For the love of España
So how does a British woman living in Ireland find herself obsessively painting images of Spain, I hear you ask?!
Well, my ‘Recuerdos’ (Memories) collection grew from an early and enduring love of this country. When I was younger, I was very fortunate to experience wonderful family holidays in Spain and it’s islands, which instilled something in me right there and then. It’s hard to even put it into words, there was just something about the warmth of the sun, the brightness of the light, the sound of the language… it well and truly got into me in a way I felt but couldn’t then articulate. I used to ask locals we met to teach me a few Spanish words which I’d go off and practise!
Growing up in the UK, at my secondary school Spanish was not a language option offered, so in my late teens I took evening classes with an amazing teacher Alejandra, originally from Mexico. A few years later during a gap year in my early twenties travelling many places including South America, I spent three incredible months living with a wonderful family in Peru, high up in the Andes where I was immersed in fast-track learning of more of the language I’d fallen in love with. I hold so many fond memories of this experience and the gorgeous people met along the way, and hope to be able to re-visit some day.
Fast forward a few more years, when my husband and I first met we discovered that this love of Spanish language and culture was something we both had in common and we dreamt of spending some ‘real life’ time in Spain, getting to know the place and it’s people in a deeper way. When an opportunity came through his work in 2014 we jumped at the chance, and along with our two young children of 2 and 4yrs, we packed up and spent a year living in the very south of Andalucia in a wonderful town called El Puerto de Santa Maria, near Cadiz. It is fair to say this experience changed our lives.
This place was the real deal. Not touristy, simply a normal town full of character and charm, where Spanish people lived and worked and where real life happened. The perfect place to immerse ourselves. We rented an apartment in the centre of the old town, in a wonderfully restored old building where our very lovely landlords lived in the apartment upstairs and helped us so much to settle in. The best part was they didn’t speak English, so we had to improve our Spanish fast. Our 4yr old started at the local primary school, and having gone in with no Spanish at all, was so warmly welcomed by all the teachers and children and soon absorbing this new language she was surrounded by.
I discovered the Academia de Bellas Artes (Academy of Fine Arts) in the town and signed myself up to an oil painting class with an amazing teacher Luis. Previous to this family adventure I’d spent 15yrs working as a graphic designer, which I’d enjoyed immensely but always with a background dream of some day pursuing professionally my true passion of painting. The art classes in El Puerto suddenly got me painting more than I had in years, and this buzz along with a large push of encouragement from my better half, eventually became the catalyst for deciding to take my art seriously and go for it! I’m sure as the foreigner with patchy Spanish in the class, I provided some entertainment for my arty classmates too! We held an end of term exhibition at the town hall, and I was delighted to be given the year’s Distinction award.
After our amazing year living in Spain, full of so many incredible experiences and wonderful friends made… the pull of family and Ireland brought us back to settling in Dublin, but with Spain holding a forever piece of our hearts. We love to go back and visit when we can, meeting up with friends from our time there and soaking it all up again. I am still obsessed with the colours and culture of this magical place. The feeling of discovery, wandering old historical districts through tiny narrow streets, with bustling markets and festivals.
I am still obsessed with the colours and culture of this magical place.
While Ireland is now very much home, I love painting memories of this sun drenched part of our continent, and thus my ‘Recuerdos’ collection of work was born, and continues today. The pieces keep me going between trips, until I can get back there again and I hope they evoke similar magical memories for many others too.
