Art | The Daily Norm

Sep 21

Ocho Balcones (No.6): Angled Perspective

This sixth gouache in my collection, Ocho Balcones, is all about angles. Viewed from a seated position in our dining room, and with a door open to the right, the street outside another of our balconies benefits from a sloping reflection and a slightly different perspective from the rest of the collection. And since it is viewed from below, this painting is the first of the set to include the bright blue sky which so often graces the beautiful views we enjoy in our Mallorca home. Glowing with all its unmistakeable Mediterranean glory, the sky marks a striking contrast against the dark interior whose moody shadows frame this 6th balcony view.

Ocho Balcones No.6: Angled Perspective (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, gouache on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown 2000-2015. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included on this website without express and written permission from Nicholas de Lacy-Brown is strictly prohibited. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacybrown.com

Sep 16

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My travel sketchbook: Plaza de Santo Cristo, Marbella

Of the many pages now full of pen-drawings in my sketchbook, a hefty percentage show Mediterranean city squares, usually with a fountain in the middle. Last week I featured my sketch of the Plaza de la Victoria in Marbella, and this week continues the trend with the Plaza de Santo Cristo, which can be found a mere 5 minute stroll away in the same pretty Casco Antiguo (old town) of Marbella. Why I have such an obsession with sketching these squares remains ever clear to me. In the streets you discover a quaint atmosphere, but in these little cobbled plazas, you find all that and more – the trickle of water from a central fountain, the grandeur of bigger buildings reserved for these show-piece plazas, and a panoply of plants and flowers giving shade to the locals who gather there.

All of these features can be found in the Plaza de Santo Cristo, which features one of Marbella’s most iconic little churches, a flamenco club, mountain view, and of course a fountain at its centre. But perhaps what I love most of all in the square is the relationship between the long bendy palms set against the typically Andalucian white-washed walls of the church. Magnificent.

Plaza de Santo Cristo, Marbella (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown 2000-2015. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included on this website without express and written permission from Nicholas de Lacy-Brown is strictly prohibited. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacybrown.com

Sep 14

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Ocho Balcones (No.5): The Summer Bathroom

The fifth gouache painting of my collection Ocho Balcones is not strictly speaking a balcony. That is to say the window it features sits right next door to the fifth balcony of our apartment, located within the light bathroom we loved to use in the summer. But with its square framing, this window provides a far more interesting reflection on the same view, not least because on the windowsill sits my first and only ever completed sculpture of a female nude created some 4 years ago and delicately transported out to Mallorca from London.

I love the time of the day when the sun hits the buildings opposite at an angle and the result is a striped sun dance bouncing across the coloured facades. And now that the effect is captured in my painting, I can rest assured that even with the changing seasons, a little slice of summertime in the old town of Palma has been captured to enjoy, siempre.

Ocho Balcones, No.5: The Summer Bathroom (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, gouache on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown 2000-2015. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included on this website without express and written permission from Nicholas de Lacy-Brown is strictly prohibited. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacybrown.com

Sep 9

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My travel sketchbook: Plaza de la Victoria, Marbella

The next page of my sketchbook to have its day in the limelight is another sketch from my recent trip to Marbella, this time depicting the Plaza de la Victoria in Marbella’s Casco Antiguo. Nestled besides the famous Plaza de los Naranjos, and filled with trees and foliage, it is a real highlight of Marbella’s quaint Andalucian old town. But it is perhaps the fountain at its centre which gives the square its real character, and sitting at a little cafe serving crispy churros and coffee beside it, I was able to enjoy this perfect vantage point. You can even see the cafe’s popular churros sneaking into the sketch on the left. Ah… the halcyon days of summer.

Plaza de la Victoria, Marbella (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Sep 7

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Ocho Balcones (No.4): The Longest View

Another Monday heralds the next instalment in my Ocho Balcones collection, the gouaches on paper which attempt to capture the mood and views of my Mallorca apartment. As is typical of many of the buildings in the old town of Palma de Mallorca, ours is nestled quite closely to neighbouring buildings, such that the view from our balconies is generally quite close to our fellow neighbours mere metres across the way. This makes for a wonderfully interesting spectacle on occasions when, in the trend of James Stewart in Hitchcock’s Rear Window, we are able to observe glimpses of the varying lives of our neighbours (and more embarrassing, vice versa).

However, not all our views are thus, and today’s gouache captures “The Longest View”… the street opposite our lounge which gives us an amazing panorama all the way down a small side street onto the little bustling square at its end. And just in case you were in any doubt that the view is from our home, in the foreground, our plants and recently acquired Aristotle-looking bust frame the image, likewise enjoying the vertical strip of old town which can be so admired from our fourth balcony.

