Appreciating art on a walk...

View towards Formentor

I love appreciating art on a walk, it provides a different dimension to my every day ramble.

Before Mallorca got hit by torrential downpours I went on one of my favourite walks near Cala San Vicente on the north of the island. Within minutes of parking the car on the outskirts of the town you are walking through sweet smelling grasses and Mediterranean pine trees. After a hard hour scramble upwards you’re rewarded with spectacular views of the Tramuntana mountain range disappearing off south west and the northern headlands towards the Formentor lighthouse.

Days like this the sky and sea are a Yves Klein Ultramarine Blue. You understand why he wanted to replicate the colour and bottle it to brighten up a grey January day.

Klein Ultramarine Blue Sea

Heading back down the mountain the horizon blends into the sky. There was very little wind that afternoon but a sailing boat gently pottered it’s way along. Little triangles of bright white sails gradually became larger. This is what I see in my mind’s eye when I’m painting my sailing days: trying to capture the peacefulness of the scene, the long reflections of the sails on the sea’s surface, the depths of the blues, wispy clouds overhead, a sense of freedom and distance from the troubles of the world.

Pine trees cling to the rocks and manage to survive. Rosemary permeates the slight breeze and we’re suddenly surrounded by masses of dragonflies. A pale blue butterfly flits by and then settles onto the rosemary but I’m wrong, it’s a moth with the most vivid pattern on the other side of it’s wings. I wonder at nature, at the richness of a seemingly barren and wild landscape. The beautiful vast landscape narrows down to tiny intricate details and I wonder how I’m going to capture this one day in the Studio. In the meantime I treasure these memories as the rain lashes by horizontally with the promise of winter in it’s wake.