Painting again!

After all summer traveling, my life on the Spanish Mediterranean coast has settled down to normal again. That means I have taken up singing in our club choir again, being active as a boardmember of same club, and above all:

 

PAINTING

 

detail, showing used technique

 

 This time our suggested theme was: young animals and I chose not to paint the predictable dog or cat, but an animal that I feel strangely attracted to...

I love the colour of their skin, the wrinkles, their quiet and determined appearance, not showing any intent to hurry or being pushed by whatever

 

 

Initially I wanted to paint an fantasy type elephant, so I started by painting a multicoloured background. But somehow, since I work in a spontaneous way, the upper part of its body pretty much looked like a real one, so I then followed that path and here it is:

 

my young animal!

 

After two days in the club's gallery, there was a lady who wanted it so much and now it is

sold. I feel very lucky!

 

Wishing you a great weekend, wherever you are,

 

Regina



Before traveling to the cities...

...we visited

Bardenas Reales Natural Park first!

This UNESCO Biosphere reservation is situated in Spain's Navarra region and was the perfect start of our vacation

A friend who had recently visited this natural park was very enthusiastic about it and compared it to some canyons in the USA. And since it was on our route to the upper Spanish provinces, we decided to give it a try. After having stayed the night at a camperplace close to a series of cave dwellings, we headed to the park's west entrance the next morning





camperplace in Arguedas, near the west entrance of
Bardenas

much wanted information about the park...

What was really special about this semi desert area, was the emptiness, and the lack of any commercial sign and activity. No restaurants, no bars, nor wifi, let alone shops for souvenirs, nothing but bare fields and splendid rock formations. Almost unimaginable that this is possible these days...

Nothing but emptiness, the perfect decor for movies like
Airbag, Accion Mutante, The Pride and The Passion and even
 The World is not enough (19th James Bond movie)

 

a bare landscape, the result of erosion by water and wind. A landscape that housed crocodiles and turtles in the past, but now is the habitat of eagles, vultures and all kind of reptiles

 

 

 

looks like the perfect hiding place to me for the above mentioned creatures...

 

This formation is called 'Cabezo de Castildetierra' which means as much as

'Head of the earthen castle'

 

And with this picture I finish this post about a very remarkable place in our current country: Spain

 

Thanks for reading,

Regina

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Hi!

Considering the success of our first trip, we went on a second motorhome vacation throughout France, Belgium and the Netherlands. I now finally have the energy and time to post again.

 

But this time I am not going to apologize, since this is my blog, my space to document my life and of course, if there is still someone out there (hello!) who reads it that would be great, but seeing all blogs rapidly making place for Instagram and who knows what else, I think it is only good of me to not give up..!

That being said, I revert to our holiday in Spain.Visiting the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao was certainly one of the highlights of our trip! Boy, what a building, what a fantastic design! The building itself would have been an absolute goal to travel to, but of course there was art inside...

When we visited this summer there were three exhibitions running: one was of Andy Warhol's prints, one of Louise Bourgeois (Cells, quite interesting) and The Paris School. We visited the last two exhibits. Beside that there was Richard Serra's permanent installation: The Matter of Time, consisting of several huge kind of labyrinths of Corten steel. These were absolutely stunning!

 

The pictures give only a slight impression of the splendor of this museum, I can recommend it to everybody should you have a chance...

 

by architect Frank Gehry

 

Guggenheim inside

 

 

ah, the construction of it all!

 

 

outside, just looking up



 

 

a model of Serra's work

 

 

look at the human at the right, the work was huge

 

 

patina at the inside of one of the installation's parts

 

Well, this was it, I am back at blogging at last and look forward to any comment.

Thanks for reading!

 

Regina

Spain report: colours!

HI!

After a long break due to vacations, I am finally back on my blog. It has been a very wonderful, great trip we made throughout the Northern coastal provinces of Spain. While I am still full of all the beauty this landscape offered us, I am slowly getting back into my normal rhythm again and even finished sorting out all images I made.

So, because I am so happy to be able to post again, I will start with some very colorful, sea related images. Whereas in the Caribbean  life was full with vibrant colours, life in Spain normally is more natural, e.g. the colours of rocks, earth, wood play the leading role here. Though I love a neutral colorscheme very much, I now have a longing for the abundancy of real colours, so here they come:

this colorful fisherman's tool we spotted in a almost completely grey little harbour

in Asturias

 



 

a group of guides getting instructions,

Playa As Catedrais, Galicia

 

 

more tools, like in picture 1

 

 

my private Bay Watch! He was not very busy that day, for the water was cold...!

Saturraran, Asturias

 

 

What else do you need?

Cap Agustin, Asturias

 

I hope you liked this first issue of my travel report, more will follow soon

Thanks for visiting, grtz,

 

Regina

Of mountains and old houses...

We have guests, so it was time again to drive into the mountains. There is a lovely restaurant up there where they serve a delicious paella and meat from the woodstove inside the building

 

The view is spectacular! This Sunday it was kind of cloudy, but when skies are clear one can see the isle of Ibiza in the distance. The flat mountain at the right middle is called Olta

 



 

Again, at the right middle, you can see where we live, close to the white defence tower at Cap d'Or (Golden Cape)

 

 

After lunch we went back down the lovely village of Jalon;  a friend is about to buy an old property at the base of the mountain range in this village. We took the chance to have a look at it. Indeed, it is pretty old and kind of dilapidated, he will have to work hard to make it into a comfy living, though the place certainly has potential...

 

 

 of course real Spanish rooftiles!

 

 

 

and wrought iron doors and bougainvilla...

 

For now thanks for visiting!
 (while we are preparing for our motorhometrip I'm not in the mood for making art)

Recycled, a present

This week I wrote about a new boiler in our motorhome.

When I saw my husband

dismantling the old one, I suggested that maybe we could use that for something, a fire drum for instance...

 

He took all pipes out, welded some support

underneath and here it is!

 

 

 

We do have chilly nights here in Spain, though not at the moment.

 

But once that time comes, we now have a safe place in the garden,

 where we can enjoy a cozy fire.

 

Thanks to my handy man with not two,

but countless 'right' hands

 

Happy weekend!

 

Regina

 



Looking out for this

 

 

Hi!

 

Again it has been too long that I posted here, but I had my reasons...

Five weeks ago I fell over ' I don't know what' and seriously bruised my right hand fingers and broke a tooth.

 

The repair works have taken lots of time, visiting the dentist every week for a root canal session and temporary crown. Visiting the trauma surgeon for my fingers. My middle finger had a joint out of its place and had to be immobilized after it had been put right again. At this time it is still taped to the index finger and I have to exercise as much as possible.

Until now I have always enjoyed a very good health, so for me this was quite an experience, and not a nice one. At the same time I realize how lucky I always have been and still am, compared to people who have ongoing health issues. I hope and expect that I will be able to bend my fingers to an acceptable level again.

 

So, in between feeling miserable for not being able to use my hand, I have been reading and, oh happy day!, preparing our first trip with the Roadtrek  motorhome, after four long years!

 

We have plans to travel through Spain in some weeks and the above beach is one that is on our list.

 

It is Cathedral beach at the Gallician coast near the city of Lugo.

 

I look forward to this trip so much. My DH has converted the electrical system from US to European. Our generator, boiler and microwave have also been replaced, so everything should be ready for, I hope, many travels here on the European mainland.

 

But starting in Spain first, our lovely 'new' home country

 

Hope to be back soon...

Regina