Palma | The Daily Norm

Sep 18

The last greens of Summer

The official start of autumn is almost upon us, and although here in Mallorca we still enjoy days of hot humid sunshine, there is a definite sense of autumnal anticipation in the air. Although the trees are not yet brown, the leaves have already metamorphosed from the rich forest green of summer to a lighter almost translucent lime green, and on the occasional tree you can already see the edges of the leaves gradually give in to a golden manifestation.

And while the onset of autumn, and the winter thereafter, is not a prospect which fills me with joy, there is a real beauty to the melancholy which fills the streets of Palma de Mallorca as the high season comes to an end. Businesses, packed all summer, start to breathe a sigh of relief for the rest which is just around the corner; plants re-emerge freshly abundant after months without rain and water; and long dappled shadows dance amongst a decidedly warmer golden sunlight, which streams through the dying leaves like a last embrace before their inexorable descent.

It is the beauty of this time which I have attempted to capture with this small set of photos, just from strolling around the streets near my home. Here in Palma, we are not quite in autumn, and the colours are not yet that characteristic autumnal auburn and gold. These are the last greens of summer.

: Autumn sunshine

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.

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

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 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 17

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Ocho Balcones (No.1): From the bedroom

Beloved readers of The Daily Norm may remember that during my recent blissful honeymoon, I painted a group of bedroom views which collectively became knowns as The Honeymoon Suite, for obvious reasons. I would never have thought that something so simple as a bedroom and its view might provide such potent inspiration, but then again, I am a home-loving man, and this applies as much to my trips away as to when I am in my own humble abode… and the cosier the bedroom, the happier, and consequently inspired, I feel within it.

Somewhat ironically, it took a trip away from Mallorca for me to realise just how inspirational are the surroundings of my home here in the beautiful city of Palma, and soon enough I set about painting a new collection, still very much in the production line, of views from my apartment. I am lucky enough to live in a home benefitting from some 8 little balconies, and hence my collection of the super-colourful street views we enjoy from those balconies is appropriately named: Ocho Balcones. Today I present you with the first – the view from our bedroom.

Ocho Balcones (No.1): From the bedroom (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.delacy-brown.com

Aug 14

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Discovering Mallorca: Palma’s secret city

Regular readers of The Daily Norm will remember that I am utterly captivated by the charms of a cemetery. It’s not a morbid fascination – far from it. For me, cemeteries are amongst the most beautiful and thought-provoking places you can visit. Somewhere to escape the noise of life, to reflect on the emotional strength of people’s devotion to their families, and to admire some of the most startling sculptures you are likely to see in a small compact space. I have been to many cemeteries in my time, not least here in Spain where the mix of sunshine strained through shady cypress trees is particularly poetic. But if the cemeteries I have seen here before were works of poetry, the municipal cemetery in Palma de Mallorca was nothing short of a masterpiece of theatre.

Located close to the outer ring road, the cemetery is not exactly walkable from the centre of town, and as a result, it was not until now, with a hire care at our disposal, that we were able to pass by. But this cemetery was worth the wait. Never in all my life have I ever seen such a vast collection of intricately crafted, magnificently devotional sculpture and stunning architecture in such a compact space. The cemetery is probably the biggest I have ever been in, but it is also amongst the most crowded, and row after row and row after row of tombstones are loaded not with simple flat graves, but elegantly and theatrically decorated with stone crosses, angels and other elaborate sculptures so that the result is a veritable forest of ancient stone.

And most magnificently of all are the series of lavish little side chapels which line the perimeters of the cemetery. Utterly elaborate, constructed in a number of styles from baroque to classical and even 20th century modernist, this collection of buildings looks like an ancient empire, resembling the kind of spectacle which may have been found when entering a roman forum lined with temples.

But that was not all. For beneath ground level, a secret staircase led down into what was probably the most spectacular aspect of the whole cemetery – a vast double horseshoe-shaped catacomb itself lined with tombs from floor to ceiling, flooded with light from holes in the ceiling, and slowly sprinkled with dust gently falling in the rays of sunshine. It was like something from Indiana Jones, and with road names engraved in latin we felt like we have been catapulted centuries back to an ancient civilisation.

