Sunday, July 18, 2010

I lend you my painting if you want to shoot it



I lend you my painting if you want to shoot it.
Circaetus gallicus
Oil painting on wood, about 60 x 130 cm.


Here I show you a work I made for my first exhibition with the group Artists for Nature, in 2007. It was in the CIECEMA exhibition hall in Almonte.
A peculiarity of this work is that when I had finished the painting stage, I asked my friend Antonia Mª Pichardo’s father to shoot it as a sort of performance, trying to “offer” my work as the target for hunters, instead of shooting the real animal.
Among the texts included in the work, besides the title, this short poem stands out:


Hermosa ave de los cielos de mi adolescencia
Excelente viajera, visitadora de África, cruzadora de estrechos
Maravilla del sur que enriquece nuestra primavera



I lend you my painting if you want to shoot it.
Circaetus gallicus
Detail

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Wildlife Art Cáceres 2010



Crane, Grus grus
Oil painting on wood, 42x37'5 cm.




Falco naumanni
Watercolour on paper, 25x24'5 cm.




Passer domesticus
Watercolour on paper, 25x24'5 cm.


Next Friday, May 14th, 8.30 p.m., at the Cultural Centre Saint George in Cáceres, the exhibition “Wildlife art, the image of nature” will be opened, as part of the activities of the Birds Festival organized by the Extremadura Department of Tourism and Culture, also collaborating Cáceres Town Hall, SEO Birdlife and the Spanish Association of Artists for Nature.
I will participate in the event with these three works; they will share room with other works made by some members of the group.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Painting in Seville



Study of Falco naumanni (male),
Watercolour on paper, 29'7x21 cm.




Heads, study of sexual dimorphism,
Watercolour and graphite pencil drawing on paper, 29'7x21 cm.




Study of proportions,
Graphite pencil drawing on paper, 29'7x21 cm.


Great day painting in Seville. Last Saturday morning, some members of AEAN (including me) went to the Patio de las Banderas, where the Forum for Diversity is located, to spend the day drawing Lesser Kestrels (Falco naumanni).
I show you some paintings made on site, some of them possible with the help of the telescopes which, kindly, my colleagues lent to me.
This day is part of a group project which will have a second stage of working at the studio and will end with an exhibition in Seville by the end of the year.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Riópar Viejo



Riópar Viejo
Watercolour on paper, 50x25 cm.




Detail of Black Redstart- Phoenicurus ochrunos-



Detail of the tombstone, plate fixed to iron cross. Adornment: some old plastic flowers.

This entry shows a very emotional work for me. I drew it in a visit to Riópar Viejo-near Riópar-Albacete- in the middle of the Segura Mountains. There, high up on the hill, in the middle of a valley, there is an old cemetery now turned into scenic view. And, on the cross, the little bird.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The mould of the Lynx



Silicone mould

After a long absence, I show you a stage in the creation process of the work “Iberian Lynx”. The final work, which is a dermoplasty, needs a hard creative process which begins with the modeling of the piece; preferably in wax, as the products employed to make the moulds do not “accept” humidity. So we rule out clay, which would make it all more difficult, requiring an additional "relief printing" in plaster. We will continue with the making of a silicone mould- it allows making various “copies”. This is a complicated technique. Once we have the mould we have to make a copy of it in polyester and fiberglass. We put glass eyes and paint it with oil painting. The work is finished when it is placed in a real-size model (diorama).

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Druso - Felis silvestris



Druso
Graphite pencil drawing on paper, 30x23 cm.




Druso (detail)
Graphite pencil drawing on paper, 30x23 cm.


