Deia | The Daily Norm

Jun 16

Contemplating our First Anniversary

It’s hard to think that a year has already past since that blissful wedding day when I married my soulmate one year ago. That small but perfectly formed little Chelsea Wedding felt so emotionally momentous that I think I have been bouncing happily in its blissful wake ever since. Yet to think that it’s been a year is rather bizarre, not least when I consider that it feels as though I was only just finishing off the last dabs of gouache on my paintings commemorating our honeymoon. How time flies. But how happily tangible are the memories still.

Our magical day

It was in the contemplation of this anniversary that Dominik and I recently headed to Deiá, easily our favourite place on the island of Mallorca, and perhaps in the whole world. We knew that there could be no better way to celebrate a first year of marriage, and 7 years of being together. While my mother’s witty gift of toilet paper (and a little something extra) reminded that this is traditionally the “paper anniversary”, for us it was bubbles and sunshine all the way as we toasted our union in the stunningly floral grounds of the Hotel Residencia over two glasses of cava – one brut, the other rosé. In a way those two glasses appeared to represent something of our relationship and the keys to its success. Two people who are characteristically, externally different, but whose integral sameness binds us so strongly together. And all this in the most exquisite surroundings of the Teix Mountains and the Mediterranean sea. Magical.

Bubbles at the Residencia and dinner at Restaurante Nama

While the 15th June marks our wedding anniversary, the 16th June is the anniversary of our first date. But there is something so much more special now in celebrating an anniversary of marriage, than that day of first discovery. Because while our daily life may not have changed all that much as a result of the certificate we signed, the comfort and security and wholesome oneness it has brought us can never been replicated outside of marriage. One more year has passed and another coat of time’s varnish adds an extra veneer of strength to our union. Here’s to that.

Dec 30

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2015: My year in photos (Part 1 – Mallorca)

Ever since I started The Daily Norm I have ended the year with a look back at my year in photos – in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 – and here I go again. Every year I found the exercise not only intensely enjoyable, being able to relive my favourite moments of the last 12 months through some of my best shots, but also extremely rewarding. For in surveying just how much I manage to have done in each year, I consider myself extremely lucky to have seen, smelt, breathed and experienced all I have.

And this year is no exception, for 2015 has been a year of significant change for me, not only because I have been following a completely different career path, but because it is the first complete year I have spent living in a completely different place… the paradise island of Mallorca.

Photos can communicate so much better than any words just quite how beautiful an experience it has been living a year on this Mediterranean island. From the consistent days of winter sunshine, when a glass of wine caught outside by the sea in January felt like I was cheating the seasons, to the incredible pink almond blossom which filled the mountainsides in the Spring. From the endless inspiration which the charming trees of the old town of Palma de Mallorca provided, to those sumptuous days of summer spent on beaches of turquoise waters and powdery white sands.

My year in Mallorca has exposed me to some incredible sights; the rippling craggy Tramuntana, the Cap de Formentor; the Caves of Drach and the awe-inspiring mountain village of Deia, and while I have also seen some wonderful places outside of the island this year, such was the level of beauty seen in Mallorca itself that this year my photographic review had to be split in two. This first part looks back on my year in Mallorca. A true paradise which brought a glimpse of joy every day.

