Gary J. Kirkpatrick Art and Travel Blog
Expressionistic art
Gary Kirkpatrick She has become a diva for me. I knew her in Panama. She has a knack for modeling, which aside from being intelligent, friendly and attractive, makes her a delight to paint and draw. I have several other paintings based on her.
Cáceres has an old walled town in its center. Walk around and you are in the middle ages, given the buildings, the stone streets and total absence of cars. There is a blend of Roman, Moorish, Gothic and Italian Renaissance architecture, not to mention the stork nests. There are thirty towers from the Islamic period still standing.
Humans have inhabited the area since prehistoric times. Evidence of this can be found in the caves of Maltravieso, with cave paintings dating to 25,000 BCE. The city was founded by the Romans in 25 BC and is a Unesco World Heritage Site, quite justifiably so.
Cáceres is in the part of Spain called Extremadura. I always thought that the name Extremadura referred to the extremely hard (dura) quality of the soil and life there but more accurately extremadura is from Latin words meaning literally “outermost hard”, the outermost secure border of an occupied territory. During La Reconquista it was the westernmost holding of the Christians.
Fantasy Quartet
This is the second fantasy based on the “automatic” drawing you can see below. Where do our thoughts go as we become absorbed in the music? The swathes of color symbolize the vast space into which the musicians and audience project their dreamy thoughts.
From my music series, Singer Sax Drummer is based on a drawing done at the Palau de la Musica in Valencia. I have included the drawing below. It is done in acrylics. There are two distinct planes. You see two instrument playing muses, one kicking her leg up. This painting is a fusion of automatic drawing and an abstract background with bright and strong colors.
Fantasy Quartet
This is based on an automatic drawing and given an expressionist treatment in acrylics. Automatic drawing was popularized by the surrealists in the 1920ś. The audience is bathed in a comforting blue haze. The original drawing is posted below.
Cuenca, Spain: City on a cliff
Cuenca is situated northwest of Valencia and southeast of Madrid, just an hour from either on the AVE, the fast train. It is known for the houses perched on the cliffs and for the Júcar and the Huécar, two rivers (well, streams is a better word) which encase it. The town was first settled by the Moors, who sought to take advantage of its natural fortress qualities. Nonetheless they lost it in 1177 to the Christians.
The area offers an interesting cuisine, which I will comment upon below the photos.
The Cuisine
There are a number of interesting dishes, mostly tapas.
We had lunch at Restaurante el Secreto. The Guide Routarde sign for multiple years including 2016 attracted our attention. The Guide has served us well through the years and it did not disappoint us. This restaurant has many game offerings. Peg had the venison, which was superb- even I thought so. The wine was very good, local and reasonably priced, as was the entire meal including my ceviche trout.
The decor is worth a look! Ceramics floor to ceiling.
Sorolla: Notes in the sand – Apuntes en la arena
(Exhibit at El Carmen Museum, Valencia, Spain)
April 15, 2016
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863 – 1923) is known as a master of light and for his portraits, landscapes, and monumental works of social and historical themes, many in the impressionist style. Many of his paintings are housed at the Museo Sorolla in Madrid, while there are monumental works permanently exhibited at the Hispanic Society in New York. The El Carmen Museum in Valencia (http://www.consorciomuseos.gva.es/SOROLLA,-APUNTES-EN-LA-ARENA.asp) is currently exhibiting an excellent collection of Joaquin Sorolla’s paintings of Valencian beach scenes. You can see a few of the 100 works below.
He gained tremendous notice from the painting and exhibition of Sad Inheritance. This painting featured children effected by the polio epidemic circa 1900.
Children on the Beach sold at auction for 3.5 million euros.
Despite his mastery of the medium and tremendous production he is little known outside Spain.
For biographical information go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaqu%C3%ADn_Sorolla
Self Portrait of My Own Self With Shaved Head
I shaved my head because I had so little hair left anyway. It was nonetheless a shock to see myself in the mirror, looking so unlike me. No one else seems to think so.
March 28, 2016
MUVIM (Valencian Museum of Modernity and Illustration) is now exhibiting poster art, some paintings and a few old films of the era, starting in the 1920’s. Spain suffered through a civil war from 1936-39. Fatalities numbered in the 400.000 range, with another 200,000 murdered by Franco’s Falangists after the war, and atrocities by both sides during the war. Some of the art refers to this period. Other pieces advertise Valencia’s annual summer fair, Fallas (the annual carnival in March of each year) and other events.
The first one below refers to Valencia’s annual summer fair, the second to Fallas, the annual carnival that takes place in March each year; you can see the fire burning the statue (red area).
Portrait of Worry
This is just a totally made up portrait. Pen lines, acrylic paints and washes make up the painting.