Last October I travelled to Riópar, a small village in the Segura Mountains in Albacete. There is a Nature Education Centre, “La Dehesa”, where you can see lots of animals of the Iberian fauna in captivity. Among them, Druso, a wild cat which was taken to the Centre when it was very young. It was bred as a domestic cat. As it is not afraid of humans, you can watch it easily. This is a portrait of Druso.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Illustration of the literary journail `Pan de Trigo´, No. 57



`Pan de Trigo´ Cover, No. 57
Alcedo atthis,
Digitally touched up graphite pencil drawing on paper, 29x7x21 cm (original)




Lutra lutra,
Ink drawing on paper, 42x29,7 cm.




Podiceps nigricollis,
Ink drawing on paper, 29x7x21 cm.


Last December, my colleague Isabel Del Rey- President of the Literary Association “Pan de Trigo”- offered me, once again, to collaborate with the group in the 57th number of the journal. Here are the illustrations I made.


A countryside view II


A countryside view I


The blue-beaked duck

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Pillara papuda



Pillara papuda
Graphite pencil drawing on paper, 42x29,7 cm.


Here I show you the drawing of a Kentish Plover-Charadrius alexandrines. I had previously uploaded it in the blog of the Spanish Association of Artists for Nature.

If you click here, it redirects to the corresponding entry in the AEAN blog.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Himantopus sp II



Himantopus sp -Process of creation-
Watercolour on paper, 42x29,7 cm.


Last October 2nd, I uploaded various watercolour sketches of some Common Stilts seen at the Navaseca Lagoon in Daimiel. Now I show you a graphite drawing of its process of creation.

If you click here, it redirects to the corresponding watercolour.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Orphans in Acebuche



Orphans in Acebuche,
Mixed media on wood, 126x46 cm.


In this work I experimented with textures; not only tactile ones- I stuck some sand and blades of grass and poured some oil drops on the wood- but also visual textures, by using different objects to apply the oil painting: clothes, paint rollers, paintbrushes...
I painted it for an exhibition commemorating the 10th anniversary of the toxic dumping in Aznalcóllar Mines. It was held at the `Pavilion for Future ´in Seville in 2008. The exhibition was organized by the Spanish Association of Artists for Nature.



Orphans in Acebuche (Detail)
Part of the process of creation, graphite pencil drawing.




Orphans in Acebuche(Detail)
Sample of textures




Orphans in Acebuche(Detail)

`Within´ the shadow I wrote the following text:

NATURAL DISASTER IN AZNALCÓLLAR

On Saturday, April 25th, 1998, at 3.20 a.m., at the head of nesting and breeding birds, the dike of a raft containing 8 hm3 of toxic waste broke. This waste came from the mine dedicated to iron pyrite ( FeS2) extraction which Boliden-Apirsa, a Swiss-capital enterprise, had in Aznalcóllar.

The toxic dumping, of about 4,5 hm3, was mainly composed of very low PH liquids-high acidity(3,6 hm3)- and sludge with high concentrations of heavy metals (0,9 hm3). It went directly into the River Agrio and, from this, quickly to the River Guadiamar, which flows into the Natural Reserve of Doñana.

The acid flood rushed down the rivers, along 40 km for sludge and 10 more for the liquids, which burst its banks to 400 metres wide. The sludge reached an average thickness of 8cm, though in some places it got to 1,5 metres.

The dumping occupied an area of 4402 hectares (10877,578 acres), directly affecting the 520 miners in the mining company and about 500 farmers of the river banks. Crops and cattle, worth about 10.8000.000 Euros, were destroyed.

The first interventions that were made at the zone were to build a retaining wall in the Guadiamar near Isla Mayor, and divert its course through a canal to the Guadalquivir for the sludge that drag the seasonal rains went towards the Atlantic Ocean instead of Doñana.

Unfortunately, the contaminated water bathed the area known as `El Lucio del Cangrejo´, an area of great richness of bird life, where many bird species were nesting, some of them endangered.

On April 29th , the group `Environmental Volunteers for Doñana´ began activities in situ.

