Views of landscape: Art and Nature

Organized by Daniel Marías,  professor at Carlos III University in Madrid, the exhibition "Views of landscape: Art and Nature" was opened last Monday 10th December. It will be opened til 21st December at the Miguel de Unamuno building in Colmenarejo campus. There it is possible to watch a selection of images of some of the works of artists such as Antonio Ojea, Juan Luis Alcalde, Gerardo Orellana, Santiago Osácar y José A. Sencianes, together with  Arturo de Miguel, Javier Grijalbo, Alejandra Rivas Nussbaum and mine, too.

I take advantage of this opportunity to thank Daniel´s effort. Organizing an exhibition with various artists is a challenge not everybody dares to take on.

61st International Autumn Exhibition

Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 6th, at 18.00,  the 61st International Autumn Exhibition will be opened. It is organized by Santa Isabel de Hungría Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the Villegas showroom, Casa de los Pinelo (Abades, 14- Seville). 

The little hunter

The little hunter  -Lanius senator

Bronze and iron, 120x57x57 cm.

Detail

This is my last bronze work; it has been chosen for the LXI Autumn Exhibition of Santa Isabel de Hungría Fine Arts Academy in Seville.
It will be opened next November 6th at José Villegas temporary exhibition hall  in the Pinelo´s House, 14 Abades Street , in Seville.
I´m sorry I can´t go; my daughter-to-be , Andrea Gaia, will be born around those days. My friends Andrés and Lolita will be there on my behalf (thank you, guys).

Picture of the leaflet 

Last activities

73th  International Contest of Visual Arts in Valdepeñas 

Alba
Bronze, iron and wood, 200 x 87 x 52 cm.

Alba (Detail)

Barn owl -Tyto alba

Alba (Detail)
Base of the work where we can see a shrew - Crocidura russula

I show you again the work (once finished) I made last year at the Course on Drawing and Bronze sculpture of Priego de Córdoba. 

Picture of the International Exhibition of Visual Arts in Valdepeñas.

I´m happy to tell you that this work was chosen for the exhibition at the 73th International Contest of Visual Arts in Valdepeñas, one of the most prestigious art contests in our country. The opening was on September 2nd  at the Cultural Centre "La Confianza" in Valdepeñas (Ciudad Real) and will be open until September 7th, from 9:30 to 13:30 and 18:00 to 21:00 (Monday- Saturday) and  11:00 to 14:00 on Sundays.

Pictures of the opening

D. Antón Patiño, guest artist and member of the jury during the opening.

 Me with Gael, David and David H.P. next to the selected work.

'Mythology' - Art Exhibit in Mota del Cuervo (Cultural Association 'Pequeña Mancha')

Ahtenea´s eyes, Athene noctua 
Graphite pencil and oil painting on wood, 60x42 cm.

Ahtena´s eyes, Athene noctua (Detail)
Graphite pencil and oil painting on wood, 60x42 cm.

I´d like also to show you this work, part of its creation process I showed you in a previous post. The above said work has been shown in the exhibition MYTHOLOGY at La Tercia exhinition hall in Mota del Cuervo (Cuenca), organized by the Cultural Association `Pequeña Mancha´, from August 26th to September 2nd.

Poster of the exhibition `MYTHOLOGY´.

I couldn´t go to it because of medical problems. I´ll try to link with the blog of the `Pequeña Mancha´ Association  when they give pictures of the opening. 

Second casting
I also spent part of August to cast some pieces. We met again in my parents´ village. This time, Luis Cordero came with us. We spent four days (and almost four nights) with the casting trees, baths and removing wax. 

 Improvised workshop of wax in my parents´ kitchen. We had brought the works modelled and spent two days and its nights repairing small damages after the journey and assembling the casting trees.

Some samples of works with casting trees.

 Andrés y Lolita beginning the process of bathing. It was about  11p.m. We decided to start so late in ordere to take advantage of the the cool of the night.

Assembling of the removing wax hood.

 L. Cordero controlling the gas.

The fire. The heat shock allows us to remove the wax and leave the moulds of ceramics shell cleared. 

Panorama of the moulds: 9 big pieces (3-6 kg) for direct pouring and 11 small pieces (less than 1´5 kg) of ceramics shell with built-in crucible.

 Later, alone (Lolita and Andrés had to leave because of work reasons), I casted three pieces. In the picture, weighing the bronze and putting it in the crucible.

 Casting workshop at the top floor in my sister´s house.

 The kiln with one of the pieces inside.

 Taking out one of the pieces. My brother-in-law helps me in case of leaks.

My niece, captivated by the beauty of the incandescence of the casting process.

Partially clean pieces. Except for small `rechupes´,the casting was almost perfect.

More information:
The first casting (creation and casting process). 
The long creation process (creating the works). 

The long creative process

Rabúo, Cyanopica cyanus
Oil painting on wood, 30x21 cm.

Detail


Sometimes I think I make my processes very complicated. It takes me too much time to finish a work; that´s why I´m usually working on some of them at the same time.

