Author: Gary Kirkpatrick

  • Cáceres: you could shoot a medieval movie here and wouldn’t even have to remove the cars

    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.

    caceres cathedral

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  • Fantasy Quartet

    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.   (more…)

  • Singer, Drummer, Sax, Clarinets, Singers

    Singer, Drummer, Sax, Clarinets, Singers

    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.

     

    Singer, Drummer, Sax, Clarinets Singers
    Singer, Drummer, Sax, Clarinets Singers 54 x 72cm x 18 cm, 21 x 26.5 x.75″ acrylics on canvas SOLD

     

     

    Singer Sax Drummer detail 1
    Singer Sax Drummer detail 1

     

    Singer Sax Drummer detail 2
    Singer Sax Drummer detail 2
    Singer Sax Drummer detail 3
    Singer Sax Drummer detail 3

  • Fantasy Trio

    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.  

    Trio at the Palau, acrylics on canvas, 21 x 18 cm," 55 x 45 cm
    Trio at the Palau, acrylics on canvas, 21″ x 18″,” 55 x 45 cm, SOLD
    Quartet drawing
    Quartet drawing pen and ink
  • Cuenca, Spain: City on a cliff

    Cuenca, Spain: City on a cliff

    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.

    cuenca bridge
    Looking at the town from across the bridge
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    Some of the famous cliff side residences
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    Whoa!
    Near the juncture of the two rivers
    Near the juncture of the two rivers
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    View from Restaurante el Secreto, Cuenca

    cuena from above

    Cathedral in Cuenca
    Cathedral in Cuenca
    Cuenca street
    Cuenca street

    The Cuisine

    There are a number of interesting dishes, mostly tapas.

    • Ajo arriero, cod, potato and garlic, can be spread on bread
    • Morteruelo,  pâté made from hare, partridge, hen and pork or some combination
    • Pisto manchego, tomato, pepper, courgette/zucchini fried in olive oil.  Very thick.
    • Mushrooms, harvested in the forests near Cuenca.  Níscalo is common, but other species, such as boletus (long and large with a cap).
    • Mojete: traditional salad made of tomato.
    • Alajú an Arab cake made of honey, almonds, nuts and grated orange rind.
    • Resoli is an after dinner alcoholic beverage made from grape must, cinnamon, anise.

    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.

     

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  • Sorolla- Notes in the sand (Apuntes en la arena)

    Sorolla: Notes in the sand – Apuntes en la arena

    (Exhibit at El Carmen Museum, Valencia, Spain)

    Fisherman of Valencia, Pescadores de Valencia
    Fisherman of Valencia, Pescadores de Valencia

    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.

    Fisherman of Valencia, Pescadores de Valencia
    Fisherman of Valencia, Pescadores de Valencia

    He gained tremendous notice from the painting and exhibition of Sad Inheritance.  This painting featured children effected by the polio epidemic circa 1900.

    Triste Herencia, Sad Inheritance
    Triste Herencia, Sad Inheritance

     

    Pillo de Playa
    Pillo de Playa
    Children on the Beach-- Niños en la Playa
    Children on the Beach– Niños en la Playa

    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

    Self Portrait of My Own Self With Shaved Head 

    Self Portrait of My Own Self With Shaved Head
    Self Portrait of My Own Self With Shaved Head, A3, 29.7 x 42 cm 16.5 x 11.5″

    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.

  • Neat Spanish Poster Art from the 1920’s (photos)IM

    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).

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    Advertising Fallas

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    Defeating fascism
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    Encouraging people to open their homes to evacuees

    IMG_20160327_181432 IMG_20160327_183924

     

     

  • Portrait of Worry

    Portrait of Worry

     

    This is just a totally made up portrait. Pen lines, acrylic paints and washes make up the painting.

    Worry- acrylics on panel, 18 x 32cm, 7.5" x 13"
    Worry- acrylics on panel, 18 x 32cm, 7.5″ x 13″

     

    Portrait of Worried Woman
    Portrait of Worried Woman

     

     

     

     

     

  • Crema at City Hall (Ayuntamiento) 2016

    Crema at City Hall (Ayuntamiento) 2016 

    The Crema is the burning of the Fallas’ each year starting at 11 p.m. approximately and going to well after 1 a.m.  Each of the hundreds of installations throughout the city is burned.  There are fireworks galore.  The city is alight and thundering.  The video is one I took at the Ayuntamiento Plaza, the last one to be burned, and generally the largest and most spectacular.  There are tens of thousands of people in the plaza as you will see.

    For background information see https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/the-fallas/