About 720 eggs and 15 chicks were rescued. We removed about 23 complete nests. Eggs and chicks were taken to the Breeding in Captivity Centre in Acebuche-between El Rocío and Matalascañas- where they proceed to their incubation and breeding. Most eggs belonged to: Avocets -Recurvirostra avosetta-, Stilts – Himantopus sp (540), Purple Heron – Ardea Purpurea (95)-, Mallards- Anas platyrhynchos (65)-, Marbled ducks –Marmaronetta angustirostris (in a nest I found), Gull-billed Tern – Sterna nilotica-, Common Coot –Fulica atra-, Purple Swamp-hen –Porphyrio alleni-, and Little Bittern –Ixobrychus minutus.

Together with the eggs of avocets and stilts, a chick of Little Ringed Plover –Charadrius dubius- was born. Besides we had three chicks of Marsh Harrier –Circus aeruginosus.

We looked after the chicks from the first weeks of May until August of that year. I went almost every weekend and whenever I was able to on holidays.

Almost all the avocets and stilts were killed by a bacterium which caused them ulcers in their beaks. Some fellow volunteers forgot to put the antibiotic (which prevented the spread of parasites and viruses) in the water, . `Chiquito´, the Little Ringed Plover died, too, the same as the Marsh Harriet chicks. Everything happened in only three days.

We put them in the sun from 10 to 12, but, a day we forgot to take them away and the three died of sunstroke. In the end 80% of Purple Herons and anatidae survived. But only the chicks of six Marbled Duck, one Purple Swamp-hen, and one Little Bittern survived.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Ulysses



Ulysses
Felt-tip pen on paper, 42x29,7 cm.
Cover of the Literary Journal n. 49
La Solana, January 2006
Literary and Artistic Association `Pan de Trigo´


I thank Mr. Jesús Martínez Mira for allowing me to use his poem in my blog.

ULISES (Poem)

La noche es aún más noche,
más túnel de fantasmas en acecho,
desde que duermo sola.

He cubierto mis hombros con un chal de penumbra
y, descalza, he salido al balcón de las ausencias
porque aquí te recuerdo
mirando el ancho mar salpicado de gaviotas
en cada amanecer de luz y fuego.

Es el mismo balcón en que esperaba
tu vuelta, años atrás, cuando te hervía
la sangre joven y marchabas lejos,
a tu reino de fiebre y de placer,
tras el placer calmante de tu fiebre,
dejando en el espejo del pasillo
solamente una sombra difusa de tu imagen.

Te fuiste muchas veces y otras tantas
regresaste a mi lado: las paredes
festejaban tu voz
y yo jamás lanzaba los dardos del reproche.

En profundo silencio, me sentaba
a la orilla derecha de la luna
y tú, sobre mis muslos, desmayabas,
en silencio profundo, tu cansancio.

Rasgándole a la noche sus ángulos oscuros,
yo te daba cobijo
y pasaba mi mano por tu cuerpo
porque era la manera más segura
de sentirte de nuevo compartiendo
soledades conmigo
y de ahuyentarme el miedo
a perderte otra vez por las esquinas
de tus caprichos.

Poco a poco, el herrero de los años
fue forjando eslabones de hierro bien fundido
con los que encadenarte a este paisaje
de nuestras vidas
amasadas de amor y nostalgias.

Accediste y dejaste tu promesa
sobre el violeta vivo de mi falda,
y, de ahí en adelante, día y noche,
cada minuto,
permanecimos juntos.

Dormimos siembre bajo el mismo techo
y encima siempre de las mismas sábanas.

Compartimos los sueños imposibles
y la quieta impaciencia del insomnio.

Desde el sofá con flores mil veces escuchamos
la magia de Strawinsky
y otras mil veces vimos Casablanca.

Si en el punto de cruz me sumergía,
tú mirabas absorto la danza de la aguja
por la intrincada red del cañamazo
y, si tú meditabas en silencio,
yo, para no interrumpir tu paz, me zambullía
en las tranquilas aguas de tus ojos.

