Acrylic and ink on long canvas block. This is my last stork study for now š IĀ had managed to get some great photos of the storks in flight and wanted to use them against the background of Jimena. I am not sure if they do indeed fly in the early morning with stars; this is art, not ornithology, after all….
Gaucin is a town about 30 minutes drive from Jimena, on the Ronda road. It is much higher than here, and always feels colder. We had guests staying with us so I took them there; of course the castle was shut as it was Monday, but for future reference it opens on Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays š We had a nice walk around, and took some photos, which I used to draw this detail of part of the castle looking up. The views from up there across to Gibraltar and Africa were amazing.
A lot of work has been completed up at the castle, and the gateway has been cleaned and some beautiful Moorish tiles have been exposed. To the right is an upsidedown tile with Latin writing on it (so my Latin reading man tells me anyway) I scrambled up to a ledge just by the entrance to draw this, which was great as I was up and out of the way of all the tourists (most of whom didn’t look up my way) I did get a few cheery waves though š I made sure no one was passing as I knew coming down would be harder….I got a bit of a numb bum sitting up there for about an hour and a half and couldn’t quite finish it but I rather like the unfinished effect š
So those are the tiles – I didn’t get a chance to do them all- you can see there is another higher arch and they have put a walkway across the top.
Latin tile.
Lazy, hot afternoons can be pleasantly spent down by the river in Jimena. Not completely dry yet, there are still swimmable bits.Ā My sketch is the view of the castle looking up from the riverside. This week we saw some amazing dragonflies, purple, bright orange-red and blue (the blue ones were flying around locked together, not sure what they were doing *ahem* ).Ā Also saw a couple of bright turquoise kingfishers, too fast to photograph. There were teeny-tiny frogs on the rocks hopping in the water when they saw you coming. We are so lucky to have this river so close to our town.
Man in river author’s own….he is actually swimming, not drowning š
I am back at the castle, where this blog started (knew I would get there again).Ā They have almost finished renovating the castle and surrounding grounds – it’s all looking good! This olive tree stands alone at the top providing shade and a nice splash of green.
This lane is off Calle la Loba (She-wolf street) right opposite Calle Canton de la Palma (song of the palm street), and leads on up round the corner,Ā watch out for mule poo…then you come out just below the Moorish arch gateway that leads into the castle area. I stood at the bottom and did a quick sketch of this, then added a few water colours and pen and wash to contrast. Bit different than my usual style…
Spanish scribbles 