Evening in Lisbon

 

Evening in Lisbon

(acrylic on mountboard, 10x10 in)

Have you ever regretted starting a painting? I knew quite soon after beginning this one that it was a mistake but I was reacting to a prompt from Gateshead Art Society and didn’t feel I could give up. I think, in fact, that it’s turned out well if a little romantic (clue: we spent our honeymoon in Lisbon), so I shouldn’t moan. But something about the painting of it (the paint layer’s too thin for a start) meant that corrections were needed just about every day for over a week. However, enough hair shirt. Onward!

Lisbon Ceramics

There's a wonderful Tile Museum in Lisbon - the Museu Nacional do Azulejo. In addition to a splendid range of Portuguese ceramic tiles through history (and the modern ones are really something), there's a changing exhibition of ceramics in the broader sense. 

When we were there the show was called Art Submerged 2014 and the artist, Sylvain Bongard had made a collection of fish of various species, molluscs, crustaceans and marine plants:

 as well as old boots, keys and other stuff you might find on the sea bed:

I was particularly taken with a set of heads which seemed to be the underwater equivalent of the Green Man :

Lisbon Tiles

No, look, I promise I'm going to get back to regular posting here on Boogie Street.

Lisbon is noted for its ceramic tiles.Whole houses are covered in them.



Here are a few I photographed both in the streets and in the Tile Museum.

Some were quirky:

and some were just weird:

And while the pavements weren't tiled they were certainly eye-catching:

Wedding Bells

Perhaps this photograph will give some idea of the reason for the lack of posts on my blog. Here, Pat and I arrive for our marriage on 17th October at Gateshead Register Office.

Here's a family group, taken by my good friend Roy, who was my best man:

After that we had a week in Lisbon. There will be photographs from that trip soon.