Galicia

Village in Galicia–an old friend

/ davidrpharmer / Leave a comment

This is a painting that I made many years ago. We were on our way to Santiago de Compostela, and we broke our journey at this village. Unfortunately i couldn’t remember the name. It was about mid day and it was very hot. The street was deserted. Everyone was taking refuge from the sun. I took a reference photo and painted it later

I showed it once or twice, and eventually put it into store where it stayed out of mind. Just recently it sold on line out of the blue. The buyer was a lady who bought it for her father who comes from Galicia, so in effect it is going home, which is nice.

Looking at old paintings is rather like looking at old photographs, a pleasant reminder of a trip that one made some time ago. We flew into Madrid and travelled north by coach, stopping first in Rioja. When we got into Galicia, I was impressed by the green countryside which looked similar to the UK. Nice to see an old friend off to its new home

Midday in a Galician village

/ davidrpharmer / 2 Comments

Just occasionally, going through folios of old paintings, I come across something I haven’t looked at for years, so much so that it looks new. Certainly I have never written about this one, as it was painted long before I started writing this blog

We were on our way to Santiago de Compostela, by coach so we couldn’t claim to be pilgrims. You still have to make the journey on foot or on horseback before you can do that. Nevertheless we had been making a most enjoyable journey from Madrid taking in cities like Burgos and Leon, when we stopped at this village, somewhere in Galicia. It was long ago and foolishly I didn’t keep a note of the name. All that I remember was that it was midday and it was very hot.

It was midday, and the sun was baking the ground we trod on. The place was deserted. Only the English were milling about. There were no mad dogs to be seen. The words of the Noel Coward song struck me immediately. Anyone with sense had taken cover, either eating lunch or probably having a siesta.

Later on I was moved to make this little painting. Siesta time, deserted streets, hopefully I have captured the intense heat. I will let others judge. Anyway nice to find it again