# 8. Innocence

Ain’t it cute! It’s supposed to be a baby tiger but it’s kinda hard to tell since it’s only a pencil drawing. It would look better in color I think. I need to invest in new prisma pencils and paints.

I’ve decided we need more parks and small cafes in Oklahoma. One of my favorite things to do while I’ve been in Spain is to sit on a bench in the park and work on a few sketches. A couple of times I sat at various cafes and sketched the Spanish architecture around me. All the parks, plazas, and cafes around here gives the city a really nice relaxing atmosphere. I'm going to miss it. Oklahoma bound tomorrow!

Dali Goal Complete!

I had a post several months ago about wanting to visit the Dali-Theatre in Figueres while I’m studying abroad in Spain. GOAL COMPLETE!! And let me say the museum was incredible! I talked about 5 Dali artworks that I really wanted to see. I ended up getting to see 4 out of 5, but I also got to see sooooo much more!

1.    Portrait of Gala with Two Lamb Chops Balanced on Her Shoulder (1933)  sadly this painting was not on display at the museum. I looked everywhere for it with no luck. Either the museum has it on loan or it’s tucked away to be displayed another day. However, I did get to see Soft Self Portrait with Grilled Bacon (1941).

2.    Galatea of the Spheres (1952). You’re allowed to take pictures in the museum but you aren’t allowed to use the flash. Sadly a few of my pictures came out kinda blurry because of it.

3.    Surrealist Object Functioning Symbolically (1974) There’s a room in the museum that is set up like a bed room which I assume was Dali’s ideal surrealist bedroom. It had several surrealist paintings, the bed post was made of a fish tail, and there was a gold statue of money bones in the corner. Anyway this piece was also in the room inside a cabinet

4.    Face of Mae West Which Can Be Used as an Apartment (installation) (1974) In the museum there are several installation pieces. There’s actually another one kinda like this but the mouth is a doorway. The whole museum is kind of like an installation piece really. It use to be an actual theater but it was heavily damaged in the Spanish Civil War. The Mayor of Figueres gave the building to Dali in the 1960’s so Dali could have his own unique place to display his work. It took him about a decade to put it all together. He left the structure of the building alone. You can see where the stage and balcony seats were. Like I said, there is no other museum in the work like this one!

5.    Dali Jewels I actually didn’t get to see the entire Dali Jewels collection because I just didn’t have enough time. However there we a few of the jewel pieces in the basement

The whole museum is covered in Dali artwork. In the hall ways they display many of his sketches and if you look in each corner he has some odd surrealist statue or weird collaboration. I really wish I would have had more time to explore everything. I could have easily spent an entire day in the museum. Also, I didn’t know at the time but it doesn’t surprise me that Dali is actually buried in the museum as well. I can only assume Gala is buried along side him.

Here are a few more pictures just for fun.





# 27. Foreign

So I’m currently studying abroad in Spain. Sadly it’s a business program not an art study. Anyway here’s a sketch I did this week. Basically it summarizes a lot about my time in Spain thus far. A historic city where even the broken builds and walls are beautiful, it adds character. The wall is came from a observation in a park, I even included the graffiti.

I really wish I could stay longer and study more European art. While I’ve been here in Spain I’ve found myself to have a new appreciation for the Spanish artist El Greco. I’ve seen several of his painting in the Prada museum in Madrid as well as the monastery-palace El Escorial, and the famous “Burial of the Count of Orgaz” in Toledo. I’m probably drawn to him because, at his time, he was a very unusual artist. I find it amusing to overhear people look at his paintings and others artists of the 16^th century and say, “Why is this one so important? They all look alike.”…. Some people just don’t get it…. NO! They are not all alike! During the 16^th century you were taught to paint in a certain way. “This is what you paint, these are the colors you use, and this is the technique to do it!” In a way the man tested the water to create painting that expressed a story in a different manner. (Ha Ha art joke there, mannerism). Basically, he broke the traditional rules of painting and I like it!