It was only when we emerged back into the heat of the Mallorca day, the sounds of the nearby ring-road resounding nearby, that we realised we had just found Palma’s secret city.

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 19

Appreciating the everyday: Waking up to Palma

It’s all too easy to be complacent, to get used to the good things in life and stop appreciating them, and here in Palma de Mallorca, where we are literally surrounded by the utmost of urban and then rural beauty at every stretch I am constantly reminding myself just how lucky I am. Such complacency resides more than anywhere else in the home, where we enjoy the same stunning surroundings every day, but the constantly changing beauty of our immediate environment provides a frequent reminder that it should be appreciated afresh every day.

Such were my musings when I got up one early morning a few days ago, and looked out of the window onto the multi-coloured panoply of old town streets which surround our apartment. Radiant in warm yellows, terracottas and greens, the nearby streets are archetypally Mediterranean, and look simply resplendent under the golden morning and evening sun rays. But what enchants me even more is the length of the early shadows, adding fresh stripes to an already linear landscape which move across the facades with the sun.

This small set of photos was snapped quickly before work, when in a sudden moment of realisation, I was made to stop and appreciate my daily views afresh. Even my sculpted model, made during my first ever sculpture attempt in London back in 2011, appears to be captivated by the view she now enjoys on a daily basis. And who can blame her.

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 2

Mallorca Sketchbook: Resting on La Rambla

La Rambla is easily one of my favourite streets in Palma de Mallorca. Long and abundantly leafy, this civilised avenue keeps cars to the side so that its central avenue can be the preserve of perambulating locals and a host of flower sellers whose daily offerings issue a dreamy perfume at all times of the year. The avenue is also appropriately the location of a good number of cafés and tapas bars, and there is nothing quite nicer on a warm day that sitting out in the dappled sunlight which reaches the elegant pavements through the trees and enjoying a coffee or wine.

It was on one such outing that I recently took out my sketchbook and, armed with my trusty staedtler pens, made this little sketch of a small square just off the floral avenue. Just a typical corner of this city I now call home, it contains all of the features that make Palma such an exquisite Mediterranean destination.

Resting on La Rambla (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

May 28

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Mallorca Sketchbook: Palma Cathedral from the Parc de la Mar

Having noticed a considerable period of many months passing during which my travel, and now Mallorca, sketchbook played no active role in my life, I have made a conscious effort to reopen and reinstall my sketchbook’s regular participation in my weekly artistic activities. The result is that my sketchbook is once again travelling outside of my art studio as a kind of regular escort to my journeys across Mallorca and indeed closer to home.

Most recently, a little stroll just round the corner from my apartment provided sufficient inspiration to generate a new sketch in my sketchbook. It’s not hard – after all, I do live in one of the most indisputably beautiful cities in Europe, and the old town of Palma de Mallorca is a true gem in every sense. Best of all, I am but 5 minutes walk from La Seu, the city’s mighty gothic cathedral which is so relentlessly beautiful that it could be sketched from every one of its 360 surrounding angels.

Palma Cathedral from the Parc de la Mar (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

On this occasion, taking a seat in the leafy Parc de la Mar sandwiched between the sea and the cathedral, I took refuge in the shade, opening my sketchbook and making this quick pen sketch of the back of La Seu. True, it is but a small portion of a glorious bigger spectacle, but I have no doubt that this magnificent building will reappear in its full glory in my sketchbook soon.

© 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

Apr 7

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The Daily Norm photo of the week: Swan lake

A new working week has begun after a few days’ happy Easter explorations, and with that week comes a new opportunity to show off a photo or two with which I am especially excited. And today’s photo (and its two accompanying shots) is certainly worth a post all of its own. It depicts one of two swans who live in the locality of Palma de Mallorca’s magnificent cathedral and ancient Moorish Palace. Swimming around in a sunlit pool all of their own, the swans look the very picture of grace at the best of times, but with their feathers so beautifully arched as they were when this photo was taken, and with the sun shining upon the water, they made for a stunning photographic vision.

I love the fact that in addition to the sunlight shining through the green waters of the small lake, this photo also benefits from the rippled reflection of a nearby historical arch, adding interest to this enchanting composition. The perfect vision of a swan, and a lake.

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.