The Daily Norm

Feb 18

February in Paris – Part 2: Valentine’s in the City of Love

Paris is truly the City of Love. For even if you are not lucky enough to be strolling around the streets of the central arrondissements in the arms of a loved one, there is surely sufficient beauty in those Haussmann-conceived boulevards and palatial streets to fall in love with. And while I have been lucky enough to spend the last 5 years of visits to Paris in the company of my beloved, I also look back fondly upon my first experiences of the city: when young and very much single, I saw the historically rich and artistically abundant streets for the first time and fell head over heels in love – a personal relationship with Paris which has continued to this day.

So spending this year’s Valentine’s Day in Paris certainly seemed appropriate. Yes, the city was wise enough to cash in on its reputation, such that every restaurant was reserved to the hilt with set menus costing triple the normal price, but putting this rather crass commercialisation aside, I could not think of no better place to spend the year’s most dedicated day of love. The city is one so perfectly attuned with its environment and its picture perfect urban planning that is as though the city is in love with itself, with the nature all around it and vice versa. At every street corner there is a new panorama to be admired and a new direct vista to some stunning iconic building, and with such harmonious town planning evident wherever you walk in Paris, you cannot help but feel satisfied, balanced and free to love.

The photos which accompany this love song to Paris are something of a miscellaneous homage, taken over the Valentine’s weekend as we strolled and admired the city. From bridges to cafe’s, bull dogs to palaces, they are the archetypal vision of a picture perfect city which will seduce every visitor, and make even the most stalwart singleton feel love for the first time.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. 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.

Feb 17

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February in Paris – Part 1: Sunset in the Tuileries

I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles – so sang Ella Fitzgerald in a song with which many a Paris-lover can identify. For Paris is truly a city for every season, even in the wintery rain. And it was precisely because our weekend in Paris was destined to be a wet one (according to some forecasts at any rate) that upon our sunny but late arrival there at the end of last week, we thought we had better rush out and take what photos we could while the city remained dry. With a mere hour to go until sundown, this meant photographing what we came upon first, and for us in a lucky location staying alongside the Palais Royal, our pre-sundown photographs were taken in perhaps one of the most beautiful of Paris sites – the Tuileries and around the Louvre.

In the yellowing light of a dying day, the carefully manicured hedges of the Tuileries melt into the distance behind the subtly glinting statues which stand all around the gardens. Behind it all, the imposing palatial magnitude of the Louvre complex dazzles with its sheer magnificence and complexity, a scale which is seconded only by the equally majestic buildings which extend the full length of the Tuileries running alongside the glamorous Rue de Rivoli.

The Tuileries are not only beautiful in themselves, even in the winter when their leaves are much depleted, but they also provide for the perfect place in which to study the perfect vistas of Paris, whether it be the masterfully crafted symmetrical view down the across the Place de la Concorde all the way down the Champs Élysées and along to La Defence, or the ever omnipotent site of the Eiffel Tower silhouetted against the sky. For this reason there could be no better place from which to start our most recent reconnaissance with the city, nor indeed this Daily Norm photographic tribute.

: The ultimate Paris shot

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. 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.

Feb 11

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Mallorca Sketchbook: Olives and Grain

To call these little paintings “sketches” is perhaps something of a misnomer, not least for my sketchbook which is traditionally full of black and white line drawings. However, my move to Mallorca has undoubtedly coincided with a rush of colour into my life, and the drawings I am doing now are more colourful in their creation. They are also painted – these two little detailed sketches are painted in my new favourite medium for quick artwork: gouache.

Representing very much two staples of Mediterranean cuisine, these little paintings illustrate the grain which goes into Mallorca’s local bread, and the black olives which are so plentiful all over the island.

Black olives (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, gouache on paper)

Grain (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, gouache 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. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

Feb 9

Winter in Madrid

For somewhere as relatively far south by Europe standards as Madrid, it’s a city which gets incredibly cold in the winter. And I mean incredibly cold. True, I have become acclimatised to the balmier climes of the island of Mallorca, where in a mere 3 months of being here, I have begun to believe that there is no such thing as a minus temperature. But how wrong I was on that front. For when the need arose for me to jet off to Madrid last week for work, I experienced temperatures that made me feel as though I was facing an attack of daggers from all sides.

It was my first trip to Madrid for several years, and I was therefore keen to spend the little free time I had exploring the city streets and remembering past memories of walking around the Prado, the Retiro, through the Puerta del Sol and along the Gran Via. But no sooner had I stepped out of my hotel I realised that a few blocks of walking was all I was going to manage before I had to duck inside a warm tapas bar for shelter.

Ice cold streets, a bitter wind, and temperatures which made my gloved hands feel not just cold but broken… these were the sensations I suffered in this short dip into winter in Madrid. Yet just as clear skies bring a fierce winter by night, in the day, those cold temperatures are tempered ever so slightly by the presence of sunshine, and the photographs you see on this post were taken on a brisk morning stroll as I headed from my hotel to my place of work near the beautiful neoclassical monument, the Puerta de Alcalá.