: The monastery of Miramar

: Soller lemons

: A stay at the Son Viscos Hotel, Valldemossa

: Bay at the Cala Figueres

: Reflection and ripples in the heart of Palma

: The office of Robert Graves

: Semana Santa

: Olive trees seen in white

: Painting purple

: September sunset, Palma

: Citrus planes, Fornalutx

: Son Marroig

: Harvest time for the grape pickers

: Ceramic sensation, Fornalutx

: Sheep in the inner planes

: Furry Caterpillar alongside the Cuber Lake

: Bathers at the Cala Deia

: Mallorca´s natural residents

: The Valley of Fornalutx

: The old town of Alcudia

: Looking across to the Tramuntana

: The mysterious Caves of Drach

: The Jardins of Alfabia

: Beauty in death

: Day of the Dead, La Rambla

: Shadows, Palma

: Mallorquin Lenguas

: The stunning landscape of Formentor

: Autumn colours

: Alfabia pondlife

: Seascape, Mallorca

: The Playa de Formentor

: Mountain resident

: The kiss, Pollensa Bay

: The Cuber Lake

: Ribbon Road, Cap de Formentor

: Boats at Pollensa

: The cemetery of Deia

: Spring lilies

: Sa Forada

: Winter drink, Palma

: Orange harvest

: One of Mallorca’s many windmills

: The Bay of Palma

: Sunshine on New Year’s Day

: Treasures of the Bellver Castle

: Goats galor

: Colours of the island’s traditional fabric crafts

: Palma’s beloved cathedral

: Fishing at the embarcadero of S’Estaca

: Sunset in Pollensa

: Mountain planes near LLuc

: Traditional pottery

: Sunset over the Cala Deia

: Colour Climax

: Rippled waters, Andratx

: Biblical landscape, Orient

: Fishermen paraphernalia, Puerto Andratx

: The almond blossom season

: Stone signals, Deia

: Franciscan Monastery, Palma

: The thinker’s chair, Pollensa

: The festival of San Sebastian

: Pinks and purples, Bunyola

: Architectural abstract

: Rugged landscape, Cala St Vincenc

: The incredible serenity of S’Estaca

: Palma’s hidden subterranean world

: Fresh summer produce

: Grasses and reeds, Andratx

: Autumn sunshine

: Tramuntana tomato vines

: Shadows descend, Deia

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.

Nov 23

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Yet more praise for Mallorca’s awe-inspiring autumn

Now before your eyes roll upwards as you cast an initial glimpse over yet another post dedicated to Mallorca’s autumn, allow me to excuse my inexhaustible passion for the season as it exists on this island. For coming from England, autumn is an altogether damper affair, and while there are moments when the sun shines and the colours of the trees shine through, by that time, most of the leaves are already sludge on the pavement after the preceding days of rain; and then of course there are the howling winds which have pushed them there.

Here in Mallorca, autumn is a very different story. I’ve often seen pictures of the perfect autumn images – trees totally transformed into shades of orange and red, glowing like fire under a crisp blue sky. But I had never experienced such an idealised season before I came to Mallorca. And here, you benefit not just from the beauty which results from consecutive days of sunshine, but also the little quaint villages whose ochre stone walls and green shutters work alongside the autumn shades as though they had been meticulously selected for the purpose..

This union of natural and manmade autumnal magic was no more obvious than on a recent visit to the stunning little village of Valldemossa; a mountainous retreat whose cluster of houses in a deep mountain valley has become the very picture-postcard image of Mallorca. And with good reason, for it’s one of those villages which is utterly quaint at every turn, and at every time of the year… no more so than in autumn, surely my most beloved season in Mallorca.

Oct 14

Deia’s Autumn Review

Beautiful, wonderful Deia…the little village which clings so serenely to the vertiginous slopes of Mallorca’s Tramuntana mountains, but which has inspired so many artists, poets and writers a thousand times over. And such is the staggering beauty of this mountainside marvel that the manifesto of every artist should include a visit to the village, at least once in every season. So when my Mother recently came to stay, it seemed a perfect opportunity to once again take the winding coastal road from Valldemossa to this famous home of creative greats, not only to re-encounter my adored Deia for the umpteenth time this year, but to see it in an altogether new light: an autumn light.

Deia in the autumn did not disappoint. Shrouded in the golden light of October, it took on a new ephemeral beauty magnified by the sprinkling of clouds which cast strong pillars of light sporadically over the mountainside. In the garden of Robert Graves’ house, a must-visit for my erudite mother, Spring blossom had given way to rich orange bourganvilla, plump oranges and a fresh harvest of home-grown vegetables.

Meanwhile, down on the spectacular Cala Deia, which we descended in order to enjoy a phenomenal squid lunch down by the foaming sea’s edge, the low autumn sun cast dramatic shadows over the naturally surreal rocky landscape. And while the sun descended quicker than it had on my first visit to the Cala some months before, there were no shortage of people enjoying the beach. In fact at one point it was so full, it looked more like Brighton on a rare sunny bank holiday.

No matter how many times I visit the magical village of Deia, I cannot help but be touched by the mystical atmosphere which envelopes the place. Whether it be in the mysterious mists of morning, the balmy summer nights punctuated by the chorus of cicadas, or now in the melancholic light of October, I remain firmly magnified by this little Elysium by the sea. And having now experienced its magic for herself, I can confidently add my mother to the multitude of admirers who fall in love with Deia afresh each season.

