NdA Exhibition opens at Casa 5

It all went quite well yesterday, apart from the arrival of an uninvited horde of cockroaches a few hours before the private view in the gallery. A dozen or so were milling around the front door, obviously not art-lovers, so we attacked them with insect spray and in revenge, a whole army started crawling out, threatening to take over the premises. Much more insecticide and bashing with broomstick, then sweeping cockroach corpses out into the street. Who knows why the critters chose this particular day to emerge from wherever they were hiding, but emerge they did. Anyway by the time the real guests started arriving, the nasty intruders, dead and alive, were gone.

I exhibited 35 works on paper (works much appreciated but no sales)  plus a video interviewing some Tavira people in their surroundings. Here's a link to this video. I had to compress it a lot so it's not as sharp as the original, especially the written titles, but I hope you can still get the ambiance.

http://blip.tv/file/3281352

And below some photos of Casa 5 gallery walls before the opening. I didn't manage to take any photos while people were there, too busy chatting.

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Portrait of Matthijs Leijenaar NdA Feb.2010  pastel on paper

 

 

  

  

MORE FROM TAVIRA

No time to write. The workshop went well, we did monoprints from collagraphs and monotypes from the ink left over on glass sheets after printing. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Will post some results later. Now I'm preparing for my exhibition which opens on Saturday and lasts for the few days until I leave on March 3rd. Can't believe it's nearly all over!

Below is another painting, again from that cafe the earlier monoprint was about. It's called Anazu, not azul as I said before. And some more photos of Tavira.

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Cafe Anazu  NdA  February 2010  Acrylic on paper

 

Uma Flor  Found poem, Tavira

Found profile on Tavira wall

Fishing boats on the Gilao river, Tavira

 

The view from Casa 5, Tavira

A PORTRAIT AND A CARNIVAL

Yesterday I did a portrait in pastels of Isabel Macieira, partner of Matthijs Leijenaar and co-director with him of Casa 5. I was going to work on it some more but am afraid I'll ruin it so am leaving it alone. These are not oil pastels but the dry chalky kind, lovely to work with for spontaneity as long as you don't smooth and fiddle too much. Next I'll do one of Matthijs. On Saturday I'm giving a workshop on monoprinting without a press. Will post some of the work produced then.

It was carnival here on the weekend, cold and raining on and off, but that didn't deter the high spirits. I was bundled up wearing three layers of clothes but some people didn't feel the cold at all.

 

 

New work progress

Words seem to be failing me since images have taken precedence. The right brain left brain division is in evidence and my left brain must be waiting for me back in London.

A lot of rain in the last couple of days and the temperature has dropped so I've been working indoors, as close as possible to a gas heater. Have been doing some monoprinting from stencils such as the first image below, not quite finished.

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 Cafe Azul monoprint.   NdA  Feb.2010

 

Portuguese Woman  monotype  NdA  Feb. 2010

 

Inside-Outside  NdA  acrylic on paper  Feb. 2010

SOME OF MY TAVIRA IMPRESSIONS SO FAR

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White Shawl, Tavira Cafe - NdA Acrylic on paper

 

Gallery, Casa 5  NdA  Coloured pencil on paper

Park, Tavira  NdA  Watercolour pencil on paper

Cafe Mira, Tavira  NdA  Watercolour pencil on paper

Cafe Azul  NdA  Watercolour pencil on paper

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MORE PICTURES FROM TAVIRA

To give you a glimpse of what my eyes and brain and feelings are taking in every day, here's a selection of photos I've taken in Tavira and in the surrounding countryside where the almond trees in flower are life imitating Van Gogh.

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TAVIRA TIME GOES BY

I can't believe I've already been here ten days! The sun is out and everything looks amazing and I want to do more than I'm doing - by more I mean less fiddling, more coherence, more simplicity. The devil is in the detail, yes, and it's devilishly difficult to resist the temptation of detail. I ruin a good start as soon as I start adding more detail, out of some kind of slavish obedience. Have just ruined the picture you see on the easel, of a woman with white shawl sitting in a cafe. That  was the start and it was okay. Now I've"finished" it and it's no good. Well, there'll be others. Not much time for blogging.

Click on photos to see full size.

1. Works in progress.
2. Tourists asleep in the sun.
3. Human made up as statue (he stands on the Roman bridge almost all day).