Those photos are very evidently characterised by the grandeur of the city – the beautiful roof tops of the Gran Via in the distance, the architectural details of the Puerta de Alcalá and the Plaza de Independencia, and the large palatial buildings and parks which fill the area. Everything is brightened by a pale winter sun and clear blue skies, but as you (hopefully) enjoy these photos, please remember the pain which I had to suffer to take them – they involved taking off my gloves, a sensation which brought to my hands a thousand daggers of pain. Oh what I suffer for The Daily Norm…

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. 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.

Feb 4

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The Daily Norm Photo of the Week: Table reflection

There’s nothing quite so nice as a glass of wine – the richly perfumed smells of an oak-barrelled bodega, the scent of flowers and vanilla, the luxurious taste as the liquid rolls over the tongue, and the slightly woozy sensation as the first sip shoots straight to the head. But for me, wine is even more enjoyable at lunchtime, when it still feels ever so naughty, even at the weekend.

As this week’s Daily Norm Photo of the Week suggests, this was a photo taken when we had been indulging in just that – day time wine, although to be precise, it was my partner who had polished off both of these glasses, since I was driving, and therefore miserably confined to sparkling water. But let us put that melancholy moment asides. For in this photo, all the joys of daytime drinking are expressed in a reflective impression of bright light, blue sky and those two elegant wine glasses. I particularly enjoy the fact that the focus of this photo is on the reflection rather than the wine glasses in reality, and that the glasses, normally characterised by their crisp transparency, now appear all the more opaque and nebulous.

A bit like one’s head afterwards…

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. 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.

Feb 2

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Arrival – Painting the moment when the Mallorca Move sunk in

In the time since we arrived in Mallorca a little over 2 months ago, I have been constantly creating. Such are the benefits of stepping into an intrinsically creative role as Artistic Director of an amazingly dynamic company. But the time for painting for my own personal collection has not been so profuse. Yet I knew that I was going to paint very soon after we arrived. It was in fact on the Tuesday following our arrival on a Saturday evening that a painting first appeared in sharp focus in my mind.

We had stepped out on a walk one afternoon in search of water. Living in a city next to the sea, an awareness of the ocean is continuous, and yet an immediate proximity with the water is not always so easy. Here in Palma, before you get to the sea, you need to traverse roads and parks, jogging lanes and a busy harbour. But on that afternoon, we walked our way through one section of the harbour, passing yacht clubs and huge boats being renovated for the summer, only stopping when we came to the water’s edge.

Arrival (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, oil on canvas)

There, sitting with my legs flopped over the harbour edge mere inches from the surface of the water, I gazed directly into the sinking sun before me as it plummeted behind the hillside silhouette and the outline of Bellver castle sitting atop the city. The sky was glowing more and more yellow, and as the light darkened, the water became more like silky liquid ink, and the reflections upon it were golden. It was in this moment that I allowed myself to dream, to wander from reality into a moment of a pure epiphany; a time in which it dawned on me for perhaps the first time how our lives had changed for the better, and how we had moved to a paradise of Mediterranean harbours, of white gleaming yachts, and sunshine.

And there it was. An image of that same view floated into my mind. It was always intended to be a simple image – just the water, the sun, the reflection, the sunset and the cluster of white yachts bobbling upon the water. Yet in that simplicity there is carried a weighty realisation – that we had made the big leap to a new life and a new beginning – It was the moment of our true arrival.

© 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

Jan 30

Winter Weekend in Ibiza | Part 4: The Birds

Watching Hitchcock’s infamous masterpiece, as I was the other night, you could really develop a complex about birds. Suddenly, the great master of suspense cinema has you thinking about these apparently innocuous creatures in an altogether more sinister light, especially when seen perched in a group as though anticipating their next attack. But as this last post of my little weekend trip to Ibiza must surely demonstrate, Hitchcock has really done birds a great injustice – for they’re perfectly photogenic and very, very cute.

The photos which follow were all taken in the sun-drenched surrounds of a very quiet Ibiza, at a time when nature had regained prominence on an island whose summer months are given over to all night discos and neon lights. Happily in these transformed tranquil surroundings, little sparrows hopped around cafes, eagerly awaiting the odd crumb from the few island visitors, and in the weak but warming winter sun, pigeons slept gracefully atop folded down cafe umbrellas. They may as well make the most of it. Party season is only weeks away.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. 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.

Jan 28

Winter Weekend in Ibiza | Part 3: The beach at Talamanca

While to all intents and purposes, a winter weekend in Ibiza may not have found the island at its best (it was after all almost completely deserted with only around 10% of businesses open and even fewer people left remaining) there was one part of the island which lacked nothing despite the time of the year. Just minutes from our hotel at the Marina Botafoch lay a sensation in waiting – the beach at Talamanca.

