Nicholas De Lacy-Brown | The Daily Norm

Dec 9

Las Meninas: Fourth Interpretative Exercise

It’s been almost 10 months since I last created a work in my collection of painted interpretations of Velazquez´s famous masterpiece, Las Meninas, and in fact, after I had completed the third of the set, I thought that the group was pretty much complete. It was a collection which was significant not just in itself, but because it launched for me an entire new way of seeing both famous masterpieces and reinterpreting them (something which went on to inspire my new redevelopment of works by Rubens, Van Gogh and Courbet amongst others), but also instigated a new collection of more simplified quasi-cubist works developing flattened colour panes and using acrylic as a primary medium. However, at the time of painting the third Las Meninas, I also started a fourth, but as I remember it, a little while after starting, my interpretation of a Titian got me all carried away, and I left the canvas unfinished.

Thus it may have remained were it not for a spring (well autumn…) clean on which I embarked a couple of weeks ago. Discovering the canvas in its unfinished state I was 50:50 whether to bin it, or finish it. Opting to finish what I had started, I am now happy to present the final interpretation of Velazquez´s renowned masterpiece.

Taking the abstracted character shapes from both the second and third interpretations and reusing them in yet another composition, this work is more of a satyrical take on the modern day clinical art gallery in which works such as Velazquez’s can be seen today… seen but certainly not touched. With their security guards, their roped off works, their cameras and alarms and pristine white walls, galleries are not always the most welcome of places, especially when compared with the abundantly filled, cosy interiors depicted in the likes of the original Las Meninas. But at the same time, this vacuous white gallery setting has become the staple of art institutions the world over, a space which allows the masterpieces themselves to shine in relative safety, free to inspire future generations with their majesty, just as Las Meninas did me.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2016. 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.delacybrown.com

Dec 6

Norms Palma Series: Paseo Marítimo

It may be mere weeks until Christmas, and while the streets of Palma de Mallorca are finally alight with the most impressive panoply of festive fairy lights and bustling with late night shoppers, by day, when the sun remains shining, Mallorca remains a summery affair. Once you are next to the water, enjoying the rays of clear sunshine refracting across bobbing water and dazzling the many white boats resting in the city harbour, you could so easily be in the summer. I guess it is that reason alone which makes Mallorca so popular in the winter as well as in the summer – for now is the time to reap the rewards of both seasons.

Norms in the Port of Palma (2016 ©Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

This is very much how the sun-loving Norms feel, whose great joys in life include a chief enjoyment of the water, especially in good weather. And what better way is there to enjoy both fire and water than on a day of bobbling about on the Mediterranean. Why, to gain the pleasure of the mariners life, a Norm doesn’t really need to leave the harbour. Which is just as well, since Palma’s harbour is rather congested at the best of times, and a Norm may find it a simpler affair to enjoy his or her boat whilst still moored in the city waters. And why not, since from there they can enjoy the magnificent view of Bellver Castle in the background to boot. Now that’s what Norms call a sailor’s life.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2016. 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.delacybrown.com

Nov 3

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Norms Palma Series: Paseo Mallorca

I find it awfully coincidental just how much the Norms and I have in common. They adore lounging around in galleries, and sipping coffees in a city’s best cafes. They love to be beside the seaside and they adore rivers and greenery too. And so it is no surprise to me that the Norms, likewise, adore the area of Paseo Mallorca, the green spine of Palma where a river runs out to the sea and where cypress trees and palms grow gracefully besides the water and elegant residential blocks. After all, it is a place which has inspired me a good number of times, and no doubt inspires these green loving creatures too.

Here we see the Norms enjoying the leafy surroundings of the Paseo Mallorca, where a stroll along the broad avenues adjacent to the river is every bit as chic as a walk along the paths of the Bois de Boulogne or a perambulation alongside the River Seine. Little norms, old norms, doggie norms, even homeless norms…all of them enjoy hanging out in this recreational idyll. I can even see two who look suspiciously like my partner and me heading off together to work, a backpack loaded for the day and a must-have camera in hand. Must be that coincidental similarity again…

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2016. 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.delacybrown.com

Oct 12

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Norm Palma Series: Fishernorms survey their daily catch

Fishernorms have a difficult job. It’s not at all easy heading out into the dark inky seas of night to fish for a Norm’s livelihood, no matter how often the seas of the Mediterranean remain calm and balmy, nor how plentiful the fish. There will always be those days when a catch is disappointing or when the weather batters more than just the fish. Then of course there are those who moan about the European Union, and quotas, and restricted waters and who knows what else. But that’s quite enough about them. For this is a positive post, full of the optimism that only the joys which Palma’s splendid waterside marina can bring. With its mighty structure standing proud alongside the sea, the inspiring Cathedral of Palma is always the first glorious sighting the Fishernorms of Mallorca have when they haul in their daily catch to shore each morning. No wonder the Fishernorms of Palma are, by comparison with others, such happy folk.

