Antequera, in Andalucia, Spain

ANTEQUERA below...... Andalucia, is said to be the cradle of FLAMENCO music so here's a lively sample.


Antequera is a pretty small 'White' city in the centre of Andalucia. About 1 km from the outskirts is an extraordinary mountain which looks like sleeping giant's head in the right light. Not quite so in this painting, either because the light wasn't right or my drawing imperfect. I suspect a bit of both but it was a hastily executedy work as time was limited, with M reading and waiting in the car. Initially I wasn't going to include the mountain, concentrating on certain cloud formations, but then decided I had to - so I'm glad I did.

Enjoy some virtuosic Spanish music to create the right 'Ambiente' (atmosphere) - una "BULERIAS" con guitarra 

Granada, looking West

Here is a brilliant 1 hour video of Juan Martin explaining some basic FLAMENCO GUITAR TECHNIQUES for a piece or style called 'Bulerios'

Early 9.00am morning view of Granada, painted in about an hour, as the sun is rising behind the Alhambra Palace. Painted from near the Alhambra visitor carparks. The shadow moved away very quickly so I had to paint it in afterwards to capture the effect of light in that small window of time. M was nearby having breakfast and enjoying the sun so I knew I couldn't hang about, and we were leaving the city on our way west to Antequera.

Calle de visitas, de Los Angeles, Granada

My first visit to Andalucia and Granada, visually very stimulating and exotic and needed to grab time to paint whilst M took a siesta. I had to start somewhere so found this street corner, near our pensione, with a view of the Sierra Nevada foot hills. Using a new cobalt drier the oils reacted oddly and dried very quickly, so I desperately wrestled and managed to pull something together though the sky isn't quite what I was after.