Another Big Trip--Spain, Gibraltar, Portugal with a Dido into Africa, Part II

Part II

At the speed of 190 MPH, it only takes a couple of hours to get from Barcelona to Madrid. Stepping out of the train station, it is immediately evident this is a city of government with fabulously ornate buildings. The Ministry of Agriculture is across the street from the train station and is quite an eyeful with the dramatic sculptures on the buildings top.

Although Madrid has been inhabited since the Stone Age, it only became a prominent city in when King Phillip II moved his court there in the mid 1500's.  I point this out because it is so "modern" compared to Barcelona where we were looking at structures built centuries before that. The streets are broad, and there is a much busier feel to the city.

After finding our next Airbnb apartment, we decided to take advantage of of the free entrance to the Prado Museum. Marin, our super smart phone user, had discovered the free entrance from 6-8 pm. What a deal! So off we went, walking along Paseo del Prado, a beautiful boulevard. Well, the free entrance attracted enough people to circle the entire building.

Because we are impatient people, and figured we'd be lucky to get in at all and maybe have 15 minutes to look at art, we had a change of course. We still had a few hours of daylight, so we headed off to the Royal Palace and Almudena Cathedral across town.

For some reason that we never understood, the Royal Palace was closed to the public the 3 days we were in Madrid, so we never got inside the building. However it is an impressive palatial building.

Built in 1735, it replaced a Moorish castle that preceded it.


Across this vast plaza is the Almudena Cathedral. The construction of this Church began in 1885, but was halted by a Spanish Civil War and didn't come to completion until the 1950's. That explains why the interior looks quite contemporary. And remember when I talked about looking up? I was really impressed by the ceilings of this Cathedral.

After visiting the crypt, underneath the cathedral we watched the Royal horse-riding guards put their horses into a large horse trailer and stuck around for a beautiful sunset from the palace grounds. Then it was time to seek out yet another dinner of tapas, beer, and lemon Fanta.

So we didn't get into the Prado for free, but the next day we went all out and hired a personal guide to take us through the museum. I found the art history fascinating, Mike was pleased that I was so pleased, and Marin tolerated it. My take away was that El Greco is an artist I have previously overlooked. I found his exaggerated figures, use of value, and use of ordinary, if not ugly,  faces captivating. The gallery was full of other greats, such as Goya and Valáquez.

Our visit to the Thyssen-Bornemuz Museum was on our own, no guide. I knew it would have wider appeal to our younger traveler. Her favorite painting was pop-art by Roy Lichtenstien.

Since I am an artist always struggling to come up with a title for a painting, I got a kick out the the title of this Salvador Dali piece. He certainly did not spare the words!

Marin chose this piece as one of her favorites, an orchid and hummingbird, painted by an American painter I had not heard of: Martin Johnson Heade.

Always happy to get a bird's eye view, we visited the Communication Palace, City Hall, built in the 20th century. For a small fee you can go up into a tower and get a great view. Being modern in Spain is not at all like the cement blocks we were building here in the U.S. And the message to refugees is very clear!

The tower at this palace sitting in the Plaza de Cibalees, allowed us to enjoy a beautiful view on a beautiful day.

Finally, I guess it is near impossible not to go to Plaza Mayor (1617) which has been the venue for bullfights, coronations and other celebrations for the last 500 years. A statue of Phillip III has center stage. In today's world, I would describe it as a plaza of overpriced food with souvenir shops and some oddball street performers. 

Next : we rent a car!

Another Big Trip--Spain, Gibraltar, Portugal with a Dido into Africa

Part I:

Here are my two traveling companions having our last American dinner (Portland Airport) for twenty days. We had planned this trip for over a year, inviting our soon to be 13-year-old granddaughter to join us. A few hours later, with a brief stop in Frankfurt, Germany, we landed in Barcelona, Spain. Landing in the evening there, we were anxious to get into the city and find our airbnb home for the next couple of days.

It's never easy to adjust to a new place, language and ways to travel from a foreign airport to the city. We looked at public transportation, Uber (which doesn't exist in Barcelona), and finally decided on a taxi. After some very broken up conversations between Mike and the airbnb host, we found ourselves waiting to meet him at an outdoor plaza with plenty of cafes covering the cobble-stone square. It didn't help that the host's native language is French and our Spanish is sparse. But soon, we were headed into what looked like the setting of a European mystery movie.We were in the Born District.

It is always difficult to adjust to an 8 hour time change. We didn't sleep well, but we were in Barcelona! Everyone had the up and at'm approach. We only had a couple of days to see a small part of this beautiful city. 

I already knew I wanted to see as much of Gaudi's architectural fantasies as possible. So the first place we visited was the Sacra Familia. This landmark has been under construction for 130 years and continues toward an unknown finishing date. Gaudi was dedicated to the project for decades until his death. So what makes his work so unique? I'd say he followed few rules of what others thought a building should look at. He combined Gothic, Art Nouveau, and Modernism. He created organic rather than geometric shapes. Marin and I fell in love with everything Gaudi.

The front of the Sacra Familia has the organic drippiness that says "Gaudi." As the building has continued, it has been transformed from the 1880's vision to a much more modern look.

