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The painting in the demonstration "Hidden Coast Path" belongs to the "Abandoned Fields" series. After visiting Ellie in her Paragon Gallery in Cheltenham, my husband and I travelled through the Cotswold area and down to Cornwall. It was my first journey in Southern England.Back home in Andalusia I started a somewhat moody painting:And in my mind appears the fantastic coast line of Devon with steep mountains, where it´s better to stay high above on the small path and not climb down to the wild sea, although the attraction is quite strong.With the palette knife and brush I modulate some mountain shapes, using ultramarine blue/white and small lines of sand and horsehair worked into the wet color with light touches of burnt umber - which becomes a grayish note in the mix. |
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Although I liked the colors and how they worked together, they have to go: Too soft, too gentle for what is now in my mind. I mix burnt umber/ultramarine blue/white on my palette in different quantities, so I get warmer and some cooler grays. Burnt sienna for the warmer parts. Again I work with palette knife and brush at the same time. This gives me the chance to modulate more rough structures on the canvas. Rocks with sharp edges in the lower part are made of the same mix but cooler.Up on the top where the hidden path is, I paint a house, a lonesome cottage. Now it is more visible how wide the mountain chain is and how steep the rocks are. I would like the viewer to feel the loneliness and wilderness of the place. |
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With a mix of ultramarine blue/white I make visible where the sea meets the mountain, where the waves break on the steep rocks and my brush makes a blur (a blurring wash) to fill the air with spray. |
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After painting some more shades in the left lower part with a transparent wash of ultramarine blue/red oxide pigments,I decided the painting is finished. Later I looked at the photographs we had taken during our journey. There were none like this. But even so I`m quite sure that this might be the view of a fisherman in his boat looking back to the coast. |
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"Behind The Lines" and "Shimmering Town“. They are spontaneous paintings which I started with no specific aim and they belong to the "Echo In The Open Window" series. I would describe it as the expression of an inner echo. Like as if you are lying in bed and through the open window you hear the sounds of life from the outside world: The wind in the trees or early birdsong, music, singing, bells ringing, dogs barking, the sound of footsteps, motorbikes. The entire world is there and in my mind these acoustic impressions become visible.
When back home from a short trip to Tangier - a constantly and uncontrolled growing harbor town in Northern Morocco - I started this painting.
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With a mix of ultramarine blue/white and a bit of cadmium red and a big brush I modulate some shapes like houses on a hillside. I would like to have my center of interest in the upper left corner, where it is dark. And I start a bit of collage work such as the light in the windows. Down below there is the sea, very dark, with a bit of black sand and a color mix of ultramarine/red oxide pigment.I know that this is only the start of the painting because by now I feel something is pushing me forward.
I prepare on my table collage pieces for the „houses“. I cut out pieces of metal or cardboard and paint them in different colors: ochre/white, grey, metallic color (bronze, gold). I don´t mind if all these pieces are rectangles or crooked, because this architecture doesn´t claim at all to be functional or right. In my memory of the old town of Tangier, that is exactly what it is: a somewhat growing monster with a beautiful overall aspect.
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With the palette knife and modeling paste mixed with a touch of ochre I build up more houses, doorways, windows, bridges and walls in the open spaces.This town on the canvas is now growing like the real Tangier. |
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The sky gets a wash of lighter blue near the value of the ochre/white houses, so that the houses at the horizon line seem to disappear in the sky. This brings out a stronger focal point which is concentrated in the darker upper left part of the houses.With the palette knife and impasto gel I modulate a palm tree in front of the wall at bottom right. The dark water gets some more light reflection.When I left my studio in the last light of the day and had a look back at the finished painting on the easel I saw all the beautiful shimmer and light reflections on the houses and in the windows - a very lively aspect. |
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| what I saw in the distance 2009 |
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| what I saw in the distance 2015 |