Fishernorms survey their daily catch (2016 ©Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

Here in this week’s sketch we can see the Fishernorms, trawling through their daily catch one sunny bright morning in Palma. It might be a bustling city, but in Palma the port is stationed in the centre of the action. So everyday in the city, the Fishernorms can be seen laying out their nets to dry and counting their catch. The fresh perfume emanating from their paraphernalia provides a happy reminder for all Norms thereabouts that this is a city ideally situated on water, where the many fruits of the Mediterranean will always be close-by and easily enjoyed, especially thanks to the hard work of the Fishernorms.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2016. 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.delacybrown.com

Oct 10

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Inspired by my surroundings: Paseo Mallorca 3

The Paseo Mallorca, a stretch of treelined river in Palma, continues to inspire. I am lucky enough to live on this panorama of green which acts like the lungs of a city already awash with the air of the Mediterranean. It is, if you like, the perfect gateway to the sea from the city sprawl built up alongside it, since a stroll along this tree-lined avenue will take you directly down to the city’s magnificent port.

I set about painting this stretch of urban utopia a few months ago, starting with the bridge closest to the Es Baluard museum of art, and moving onto the bridge of Jaume III and the magnificent post-modern stretch of residential buildings beyond. In this third addition to the collection, I move further up the river, to the area where I live. Here the bridges are simplified but the greenery is all the more stunning. The colour palette is carefully chosen to represent the humid warmth of the season (I started the work on the painting in July), and also to perfectly partner the first painting in this group. For me it captures the essence of this happy, leafy suburbia which I am lucky enough to call home.

Paseo Mallorca 3 (2016 ©Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, acrylic on canvas)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2016. 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.delacybrown.com

Oct 5

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Norms Palma Series: Babel Bookshop

So we’ve seen Norms resting over a coffee outside the Café Grand Hotel. And we’ve also seen them strolling along La Rambla in search of flowers. But far be it from me to suggest that Norms are little recreational hedonists. True, they like to relax, but they prefer to do so in only the most erudite of circumstances. Very few Norms are the sit around and do nothing type. Intelligence comes naturally to the Norms, after all, they were named after a famous and notoriously tricky piece of legal philosophy. And so even when they are sitting down to rest, their curiosity peaks, they remain inquisitive, they debate, they philosophise, and best of all they read.

This is the reason why in Palma, one of the Norms’ favourite corners of the city can be found where the Calle de Arabi meets the Cuesta de la Pols. It’s an area so uniquely cosy, with its cobbled streets, uneven staircase, and the ancient behind of the Church of San Miguel, that for many it reminds of the streets of Paris’ Left Bank or the area around the Spanish Steps in Rome. But it is not only this intellectual atmosphere which draws the Norms. In this same corner can be found one of Palma’s most charming bookshops , Babel – a veritable Aladdin’s cave for the scholarly Norm – and all with the added benefit of its very own cafe. Now that’s the Norm way to relax.

Norms at Babel Bookshop (2016 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2016. 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.delacybrown.com

Sep 28

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Norms Palma Series: On La Rambla

Norms adore flowers. When they get a hint of floral perfume wafting in the air, they follow it like a dog going after a bone. For them, flowers encase the very merriment of life and encapsulate the hopes of spring. They are the very best manifestation of Nature’s natural gift. And so when it comes to the city of Palma de Mallorca, one of the places you will regularly find a whole host of Norms will be La Rambla, the beautiful tree lined avenue whose wide central promenade plays host to the majority of the city’s florists.

Walking along La Rambla is like that moment of entering the ground floor of a department store. A waft of dense perfume greets the senses and sends them spiralling into a full-flow of memories of Spring days and surprise gifts. And on La Rambla, you are greeted not just by an assault of delicious smells, but buy a host of colours too. Flowers and plants of every shape and size can be found there, and there is a gift for every Norm in need.

Norms on La Rambla (2016 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

So here we can see the Norms bouncing along La Rambla, enjoying the trickle of the fountain which sits at the avenue’s climax…some Norms even like to do their laundry there, which frankly others feel is one step too far beyond excepted social norms. But be that what it may, one Norm norm is accepted as a fact. Buy a Norm some flowers and you will make him or her very, bouncily, happy.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2016. 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.delacybrown.com

Sep 21

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Norms Palma Series: Café Gran Hotel

The Norms have been away for an awfully long time. Unreasonably long, one might surmise. After all, The Daily Norm is a blog named after the funny little blob like creature, and it feels somewhat redundant when the eponymous protagonist of the piece is missing. But everyone is entitled to a rest, Norms included, and the Norms have been taking their time off seriously indeed, partly meditating amongst the citrus trees of Capri, and party philosophising deep in a Grenadian jungle.