Recorrimos otoños, primaveras,
inviernos y veranos como estrellas
fugaces que dibujan
cuadros abstractos sobre oscuro lienzo.

Todo estaba perfecto, pero todo
saltó hecho añicos
igual que saltan
los trozos de cristal de cualquier copa
que, por descuido, se nos cae al suelo.

Me faltas otra vez y, ahora, me faltas
desde el último junio,
y estoy tan arrimada a la tristeza,
al dolor y a las lágrimas
porque sé que no tengo ya esperanza,
que ya no has de volver
ni siquiera quebrado como un gozne
que la humedad del alba haya oxidado.

Yo, para esto, no estaba preparada
y, aunque no lo supieras, es posible
que tú tampoco lo estuvieras para
vivir siempre a mi lado
restaurando presencias que, a veces, me quitaste.

¿Cómo, si no, se entiende tu partida?

¿Quién te otorgó licencia, dime, para matarte?

¿Por qué me hiciste
ver tu cuerpo estrellado en el asfalto,
Ulises, viejo amigo, viejo gato?

First Prize `Pedro Alonso Morgado´, 2005
La Palma del Condado, Huelva.


Jesús Martínez Mira from Castellón-Benicasim (Castellón)

Monday, November 16, 2009

Lynx (Lynx pardinus)



Lince -Lynx pardinus-, detail
Oil painting on wood, 72,5x53,5 cm.


One of my first good oil paintings. It was the image of the poster of my first individual exhibition. I gave it to my brother Niki.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Himantopus sp



Couple of Himantopus sp
Watercolour on paper, 42x29,7 cm.





















Himantopus sp
Watercolour on paper, 42x29,7 cm.


Studies made after a visit to the Navaseca Lagoon in Daimiel. It gets water from the village wastewater treatment plant and is home to the majority of bird life in the `battered´ National Park of Tablas de Daimiel.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Free School of Arts of Priego de Córdoba II

The living river
I have made this work as final project of the Bronze Casting Course taught by Mr. Luis M. García Cruz, Mrs. Marta Campos, Mr. José A. Aguilar and Mr. Venancio Blanco.
This work was awarded a grant and it will be part of the collection of the Municipal Foundation `Adolfo Lozano Sidro´ in Priego de Córdoba.




The living river (detail)
Bronze, about 30 cm3






` The living river´(Sketches)
Graphite pencil on paper, 42x29'7 cm










The living river
Bronze, about 30 cm3

Free School of Arts of Priego de Córdoba I

From 2 to 23 of this month of August I have been living in Priego de Córdoba in order to learn bronze casting techniques and making nude portraits under the supervision of Mr. Venancio Blanco, as part of the courses offered by the Municipal Foundation `Adolfo Lozano Sidro´ and its Free School of Fine Arts.



Ade, Nieves, Miguel, Anita, Lolita, Naranjo, Juanjo and Bego (Sau), Luis, Carmen and Marta, Dayse, Leonor, Irene, Bea, Antonio, Marta and Luis, José Antonio, Venancio… thanks for this month.



Andrés Naranjo, Professor at the Fine Arts Faculty in Seville. No doubt, the funniest person in the group.
I hope this course is the beginning of a friendship.



Here I am with my `little bird´(that was how my fellows called it)



Closing ceremony. During the same the prizewinners were appointed. I was awarded one of the scholarships and my fellow, Begoña Ortiz, was awarded the other one. The work I made will be part of the collection of the Municipal Foundation `Adolfo Lozano Sidro´ in Priego de Córdoba.





Everybody at work.



The teachers (among the best ones I´ve ever had): Mr. Venancio Blanco, Mr. José Antonio Aguilar, Mrs. Marta Campos and Mr. Luis García Cruz.



Enrique Caetano, Professor at the Fine Arts Faculty in Seville and one of my graduation classmates, made the speech: “El dibujo de apunte, hacia la formación plástica personal”.