It was such a short but amazing trip. Thursday I flew to Madrid, Spain for Cuchy and my Art Mesa 2012 event.
We still had some preparation to do – not much as Cuchy rocked the house with her organization – but we had decided I would come a day earlier to have some sightseeing this time in Madrid.
Our first stop was the Reina Sofia – AMAZING collection of 20th Century Art.
Here is the metronome called Object of Destruction (1932) by Man Ray (the original was destroyed ;) )
Wonderful work to see by Pablo Picasso – The Guernica – no photo allowed – BREATHTAKING! Salvador Dali, Joan Miro and many many many more…
Next we took a nice stroll to the Prado
Wow- you need to go there several times- it is HUGE and the collection is unbelievable. We went to a special exhibition of Raphael – his way of painting light has always stunned me! But of course we saw also some permanent paintings – like The Three Graces by Rubens
or the Las Meninas by Velázquez. There is a nice video for the google earth project where you can see a little more details of the museum and on google earth some close-ups of the paintings. But seeing them in real life is the real deal of course ;)
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1EOJr11bvo]
Cuchy took me to Casa Lucio an awesome restaurant in Madrid which is famous for Huevos Estrellados – Eggs with potatoes- soooo good. Speaking of food…oh my goodness…I ate so much…I just put it out here- LOL
We then had to set up the room for ArtMesa, then watch the rest of the Greece vs. Germany Soccer European Championship game – wheeee ;) (sorry my greek friends!):
and then finally the day of our workshop event arrived :)
It was such a fun day- it was hot hot hot too
We started with my Mixed Media Pillow. The students were so sweet and fun – I had so much fun with them! Thank you Cuchy for all your translations!
I especially liked the creative extras added by my students to the drying line …bwwahahaha- you girls are so funny ;) Thanks for my Malaga students who made me laugh extra :)
Loved the different results as always – here are a couple finished ones
then it was Cuchy’s turn. She did a beautiful class- with lots of techniques and media ! Loved the results and process
Thank you so much for this amazing day to our students- you were awesome! It was so amazing to see some of you for the second time and it was wonderful how much some of you traveled and thank you all for keeping up with my non existing spanish ;) You rock!
A special thank you also to Cuchy- for organizing all this and her gorgeous way to make me feel more than home (I almost moved in ;) ) – love you girl . And to Alicia – you are the sweetest- thank you for all your help and the awesome aprons you made- you ROCK! And to Marta our beautiful photographer and helper!
BTW- those pictures were all taken with my phone, I was too lazy to take the big camera with me as I usually do not take a lot of pictures anyway during events.
Sunday before the flight we headed out to surprise Lisa Mitchell at an art book fair in the library – it was so good to see her!
Her Books were amazing- loved her exhibition. I hope I see you soon again, Lisa!
Now this is what I call the coolest university library in the world- The ruins of the Escuela Pias, now converted to a university library.
The exhibition was also so cool and inspiring
And then it was unfortunately time to head back and say goodbye to Cuchy and her family :( I wish they lived closer!
Thank you all for this wonderful experience and all I can say is me encanta España
Besos :)
Nat
Comments (14)
Isabel LopezDel RinconTroussel
| #
Hi Nat, here I am trying to redo the pillow (with the extra you gave me) and was wondering if we could substitute the Extra heavy gel/molding paste with another gel medium (preferably Liquitex as this seems to be the brand of choice for French stockists…) I ordered the Golden one we used with you from my usual stockist, BUT, I just found out as I opened the box containing my order that they are out of stock. I’ve spent hours today looking at Fine Art Stockists with a webstore and none of them seem to carry the brand… except for 1 and he carry THAT gel medium… So silly, because the website I buy my fine arts supplies from in Spain carries all the GOLDEN range!
xoxo
Reply
nathalie-kalbach
| #
Hi Isabel you can use any gel Medium – I would use a heavier one and the Liquitex is wonderful for this – to do the transfer :) So no worries :) Burnish it well and let it dry overnight to make sure it is all good :) Wishing you lot’s of success! Hugs nat
Reply
Isabel LopezDel RinconTroussel
| #
Wow! That was fast (I didn’t realise you were back from overseas, so wasn’t expecting an answer today)! Thanks, will definetely get the liquitex one (I’ll also go ahead and get their cleat gesso too) ;)
XOXO
Reply
Annemarie
| #
I am a bit jealous of those who got to go. Sounds like a fun and interesting time.
Reply
Andrene
| #
Looks like you had a wonderful time!! The pillow project is awesome – so very creative. Thanks for sharing the photos. I love love love the skeleton pages (did I mention that I love it? :)
Reply
martha
| #
Hi Nat, so happy to met you again, besos :)
Reply
Cuchy
| #
wow That’s a review! I do want to live closer.
It’s been an amazing long weekend with you, the girls and the awesome workshops. Thank you girl! Loves
Reply
Barb
| #
This was a lovely post. Thanks for sharing with us.
Reply
Alicia
| #
Thank you very much for everything, for your smile, your love, and I hope we meet again soon.
Reply
Martha Richardson
| #
Looks like you & Cuchy had a fabulous time, food and classes! TFS your trip and how cool is the library;)
Reply
Sue Clarke
| #
PS: You may want to change the copyright date on this blog. It stills reads 2011 as best I can see on my computer. You work hard for your art and I want it protected for you.
Reply
nathalie-kalbach
| #
thanks hon :) changed!
Reply
Sue Clarke
| #
LOVE LOVE LOVE your posts when you share your travels. I feel like I got to a piece of Spain for the morning. That video was cool and the details using the computers is brilliant. The library is beautiful and classic and your skirt is so you/colorful/pretty. Thanks for sharing:-)
Reply
AÍDAAAAA
| #
Hi! This is Aída a colleague from Cuchy’s “school”!! I am sure Picasso would envy this art explosion you’ve created last WE! .. ehh.. and Lucio’s huevos estrellados! :) Congrats!!! :)
Reply