Museo Sorolla, August 28th

I did say I would do a separate post on this museum as it was a delightful find thanks to the recommendation of our son Alec. It is a small museum in the original residence of the artist Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, a great Spanish Impressionist artist who was very influential in Spain and became a friend of the Spanish Royal family and much loved by the Spanish aristocracy. He was influenced by the great Spanish painter Velazquez and his real success was at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900 and was further enhanced with his portrait of American President Taft, even though portraits were not his strong point.

Sorolla suffered a stroke in 1920, while painting a portrait in his garden in Madrid. Paralyzed for over three years, he died in 1923. After his death, Sorolla's widow left many of his paintings to the Spanish public. These paintings eventually formed the collection that is now known as the Museo Sorolla, which is in the artist's house in Madrid. The museum opened in 1932 and we were lucky enough to visit this year and were both greatly impressed; both by the art works and by the place itself. Please enjoy these images of our visit.

great entrance, not sure if it will work at home though

great courtyard garden

throughout Spain, loved the tiles

and again, repair job in progress on right

now you know his work

getting me one of those hats

Joaquin's children

studio inside the house

light was as you would expect

beats the jam jars Jane uses.

sculpture of Sorolla by Russian impressionist Paolo Troubetzkoy

little side window to the salon

more tiles

lovely quiet and reflective spaces created in the garden.

Europe Street Art

No matter where I go I always keep an eye out for the various forms of "street art' that are dotted around the cities. It appears that the need to express is prevalent all around the world and that some people find the 'canvas' to use is a building wall, street cover, sidewalk shop, doorway or traffic utility. 
Some of this 'art' is just plain graffiti or tagging, and not worthy of mention, let alone the frustration and cost to shopowners and authorities to keep cleaning it up. The other form though is quite beautiful and sometimes encouraged by the authorities in an attempt to beautify a drab or run down building, or to add highlight to a public space (see the Dali picture in Paris) and allow an outlet for these frustrated artists.
Please enjoy the following that I collected over the last month. 

just for Jane

why tag it ?

miro ? in Cordaba

just graffiti

now this is cool

could be confusing on a dark night

beep, beep. Home delivery anyone ?

just liked it, graffiti becomes art.

Picasso style

shhh, opposite the centre georges pompadou

gotta love the quirky

Utility and Manhole Covers

One of the things that I found quite quirky and strangely interesting on our travels were the wide array of utility / manhole covers in the various places that we visited. Strangely they are quite pretty if you look at them for the design features and patterns employed, which are quite intricate and would be considered artistic in their own right if not for the utilitarian objects they are. Hope you enjoy this small sample.

Holiday Finished, Work Tomorrow, #Fujifilm

Well, its the end of my leave and after 5 weeks I'm back to work tomorrow morning. Been going through the photos I took whilst in Spain and France and trying to make sense of cataloguing them when I came across these few that obviously relate to work; see you can't forget about it even when your on holidays. I found these interesting given the precarious state of many independent shops in Australia and wondered how these were surviving in their respective countries/towns. Obviously some haven't given the shuttered doors ( not in Madrid though, just siesta time ). Oh well if people don't print their photos I suppose I would find some of these closed if I was to return in the not too distant future. Ah now there's a thought, return to Spain, YES please.
Don't forget, Print It or Lose IT.

Pamplona, Basque country at Siesta time

Paris, can see the SP3000 thru the window

Montlouis sur Loire

Vernon, France - closed

Madrid

Madrid, Spain - closed

Cordoba