SKETCHES FROM SPAIN PHOTOS

The SF Bay area is very spread out and the last few days found me driving all over the place. Today I sat again at the Gallery Concord. That is a 100 mile round trip drive for me. I really don't mind the distance as I listen to books on tape while I drive. Sitting for 5 hours at the Gallery can get pretty boring unless I take some work with me. It is a wonderful space and a terrific old building. Unfortunately, there is no incidental foot traffic in this neighborhood, so we don't get a lot of visitors.

Today I decided to take my computer and draw from the 1500 photos I took in Spain. I started a new sketchbook and I am going to devote the entire book to images from Spain. I don't know why I didn't think of this idea before. Most of the photos never get used. This is a way to get lots of drawing mileage and see which images can work their way into a painting or two. Here is today's efforts. They were all done with a mechanical pencil, probably 2B lead on white paper. I have no idea where the colors are coming from in the photos.

PALAU DE LA MUSICA CATALANA IN BARCELONA

The hot weather in the Bay Area has turned me into a slug, so I thought I would go back to some of my Spain drawings and photos to share with you. Hopefully the cooler weather they are predicting for tomorrow will inspire me to get back to my paint brushes.

Probably our favorite place in Barcelona was not at Gaudi building but this amazing "Modernista" (Art Deco) building which is a music hall. The photos are of part of the outside of the building shooting up. The streets are narrow and it is impossible to get back far enough to take a great shot of the building. The amount of detail and color is astounding. Really mind boggling. You are not allowed to photograph the interior so I purchased a book with all the beautiful details. This is an extremely popular tourist attraction so you have to book a tour in advance. You cannot just wander around inside and must have a guided tour. Ours started at 9 AM and when we went into the area with the stage, there were some people practicing for the evening performance. The sound was so magical I could have sat there all day listening. Naturally we had to move on after about 10 minutes. We decided to see if there were tickets available for the evening performance. We had wonderful seats and it was a huge bargain...only 10 Euros each for the tickets. It was a major piano competition with three different contestants playing that evening. I brought my sketchbook and was able to draw for about 20 minutes before the performance and during intermission. This is part of the ceiling. I hardly knew where to start there was so much detail in and on every inch of the interior of the hall. We loved the evening so much we thought we would see what else was available. The following night was a "Gospel" concert! Wow! Gospel will be mind bending in this place, so we bought tickets. Well, Gospel in Barcelona is not Gospel in the States. It was more Caribbean and African rhythms sung by all white people. They were enthusiastic and had excellent voices but there was not the authenticity we had hoped for. It made me realize how important authenticity is to any art form. When art comes from the soul, from one's personal experience, one's culture, it has a quality that can't be duplicated .

GAUDI'S ICONIC SAGRADA FAMILIA CATHEDRAL

One of the highlights of Barcelona is touring the amazing architectural wonders created by Antoni Gaudi. His incomplete masterpiece is the Cathedral Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family). I did this drawing on a second visit. We were taking a long walk to an historic hospital and I needed a rest, so I sat in the park across from the cathedral and drew for about an hour. You can see the park in the last photograph. It was taken from inside one of the towers. I normally avoid heights but couldn't resist taking the elevator inside the cathedral up into one of the towers and then walking down a very very very long spiral staircase. I have shared what the inside of the tower looks like, plus the top of the outside of two of the towers from close range. This is one of those places that you can't stop taking photos. The building is being completed with the funds collected by the tourists. There is scaffolding and workmen everywhere. Definitely job security on this project. The building has been in continuous construction since 1891!! If they complete it in my lifetime, I would love to go back.

I am excited to have the opportunity to teach in Ransom Canyon, Texas outside of Lubbock. August 24 through the 28th. They promise me air conditioning! I will add it to my website when my son gets a break from his college work. He is my webmaster. I don't have a clue how it functions. Fortunately, the blog is a template and you don't have to know computer programming to keep it going.

It's going to be a busy summer with 2 workshops in June in California. The Reseda Workshop is filled but there may be room in the Gualala one, if anyone is looking for a working vacation.

I get this little computer message every day from "The Universe"! I especially like the one from today. Hope you do, too.

"You get as many "do-overs" as you like. Of course, you never know you're living a "do-over" until it's over.

There are lots of reasons for wanting a "do-over." Most of all, people want another chance to do things they were afraid to do the first time, and to say things they were afraid to say. Oddly enough, it's not their mistakes they want to rework, but their "unused" minutes.

Yeah, pretty nifty, but you should know that it isn't any easier the next time, and because no two ever go exactly the same, the gifts, opportunities, and loves of one, never appear the same way again. Never.

So all in all, it's better to live as if there are no "do-overs," so that you won't need one. But I thought I'd share this with you anyway, to work in the bits about fear, mistakes, and how precious today's opportunities really and truly are."