With a wide white sandy beach and sumptuously crystal clear waters, this was the kind of beach that seduces millions with promises of the summer in travel brochures every year. Yet here we were on a January afternoon, with an exquisite long beach before us, the sun shining in the sky, and barely a soul around to interfere with our utmost enjoyment of it.

What struck me most of all was how serenely calm the waters were, almost as though the sea itself had taken advantage of the low season and gone to sleep for a while. The waters were so still, that they managed almost a near mirror-like reflection of the low lying coastal houses alongside them – the kind of image you expect to see in a still mountain lake rather than the Mediterranean sea. I was also delighted by the abundance of natural scenery located so close to Ibiza’s capital. For just past the hotels and holiday houses lay vast rocky outcrops calling out to be explored. It was there that, up on a cliff top, we stopped to read and relax with the most incredible view back on Ibiza Town and the vertiginous plunge down to the azure waters below.

So once again the Balearics showed that the melancholy of winter would not defy their beauty. Here on Talamanca beach, we had truly found a reason for all the fuss that surrounds Ibiza every year.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. 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.

Jan 27

Winter Weekend in Ibiza | Part 2: Sunrise and Sunset

You can’t beat a good view, and whenever I go away anywhere, whether it be for a week or just a day, I make a point of finding one, not least from my hotel room. For some, a room in a hotel is just somewhere to shut their eyes and recuperate before exploring the outside. For me, it is an instrumental part of the travelling process, where I can rest and contemplate the sights I have seen around me, where I can write and sketch, and where I can soak in bubbles or take a long shower. Best of all, it is where I can enjoy a good view for long periods at a time, without the self-consciousness that I may be lingering too long in a restaurant or stealing the view from someone else.

Sunrise

On my weekend in Ibiza, the Hotel Ocean Drive did not disappoint, placing me and my partner on the third floor from where a beautiful view across the Marina Botafoch and over to the stunning hill-top Dalt Vila (old town) could be enjoyed. This combination of rocky outline coupled with the hilly topography which surrounds the city, together with the great watery expanse of the port and the various small marinas located within it meant for a stunning show at all times of the day, but no more so than at sunrise and sunset, when the colours turned from blue to a ripening pink, and utter calm descended across the landscape.

Sunset

This post is devoted to those moments, when shades of raspberry and peach and soft primrose yellow filled my camera lens, and added clarity to the dark outline of the city against a pastel-coloured sky. As I am unable to choose which of sunset or sunrise was my favourite, I have included both. For they were both manifestations of the most perfect of views; a vista which made my first experience of Ibiza unforgettable.

A room with a view

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. 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.

Jan 26

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Winter Weekend in Ibiza | Part 1: The Dalt Vila

When I think of Ibiza, images of boozy beach parties and cocktails under the stars accompanied by the mechanical beat of Buddha bar and the chilled groves of Café del Mar spring to mind. And while for thousands every year, a trip to the Balearic’s most infamous island means, in the words of the Vengaboys, that they’re “gonna have a party, Whoa! in the Mediterranean sea…”, at this time of the year, the only party you’re going to have is with the shadows filling the deserted streets and beaches. For as I discovered when a business trip took me to Ibiza last weekend, Ibiza is officially in the midsts of its hibernation.

Ibiza’s historical old town

This is no more obvious that in the hilly streets of the Dalt Vila, or “upper town” as the ancient old town of Ibiza’s capital is called – an area packed with stunning little cobbled streets which twist and turn all the way up to the Santa Maria d’Eivissa, the church which towers across Ibiza’s main port. While the plethora of quaint little houses lining those streets suggested that in the warmer months, they would be a tourist’s paradise, in January not a single business was open. And so it was that my Winter Weekend in Ibiza was a rather bizarre affair. For the Med’s party paradise was punctuated with neither a disco beat, nor any other human sound, and the only action that could be found was in the modern extension of the city (the Eixample), where some locals continued to live on, despite the silence all around them.

Historical streets of the Dalt Vila

Of course this desertion was not all bad. For crowds are undoubtedly overrated, and while the town undoubtedly lacked the charm it would exhibit when open for business, I was at least joined by my partner, and together we were able to explore both the old town and its surroundings relatively undisturbed. And with the sun shining its winter warmest, this could not have been a more pleasant experience, not least when the steep roads out of the old town took us onto the vast ancient city ramparts and the natural rocky outcrops upon which the city is built.

Rocky outcrops and views of the stunning natural surroundings

So while this first set of photos is unlikely to feature much by way of people action, I think it aptly demonstrates what is undoubtedly a charming and unique historical centre and a feature of the island which undoubtedly falls unjustifiably within the shadow of Ibiza’s all encompassing party reputation. After all, the clubs and the larger louts form a very small part of an island which is otherwise both geographically stunning and historically rich – features which are no more obvious than in January when the drunks are safely ensconced a thousand miles away.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. 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.