AFTER THE RAIN, watercolor, 16x10, at Art Cuestion Artists Agency, Ourense, Spain.

I recently finished reading Marian Keyes' The Mystery of Mercy Close. Helen Walsh doesn't believe in love, fear, depression or hot drinks...she's a Private Investigator, and by the end of the book, she's been scared, fallen in love, checked herself in a psychiatric hospital due to depression and suicidal tendencies, and even served hot drinks to guests at home. Fun, witty, interesting, but too stretched out and repetitive in my opinion. It could have been the same story, and better, if shorter.

Camino de Santiago II, watercolor

Camino de Santiago II, watercolor, 7x10 in.
Santiago de Compostela, in the NorthWest corner of Spain is a very popular town among religious and non-religious people. The walks through Europe, from Germany, from Italy, from France, from Portugal and from all corners of Spain, toward this remote corner of Spain,  in the region of Galicia, started in the Middle Ages, when some human bones were discovered in the town, and believed to be the bones of this priest/saint. So the walks to Santiago started as religious, and now people from all over the world do a few miles/kilometers or hundreds of them, according to their faith, their desire to do the walk, their stamina and previous preparation, and the time they have allowed to do "the walk to Santiago".  Along the different walks, as they converge in the town from the East and the South, you find refuges, and special bed and breakfast places, from simple to more elaborate and comfortable, for the different economic level of the walkers. They all share a very friendly attitude, a kind and generous mind. A shell ("concha " in Spanish) is the symbol, which you see painted, or engraved, on walls, sidewalks, posts, or gardens and pathways along the route. Rest stops help the wayfarers regain their strength. Most of the road is beautiful!

Paseo por Sevilla, Spain, watercolor

Paseo por Sevilla, Spain, watercolor, 6x12 cm (2x5 in)
Typical stroll in downtown Sevilla's "Barrio Santa Cruz", very romantic. Sevilla is a wonderful city to visit any time of the year, but in the Spring, it is especially attractive, when all the orange trees in the city are in bloom. The perfume of the orange blossoms goes to your head and makes you dizzy with pleasure and delight. Sometimes, you can even smell it as far as the airport, as soon as you get off your plane. In the past two years, downtown Sevilla is particularly attractive, since you can ride a very modern and silent tramway, which slithers through the ancient buildings. This sleek  tramway has very wide and high glass sides, which allows for a perfect view of the buildings, parks, cyclists, horse-drawn carriages, etc. Enjoy!