Spanish Journey

It Was All About Art and More

The Art of Cooking.
The Art of Eating.

The Art of Shopping.
The Art of Pilates.

And of course, Art.

Barcelona:  Big City filled with multiple art viewing opportunities, and shopping. Second biggest city in Spain and the capital of Catalonia. Founded as a Roman City.  Renown for the architectural works of Antoni Gaudi, which are organic in nature, and highly decorative.  Clearly he did not advocate sharp corners, pointed the spires, but rounded everything else.

Sagrada Familia

         

Casa Batllo

The city also houses a Picasso Museum which exhibits many of his earlier works, not widely known or usually seen.  Housed in five medieval adjoining palaces, it is the only museum dedicated to the work of Picasso only.  Looking at the buildings was almost as interesting as the art.

And the SHOPPING....Barcelona is known for its fashion....oh, pocket book.  Came home with shoes, accessories, articles of clothing all created by Spanish designers of course.

The cooking, eating, wine consuming part went well...maybe too well.

Arugula salad wrapped with duck breast prosciutto

Midnight snack

Did I mention we started each day with Pilates?  There were a couple days that ended with Pilates as well, oh maybe not really the end of the day since the food and wine continued to flow until early morning hours.   We also squeezed in a bike ride through medieval towns in the Catalan countryside, a hike along the Costa Brava, a visit to the Gala Dali Castle House-Museum in Pubol.

Dali's studio area in the Pubol castle.

There was also a cooking lesson, and an idyllic visit to a small winery with luncheon prepared and served by the winemaker.  

Yes, that is a plate of homemade donuts paired with fresh cherries, dried fruits and nuts, and of course a desert wine.

Sketching every day was squeezed in between all these other activities.  Just one small painting completed while there, but there will be more.

Exotic fruit display in Barcelona's Central Market

First harvest figs, not as sweet and juicy as the second harvest will be, but huge and beautiful and definitely painting subject matter.

This was a memory making trip, organized by Teresa from Spanish Journeys who has great local contacts, is a relaxed, organized, terrific leader, fluent in the language, knowledgeable about everything Catalan,  and a delight to be with.   

It's off to the studio for me to re-orgainize my work area and begin painting again.

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