Ocho Balcones No.4: The Longest View (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, gouache on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown 2000-2015. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included on this website without express and written permission from Nicholas de Lacy-Brown is strictly prohibited. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacybrown.com

Sep 3

My travel sketchbook: Parque de la Constitución

The pages of my travel sketchbook are filling up! Started in Dubrovnik back in May last year, with a somewhat questionable sketch of a church tower and an even more questionable attempt at poetry (for which, apologies), the contents have since matured into something I now carry with pride, as the very best collection of pictorial memories I could hope for. On my recent trip to Marbella, I used the happy balmy time relaxing in the summer climes to make several additions to my sketchbook, and the first is here.

The sketch shows a corner of what must be my favourite park in Marbella, the Parque de la Constitución. Filled with tropical plants, an observatory, a little shady cafe and with a Moorish-styled amphitheatre at its centre, it is a park designed with leisure in mind, and on a hot Marbella day, it is a wonderful space in which to relax. In this sketch, you can just about make out the arabesque arches of the theatre in the background, together with the observatory and a good number of the many trees boasted by the park. A fine place to sketch in the summer.

Parque de la Constitucion (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Aug 31

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Ocho Balcones (No.3): Kitchen Contrast

After two weeks, it has become something of a new tradition to begin the week with the latest addition of my new collection of gouache paintings, Ocho Balcone. Named after the 8 balconies which I get to enjoy every day in my Palma de Mallorca flat, it is particularly pertinent that their bright colours should start off the week afresh in this blog, since in reality it is the cheer of these sunny views which makes the prospect of working after the weekend a little more bearable.

This Monday’s painting is the third in the collection, and depicts the balcony immediately adjacent to our kitchen. I love the time of the day when the sun on the yellow building opposite is so bright that the colours of the inside of my kitchen pale by way of comparison. This painting is an attempt to capture this contrast, when, with the harsh glow of sunlight dominating from outside, the inside of my kitchen becomes something of a monochrome version of its former self.

Ocho Balcones No. 3: KItchen Contrast (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, gouache on paper)

More to come, next Monday!

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown 2000-2015. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included on this website without express and written permission from Nicholas de Lacy-Brown is strictly prohibited. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacybrown.com

Aug 26

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My travel sketchbook: One-armed lady

There was an awful lot I could have sketched when I was recently in Malaga. It wasn’t just that I was inspired to paint the landscape interpretation I went on to create shortly after our return, but I also felt the need to flip open my sketchbook and capture the captivating elements of the city. And I didn’t need to look much further than the view from my hotel, the Molina Lario, to find inspiration.

For the rooftop of the hotel is easily its best attraction. With a little pool and poolside bar, the roof allows you to splash around to your heart’s content with the most stunning city view as your backdrop. In fact the view had inspired me before, when last year I created a mixed-technique etching and woodcut print of the view. But not content with that, I decided to return to the same inspiration, focusing in on Malaga’s famously unfinished single-towered cathedral for inspiration. And here is the result. The latest page of my travel sketchbook, all with pen.

Malaga Cathedral, detail (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

Aug 24

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Ocho Balcones (No.2): Cables in the Calle

Another week has begun, time continues to traverse its fleeting path through the year, and it’s time for me to present this week’s second addition to my new Ocho Balcones collection: a series of small gouache paintings illustrating the views which I am lucky enough to enjoy from the 8 balconies of my Palma de Mallorca flat.

Today’s view is has a much more narrow field of vision than the first. The balcony from which the aspect is seen is not even in view. Instead, the painting focuses in on a particular aspect of this view from our dining table, namely the electricity (or are they telephone?) cables which are so characteristic of the old town of Palma, and which hang directly outside our apartment.

Ocho Balcones No. 2: Cables in the Calle (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, gouache on paper)

From the first day we moved into this flat last autumn, I have been fascinated by these cables which hang at the same level as our apartment, and which provide a divertingly original aspect to an otherwise colourful view of pastel houses and the typical Mallorquin green shutters. Enveloped in some kind of striped cloth, they almost look like a complex form of flag pole suspended midair over the street. In reality I have no idea what the cables are for, nor what function the striped material has. I only know that I love to look at these structures each day, and thoroughly enjoyed capturing them in this second sunny scene from my new gouache collection.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown 2000-2015. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included on this website without express and written permission from Nicholas de Lacy-Brown is strictly prohibited. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

Aug 21

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Interpretation No. 15 – Malaga

The week ends as it begun, with the introduction of another of my new little paintings, created comparatively quickly (that is, in relation to my oil works) with gouache on paper, and inspired by another stunning landscape of the Mediterranean. As with the other works in my collection of “interpretations” which began back last summer on the Amalfi Coast, my landscape of Malaga attempts to simplify the forms of the landscape by stripping out many of the architectural details, while using flat areas of colour to delineate architectural forms and their contrast with the haphazard lines of nature around them.

My photos on Wednesday will hopefully help to persuade you as to why the southernmost large Spanish city of Malaga should have brought out the artist within me, and in creating this 15th interpretative landscape, I have attempted to catch the city at one of its most alluring times, when the sun has set to create a golden backdrop to the diverse architectural shapes of the city: from the baroque majesty of the “one-armed lady” (the cathedral) to the simplified robust walls of the ancient moorish Alcazaba palace.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com