STATUE OF CARLOS III, MADRID SPAIN

This is a sketch I did of the statue of King Carlos III on the palace grounds in Madrid. While in the Prado Museum I was studying the features of the kings painted by Valesquez and the young princes and princess had full lips and a heavy chin compliments of their mother who was a Hapsburg (German) Carlos II was one, I believe. Anyway, there was another room in the museum with additional royalty and there was the painting of Carlos III. Well, poor Carlos inherited a weak chin and a nose to rival those of my mother's family! He was the only Spanish king with this distinction. Jimmy Durante would have been proud. So, Carlos III is the only king I can actually remember. Turned out he was a great monarch that did wonderful things for the people of Spain and there were statues dedicated to him eveywhere we went.

Speaking of Spanish Kings, I googled last night to find out which one had the famous lisp. There was a king with a lisp but I was surprised to learn that idea that the King introduced a lisping sound into the language is an urban legend. Darn! I thought that was such a great story.

Check out today's Urban Sketcher's blog. Some wonderful sketches of Barcelona and Madrid and the most fantastic sketch of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. The guy didn't even go into the church so he had enough time to sketch the towers outside. I spent an hour sketching the same thing and I am in awe of this guy's ability to capture the detail.

ANOTHER SKETCH FROM SPAIN

The last day of our stay in Madrid, we took the train to the close by town of Aranjuez. One of the Spanish kings, Felipe 11, had built a summer palace here. The spot was an oasis in the dry region of La Mancha. There were acres of gardens beside the palace. I came across this beautiful fountain in this Jardin de la Isla. What was so special to me about this particular fountain was the figure of a youth with a thorn in his foot. During WW!!, my father was antique shopping and found a marble statue of a boy with a thorn, purchased it and made it part of a lamp. The statue broke at one point and he glued it back together. So, I grew up with this very statue (ours was smaller). I have seen this statue in a major museum (can't remember which one) so there must have been many copies. Growing up we never knew this was a famous piece but we loved it. As kids we thought he was picking at his foot. It was a wonderful surprise to discover my childhood friend with a thorn so unexpectedly in the park. I always knew my dad had exceptional taste!

REFRESHMENTS IN RETIRO PARK, MADRID

I try to take my Moleskin sketchbook with me everywhere. I am getting better at using it. I decided a little hand mirror might be a good addition to the art kit. That way you could see people without continually looking at them directly. When your eyes meet while you are drawing a stranger, it feels a little weird!

We scheduled a guided walking tour of the beautiful Retiro Park in Madrid. It is huge, reminding me a little of Golden Gate Park here in San Francisco. Turned out that day was Father's Day in Spain. They chose the birthday of their patron saint to be the official Father's Day. It was the middle of the week but an official holiday and the park was filled to the brim with people. Lots of strolling musical groups. One energetic group played Dixieland Jazz and seemed to be following us as we moved from place to place. We stopped for refreshments and I drew some of the people around me.

Today I decided to sit down and do some drawing for a few hours even though I have a list a mile long of things I need to accomplish. I knew if I didn't make it a priority above all else, it wouldn't get done. The drudgery of everyday life can so easily take over and push out the good stuff. People often ask me how I get so much art done. My "secret" is I put art first. The things on my list will get done because I have no choice. Maybe at midnight, but they get done. I still have my office to clean up after I post tonight. I think I need a wife!

BACK FROM SPAIN AND INSPIRED!!!

We returned on Monday with a 27 hour marathon and 3 separate plane rides but happy to be home. Today I feel somewhat normal and ready to get back to art. I tried to download my 1589 photos but the computer refused!!! I will have to take the card and have discs made and then work from there. In the meantime I scanned this drawing so I could get something from the trip onto the blog. This was done sitting in front of the Prado Museum. It is a beautiful statue of Velasquez. I wasn't really close and my eyesight is poor but I think I captured the essence of the object. I mostly did ink drawings on the trip with a few small watercolor paintings. On my next trip I am going to just take drawing materials. I can do a nice drawing in less than an hour and it makes a nice resting period between all the walking. I always take a photo of what I am drawing for future reference. Often, my husband takes a photo of me holding up the drawing in front of the scene I just drew. We went to the three major museums in Madrid. At the Prado we saw the Velasquez painting of the Infanta called "Las Meninas". There was an English Speaking Docent in the room explaining the painting (we listened in!) It is a huge canvas. Later, in Barcelona, at the Picasso Museum, we saw over 20 variations on this painting that Picasso did (I guess he had the idea of a series first) and then at a contemporary exhibit at the Caixa Forum of a painter from Bosnia, Mersad Berber, there were more variations on this Infanta painting. There must be thousands more versions by various artists around the world. It was wonderful having just seen the original and then all the additional interpretations. I was totally enthralled with Berber. He does mixed media with exciting results. I studied some of the paintings and recorded what I thought was his process and sequencing. I hope to try out my theory sometime soon. He combines masterful portraiture and drawing with all kinds of other abstract forms and media. I didn't relate to a great deal of his subject matter but loved his mastery and inventiveness.

I am thinking I will spend the coming year developing paintings from the images I captured on this trip. The wheels are turning. When I awake at 4 in the morning I start envisioning these paintings in my head. I have the first one all planned out. Better get those photos out of the camera!