Sketching All Over Spain

Click on the first image to see full screen in a gallery format – enjoy!

: The Royal Palace in Madrid – I toured it and was not really impressed. I’ve seen far nicer palaces in other countries. I fear that the royal family here in Spain is on its way out. The country can hardly afford it and it’s not really a hot tourist draw (like in Britain). They do have a changing of the guard ceremony here if you look online. Rather cool to see the uniforms, the pretty horses and all that pageantry – something we don’t see in America! The grounds are nice, though. Tour it if you must, but I’d say save your money.

: At the top northeastern corner of Spain, within sight of France lies the Cap de Creus lighthouse. It’s a remote spit of land, tortured by the fierce Tramontana winds. I did this watercolor of the lighthouse there for my sweet Catalan buddy Beth who loves lighthouses and took me there to see it once.

: An often overlooked park near the Prado, the Royal Botanic gardens are a lovely quiet respite in a big city. This little nook was the Peace Garden and had a poem that said: “Fomenta la paz en el mundo, usando el idioma universal del jardin.” – which sort of means The formation of peace in the world utilizes the universal language of gardening.

: Bullfighting may be controversial, but it’s still a part of many Spanish town’s traditions including Andalucia and central Spain. It;s not legal in most of Spain anymore (thankfully) but this grisly tradition still is practiced mostly in the south.

: Half an hour south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean sea lies the cute town of Sitges, one of my favorite getaways. The train ride itself is totally magical.

: The Rose of the Winds – showing the directions and names of each corresponding wind in the European region. Yikes, the winds are so strong they even have names!