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.

Aug 10

Like snow in summertime

You’d have been forgiven for thinking that the photos below, taken the other day, showed freak climatic conditions – of snow freshly laid on olive trees ripe with fruit, freshly laid in the middle of the summer. But on closer sight, another thing becomes noticeable: the startling contrast between icy white and vivid summertime greens, not to mention the rich rusty coloured ground which had largely escaped a white covering, nor the cerulean blue sky glimmering brightly under an intense sunshine.

Rather than snow in summer, these photos show one of the most interesting sights which can currently be discovered on the road from Valldemossa to Deia in Mallorca: olive trees densely sprayed in a covering of chalky white, their fruit still intact beneath it. Why this winter coat has been applied I have no idea: I can only guess that it is some kind of insecticide applied at the crucial time when the olives are almost ripe. Whatever the reason, the colour contrast presented is undoubtedly striking, and as ripe an inspiration for my camera as the juicy round olives steadily growing on those white branches.

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.

Aug 7

On the trail of S’Arxiduc (Part 2): Monestir de Miramar

Following on from our visit to Son Marroig, our tour of the Deia coast on the trail of S’Arxiduc, the Archduke Ludwig Salvador, took us back towards Valldemossa and to the Miramar Monastery. Contrary to the name, there is very little left of the 13th Century monastery which once stood on the site, other than one length of what must have been a stunning cloister, now to be found almost floating amidst a garden full of flowers. However what was left of the monastery was purchased by the Archduke in 1872 when he fell head over heels in love with the coast, and there he converted the site into another of his great coastal houses.

The old monastery, the house an its gardens

Today the main attraction of the house is undoubtedly the gardens and land which surround it. As the Archduke himself declared: “Without doubt no other place on earth deserves with more reason the name Miramar”. And on this count, I could not disagree, for just beyond the more formal gardens which surround the ancient chapel and old cloister remains, extensive land takes the visitor all the way to a cliff edge which benefits from utterly breathtaking views over to Son Marroig and the stunning emerald sea below. From there, the grounds lead on to a mysterious Italianate pool, and beyond a series of canals and mills which appear to be left over from the ingenious reign of the Moors whose engineering innovations managed to tame this otherwise uninhabitable land long before the Archduke arrived.

Views and aspects of the land beyond

It is not at all hard to appreciate why the Archduke fell so in love with this incredible strip of coastline, and it is thanks to him that much of the coast today remains unspoilt and unashamedly beautiful for us all to enjoy today.

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.

Jun 5

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Mallorca Moments: Cala Deia as the sun descended

A certain mystery filled the air as we sat amongst the rocks besides the lapping Mediterranean sea in the Cala Deia the other night. As the sun descended, and the sky turned from yellow to pink to purple to cobalt blue, the shapes of this stunning rocky Mallorca cove seemed to take on a life of their own, as the rocks in silhouette were anthropomorphised into a gruesome masquerade. And as we walked on amongst the rocks, avoiding where we could little landslides caused by mountain sheep bravely traversing the cliff face in search of food, we stumbled upon even more mysterious forms – groups of small towers built from stones, as though some other visitor to the beach had marked out their destiny in an incantation made from rock.

Such was the atmosphere as we returned to this glorious little cove, just a few kilometres down a winding road from our favourite village of Deia. It was an evening which commenced as the sun began its descent, and grilled squid was thoroughly enjoyed with a glass of wine, and ended as the sky’s luminescence was slowly drained and replaced by a soft blanket of dark blue velvet. The strangely formed stones, the silently lapping shore, and even a seagull waiting atop an island rock modelling perfectly as though in premonitory anticipation of some significant occurrence, all coincided to create an evening characterised by the kind of magic which is unique to the Tramuntana mountains, and to the incredible little rocky coves they envelop in their craggy folds as they plummet dramatically down to the sea.

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.

May 27

The house of Robert Graves

They say that once in a while you will read a book that changes your life. A story of DH Lawrence’s obsession with the inspirational light of the Mediterranean read while I soaked up the sun on the Amalfi Coast last summer came very close (Lady Chatterley’s Villa by Richard Owen). After all, I surely followed his mantra in moving to the Mediterranean. But more powerful still was The White Goddess: An Encounter by Simon Gough.