Making a study from life in the Islote del Moro - Cabo de Gata (Almería)

Every work of 'wildlife art' begins in nature. You have to go out and watch animals to soak up their forms, gestures,...study and feel them.To that end, attired with the necessary optical devices in order not to disturb these creatures, we are ready to take notes: drawings, texts, photographs or simply to watch: For me, this is the best thing, watching, enjoying the act of looking carefully the beauty of animal morphology, without any other distraction.

Some of the sketches 

Studies from life of Yellow-legged Gull
Islote del Moro - Cabo de Gata (Almeria)
Graphite pencil on paper, 30x42 cm.

Studies from life of Black-winged Stilt
Las Salinas - Cabo de Gata (Almería)
Graphite pencil on paper, 30x42 cm.

Studies of Great and Little Ringed Plovers,
"The mother of marshes" - El Rocío, Almonte (Huelva)
Graphite pencil on paper, 21x30 cm.

 Studies of Calandra Lark and Crested Lark,
Road from Tomelloso to Ossa de Montiel
Graphite pencil, watercolur and felt-tip pen on paper, 21x30 cm.

Detail

Studies and sketches for a work on Red-legged Partridge,
Road from Tomelloso to Ossa de Montiel
Graphite pencil and watercolour on A4 paper

Study of Common Coot and Marshy mare with colt 

"The mother of marshes" - El Rocío, Almonte (Huelva)
Graphite pencil on paper, 21x30 cm.


Drawing made with my left hand.

Sketch for painting of an experience lived at "The mother of marshes" 

Graphite pencil on paper, 21x30 cm.

Studies of Mallard and Moorhen 

Navaseca Lagoon - Daimiel (Ciudad Real)

Graphite pencil, felt-tip pen and watercolour on paper, 9x28 cm.

Later, with the photographs taken that day, I made a more elaborated graphite drawing which I used to make a bigger work. 

Too see the picture  click here

Studies from life of White-headed Duck and Black-headed Gull
Navaseca Lagoon - Daimiel (Ciudad Real)
Graphite pencil, watercolour, felt-tip pen and colour pencil on A4 paper


It was coloured later. 

After collecting experiences, ideas...; to sum up, inspiration, I go on with the work in the workshop.
Firstly, with all the material, I made sketches-morphological analysis of the species to portray, if it´s going to be a sculpture.

Sketches of Aphanius iberus and Chub, previous to the sculpture. 
Graphite pencil on paper and digital treatment, 21x30 cm.

Sketch of  Chasquita (Motacilla alba), previous to the sculpture.  
Graphite pencil, felt-tip pen and colour pencil on paper, 25x50 cm.


To make these sketches I use memories of previous experiences to compose the pose and studies from life and photographs I take for the details. I have also used bibliographic material for the fish. I intend to take a diving course to add these species to my works.

Then we go on with the making of the model in wax.

Wax model of White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) -in process
Real size

At the workshop, modelling in wax. 

Wax model of Woodchat Shrike 


Sketch in a previous post - Click here to see the sketch

I work with galvanized sheet, embossed and welded with tin-silver. This work is similar to the way I model in wax, though this material implies harder work.

You can see some samples of tin-silver works in previous posts.
      Alpine Swift, Apus melba
      Good and bad, equal at the mirror II

When making paintings, firstly I study the composition and make the "grisaille" in graphite, fixed before colouring it. Needless to say, before starting a work I prepare the panels by applying a primer, almost a stucco, as my way of working requires it.

Atenea´s eyes, Athene noctua - In process

Graphite pencil and oil on wood, 60x42 cm.

Detail

Disrupting dreams -In process
Graphite pencil and oil painting on wood, 60x150 cm.


Sorry for the quality of the image. 

Net, Charadrius alexandrinus - En proceso

Graphite pencil and oil painting on wood, 30x42 cm.

Once the pictures are finished (look at the image opening this post), we have to build the frames. I do it at my brother-in-law´s - Francisco M . Sánchez - workshop; it´s easier with his help.

Frames ready to be patinated and varnished.

Sculptures imply harder work. After modelling in wax, you have to build the casting tree, prepare the ceramics shell, cast... 

All this process can be watched in previous posts: 

      Course on Drawing and Bronze Sculpture, Priego 2010 (My Work)

     The first casting

      Priego 2011 Sculpture

      Course on Fusible Crucible

After this we have the most boring and hardest part of the casting process: removing of the ceramics shell and polishing the piece. 

Male avocet - Waiting to be polished.

Bronze, real size

When this phase is finished the pieces have to be patinated. We mainly use very toxic substances such as acids and oxides though I´d rather use natural stuffs (citric acid=lemon juice, sugar...) and give colour by means of pigments and wax polish. 

Works with the first coat of sugar patina. 

There is the preparation of the structures for the final assembly left. 

 Assembly of  'Lapwings'

Structure for the assembly of 'The living river II' 

As you can see there is no time for resting... and with every outing,  more occasions to be incorporated to new compositions mount up. 

This summer, Lolita Paz, Andrés J. Naranjo and me are planning to cast again and I´ll try to finish some of the pictures and add some sculptures... but I need more time to do everything I want.