Since Barcelona is such a tourist destination, we were not able to get tickets to the interior. 

Next on our day of everything Gaudi, we traveled up to Güell Park. This hillside park is full of Gaudi's fairytale-like buidings. (Did Walt Disney visit here?)

One of Antoni Gaudi's most famous architectural wonders is Casa Batllo. This was a total remodel of one house in a row of very traditional multi-storied homes in what was the prestigious area of Barcelona. This makeover defines risk taking in architecture, and the Casa Batllo stands out like a colorful thumb. 

An additional event occurred during our memorable visit to Barcelona. We were there on voting day. The people of Catalan voted for the Catalan independence referendum. We saw no violence as the Spanish government attempted to stop people at the voting sites, we did see crowds and hear chanting and speeches, which, of course, we could not understand.

From the architecture of Gaudi, we went back a few centuries. There are the magnificent cathedrals and churches to visit and admire. These places teach me to always look up and down. The design and art are not only on the walls.

The Barcelona Cathedral dates back to the 12th Century. 

For 5 Euros, we took an elevator to the top to get this fabulous view of the city. So much art is on the top of the buildings that one cannot see from the streets. As Mike pointed out, they were created for the eyes of God.

Then moving up a century to 1300, we arrived at the church of Santa Maria del Mar. This location was a sacred spot for centuries before a large church was built on the site. There is a certain sadness to this church because it was burned by revolutionaries in 1936. The interior wood and centuries of art were destroyed as the building smoldered for 11 days. The stone stood and the floor remains where you look down to see you are standing over someone's remains.

We visited the National Museum of Catalonian Art where there are surrounding artifacts from various events that happened in Barcelona: the Magic Fountain (from an International Exhibition in 1929) and Greek Columns (from the 1992 Olympics). The building and statuaries are impressive. We even learned (from Marin on her Smart phone) something about the invasive species of parrots that were nesting nearby. They originally came from South America and love the climate of Spain and Canary Islands where they've become pests.

The following morning we boarded the speed rail to Madrid just an hour before the city closed down in protest to Spain's resistance to accept Catalonia's vote for independence.

Enough for one read. Stay tuned for further posts about this trip!

Paint From the Heart

As a story teller and symbolic painter, I often question whether a painting delivers the impact I am aiming for. Many pieces that are personal and close to my heart have not had the recognition in the competitive art world that I hoped for. Yet I am compelled to paint what has meaning for me, and not something that necessarily conforms to the more traditional water media expectations.

Recently, however, two very personal pieces did get accepted into shows, and I am happy that two jurors saw something special in these paintings.

"It's Me, Margaret" will be hanging at the WSO Fall show at the Mt. Hood Community College Visual Arts Gallery, Troutdale, OR. Paul Jackson is the Juror for this Exhibit. What did he see in this painting, I wonder. This is an image of my mother at 97 years old, just days away from death. I painted her skin so carefully, trying to capture all of her amazing 97 years with colors, wrinkles and gnarliness. . She wore her wedding ring until her last day on this planet. By placing her in a night sky, removed from all her earthly connections, I hoped to convey the idea of the great question we all face--what comes after this? If you are a reader, you may remember the young adult novel by Judy Bloom, "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret." I borrowed part of that title for this painting. And, yes, my mother's name was Margaret.

"Without Hair" was accepted by juror Iain Stewart for the Northwest Watercolor Society's Waterworks Exhibition in Bothell, WA. This painting came after spending months with my daughter as she underwent a stem cell treatment to halt the progression of Multiple Sclerosis. We had so many conversations about a woman's life without hair.  Rachel was brave enough to be bald some days and other days she wrapped her head with colorful scarves or plopped on a jaunty cap. (That's another painting.) I asked her to write some of her thoughts about being a woman without hair. I placed those words around her silhouette. I placed a sunflower (her symbol) as an adornment to her head. As the petals fall, they turn into locks of cut hair at her feet. The scissors reflect that it was her choice to take the risk of this revolutionary treatment which caused the loss of her hair. She is brave and powerful and stands by herself.

Sometimes, painting from your heart is rewarded!

While the Blogger was Silent . . . Art Life was Continuing.

A Busy Summer

Although I live in a rural, lightly populated area, our summers burst open with activities. I love gardening,







and hosting family; inspiring art making and












       horseback riding.








I fit in a trip or two as well.














And then came the  eclipse! We found a wonderful campsite (avoiding the 1 million predicted Oregon visitors) and beautiful meadow to view the big event in totality!

Art Entries and Acceptances

But while my day to day life was filled with summer distractions, the competition entries and proposals for exhibits were being looked at and contemplated. And last week, two pieces of wonderful news came in:

1) I will have a solo show at the Newport Visual Arts Center from November 3 through December 30.

This will be a show of my river series paintings including water, herons, and fish. I am so looking forward to see 20 or so of my river paintings all hanging in the same room!

2) Two of my paintings were accepted into the "All Things Salmon" exhibit at the Coos Art Museum.

I am totally honored and excited to have 2 paintings in this exhibit! 

The Last Hurrah
Transparent Watercolor
21 x 29

Giving Back the Gift
Transparent Watercolor
21 x 29