Telling the real life story of his time with great uncle Robert Graves on the island of Mallorca, it was a story which more than inspired me to move to the Balearic paradise in which I now find myself; it injected my very heart with a passion for the island which formed the genesis of the life I now live; it transported me to a golden era in a utopian island and made me deeply conscious of the life and work of Robert Graves, the English writer and poet who probably did more for Mallorca than any other Englishman before or since when he moved to Deia in the 40s.

The house of Robert Graves

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the house of Robert Graves and his family just outside my beloved Tramuntana village of Deia. Replicating exactly how the house would have been in Robert’s day as brought to life again with the help of his son, William Graves, my visit to the house had the power to bring the book I had so admired fully to life. From the glasses laid nonchalantly on the poet’s desk, to the garlic hung anticipating a feast in the little sun-drenched kitchen, the house was every inch the familial idyll I head read about.

…and the gardens he so loved

Only the now busier road alongside the house had the power to transport me back to reality. For no more does the family donkey pass sleepily along its dusty path. But that brief interruption asides, with its garden still abundant and the stunning coastal views ever present, Robert Graves house at Deia remains every inch the paradise which drew him to remain on the island and in his house for the remaining decades of his life, and which inspired him to write his life’s best work. I can only hope that Mallorca will continue to inspire me to my greatest work. In the meantime I plan to reopen the pages of Simon Gough’s stunning novel, to relive the idyll which brought me to Mallorca.

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.

Apr 20

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Discovering Mallorca: The beach at Deia

Recent readers of The Daily Norm will know that I have fallen head over heels in love with the little Mallorquin gem of Deia. With its mountainous location in the shadow of the mighty Teix mountain, Deia is characterised by a breathtaking setting which cannot help but inspire its visitors to near ecstasies of superlative-loaded expletives and/or jaw-dropping silences such are required to contemplate the beauty of the town. For myself, I have reacted to the setting through painting, and through returning, and my first visit to the paradisal town has now benefited from a prompt sequel; a second dip which did nothing to dispel the town’s capacity to inspire.

In fact, on my recent trip to Deia, I was to discover that further treats lay in store. For incredibly, the beauty of Deia is not limited to its mountainous town. Down a steep craggy winding path extending down the mountainous valley towards the sea, the town benefits from its own little stoney beach which is every bit as stunning as the town up above.

The beach at Deia

Crystal clear water, steep rocky cliffs, and two little cafes overlooking the most incredible view of the mediterranean and this seductive little cove, the beach or cala at Deia is a true delight. No wonder it has made its way onto postcards aplenty, and tempted countless visitors to make the somewhat challenging walk down the mountain to bear witness to this picture-perfect slice of heaven. With its little fishing boats stacked up on the shore, and hostile rocks jutting out to sea without a single sign of urbanised development, this is a port which retains the ultimate in Mallorquin authenticity, even if it must be shared with the other tourists who have been tempted by its almost legendary status.

The stunning mountainous surroundings

Our little trip to the port was every bit an awe-inspiring experience as our first and second encounter with the town in the mountains up above. The pure waters licking the stoney shore; the cerulean blue waves bouncing light across the russet-coloured rocks; the magnificent journey down the mountain through a ravishing spectacle of glorious lush landscapes; and to top it all, an excellent little restaurant whose grilled squid and ice cold albariño made for the perfect accompaniment to this new elysium… even if it did make the return journey up the mountain something of a struggle.

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.

Apr 10

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Interpretation No. 14 – Deia

How could I not paint Deia? Such was my jaw-dropped awe at this village on the slopes of a rocky Mallorcan paradise that i wanted to rush home and start 40 paintings simultaneously. But while more will surely follow, with time short, I opted for the “something is better than nothing” option and set about painting a small gouache landscape to enter my collection of interpretations. Rather than paint the main cluster of Deia’s buildings, such is the image which frequents the most postcards, I opted instead to paint the surrounding mountains and smaller settlements, finding these to be by far the most inspirational. However catching the mountain light and the vast scale of nature’s backdrop was not easy, and while I am fairly satisfied with this initial attempt, I surely need to try my hand at other views of this incredible place. Until then…

© 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