I'm not slacking!

Really, I'm not! It may seem like it, but I have been painting. It's just that the last two efforts really sucked, so they will not be found on this blog. Ever. I admit to being slightly out of sorts, the weather has been glorious, but we have to hike out of here to enjoy it. The property is down in a hollow and quite damp. I feel like I'm living like a medieval monk, and it's ironic that I'm reading Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth while I'm here. If you have read it, you'll know what I mean, and if you haven't I heartily recommend it, it's been keeping me up 'til 2 a.m. at least, every night. Quite a compelling read. But now, to painting....

This fresh start (shown above) that I began today seems promising. I saw this view--or close to it--from waaaaaay up the mountain at Montserrat, and it was truly stunning. But it didn't have these colors. No, I am borrowing heavily from the way Joaquim Mir saw it; perhaps he was looking from the same spot on a Summer evening? Or maybe he just throws the whole palette at his canvases, my gawd... so much color!! I'm having to mix buckets of paint, which is a good learning experience, I'm usually so miserly with my paint!

The shape of this particular canvas is influencing me too, it's getting a sort of Asian feel to it. I'm really hoping to get a feel for Mir's brush work, it is so wonderful. I plan to go back up to the Museu Montserrat next week and spend several hours in front of all of his paintings, in that room full of his work up there.

Thank heavens I brought some toned canvas, because supplies and stretcher bars and such are a big challenge to find here. If they aren't in Martorell (1/2 hr away), then it's down the hill to Barcelona and I just don't need anything badly enough to make the trip. Since I can't stretch the canvas properly, I'm wondering how I will get rid of the creases from being (poorly) packed on the way here. Ah well, I'll worry about that later.

Gonna be a flurry of painting in the next 5-7 days, because I'm leaving a week early and spending more time in Madrid instead. I'm so so so looking forward to the museums there, especially the Museu Sorolla. Oh yeahhhh!