Friday, October 29, 2010

Spain

I am writing from Girona, Catalonia, toward the end of our long-anticipated vacation in Spain.  Our time has been spent in Castilla y Leon, Aragon, and Catalonia, and while I haven't painted -- I ended up leaving even the pastels at home -- and my fingers are itching to get back to my studio, I know that I have been absorbing shapes and colors and impressions that will feed my work for some time to come.  In these regions, there is much that is ancient, from the Celtiberians through the Romans, the Visigoths, the Moors, and the Spaniards and Catalonians, to modern-day style and experimentation, and the art and architecture overlay each other in mostly complementary ways.  I will be interested myself to see what might come out of this once I am home.

3 comments:

Rebecca Crowell said...

What a great trip!! can't wait to see what comes of it and to hear more of your observations and thoughts.

My husband and I are heading for Barcelona, and then the Canary Islands, in just over a week...

Joefaux said...

Funny how when you're away from the studio your mind wants to be there painting. Maybe an attempt to capture a little bit of something...

Nancy said...

I think you are onto something, Joe. I've usually interpreted that itchy-fingered feeling to the withdrawal of not having mucked about in paint for a while, but if I think about it more deeply, the feeling usually comes in a moment of mindfulness about whatever I am observing, and is accompanied by a wish that I had the chance to capture whatever it is in paint rather than with a camera or in words.