But now the Norms are back, where they have returned to their favourite mediterranean city of Palma de Mallorca. Everyone knows that the Norms are a social folk, and they love nothing more than to sit back in a bustling cafe and watch the world go by. In Palma, there are plenty of cafes to choose from, but one of their decided favourites is the Cafe Gran Hotel, directly outside what was once a likewise named hotel of supreme art nouveau elegance. These days it finds itself the home of one of Spain’s many bank-run art foundations, a fact which both vexes the Norms and delights them in equal measure. But whatever the contents, the building retains its period glamour. Hence why the ever elegant Norms adore to sit in its shadow.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2016. 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.delacybrown.com

Sep 16

La Señora de Granada

Painting in Marbella is undoubtedly my greatest pleasure. Because there I can realise what must be the idyll of every artist – the ability to paint out in the open, but undisturbed by curious onlookers, in an utterly tranquil atmosphere with nothing to break the flow of the artist’s paintbrush or inspiration. And in my open-air studio in Marbella, I am able to enjoy the heady perfume of jasmine as I paint. What could provide better inspiration? It is perhaps no wonder that in that same garden space, I have painted some of my greatest, and most freely whimsical works over the years.

This year, I have had Granada on the mind. You may have noticed. And in my Andalucían garden, this manifested in the painting I am sharing today – an appropriate close to my Granada season, but a consistent continuation of the interpretative abstract style which has dominated my work this year. For this piece, I was not only inspired by Granada, but by another treasure of Andalucía – one Pablo Picasso – whose work has motivated me to paint many times before. My painting, named La Señora de Granada, was at least partially based on an interesting pointillist work by the great artist. Entitled Woman with Spanish Dress, this 1917 work is notable for its unfinished quality, and the resulting luminosity of whites and creams which dominate the work.

Whether or not Picasso intended his work to end up so white, I took this palette as inspiration for my own interpretation. Using his colours, and basic composition, my Spanish woman is at once enigmatic but full of personality. With her simplified coffee coloured lace, kinetic rose and flame like colours bursting as though from within her, she is the personification of Granada, the city that made my summer.

Pablo Picasso, Lady with Spanish Dress (1917)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2016. 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.delacybrown.com

Sep 7

Tierra Lorca

Granada had so much to offer us. We only went for a few days and yet look how I can go on about the place on The Daily Norm for what must seem like an eternity! Two clear highlights of our trip had to be the stunning Generalife gardens, followed by those similarly lush gardens surrounding the previous family home of Federico Garcia Lorca. In both places, a truly poetic sensibility lingered in the air, making each of the senses stand on high alert as perfumes, colours and ambience were magnified in turn. Imagine then just how good it got when these two experiences came together. And that is exactly what happened when, on the night of my 33rd birthday, we headed to a flamenco concert in the Generalife gardens, whose choreography and artistic direction was entirely based on the life and work of Lorca. It was a match made in heaven.

Sitting in an audience of plenty, out in the open air on a warm balmy night in the Generalife gardens seeing before me an incredibly original modern flamenco spectacle based on the work of one of my all time favourite poets, I felt like a truly well-treated birthday boy. The stars were shining so brightly above us that they felt like part of the stage set, while in front of us, the stage itself was constructed from wings and scenery made from the perfectly erect rows of cypress trees which fill the gardens. For someone rather in love with cypress trees, this was a spectacle indeed, and I was particularly thrilled when the director of the show used various lighting effects to make the magnificent natural surroundings part of the show’s scenery.

The performance, with its mix of traditional and modern flamenco was a true spectacle, and the essence of Lorca transmitted was particularly engaging. The effect of the show was long lasting, and when finally we arrived in Marbella after our stay in Granada, I was moved to paint a small work based on the performance.

So the painting I post today is entitled, like the show, Tierra Lorca, for Granada is indeed the land from which Lorca came. With its simple shapes and a frame like the proscenium arch around a stage, this painting focuses on the line of poker straight cypress trees which so enthralled me, and the energetic movement of the incredibly agile flamenco dancers, illustrated by the rose like kinetic shape flowing onto (or off?) the stage. On the right, a black and white photo of Lorca reminds of the protagonist of the piece – a poignant memorial to a genius who himself put so many masterpieces on the stage.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2016. 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.delacybrown.com