Montserrat

Montserrat

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A few weeks ago I had coffee with a tour guide who was passing through Granada. When he asked me how work was going, I showed him my recent painting of three tourists admiring the Alhambra from Mirador de San Nicolás. He immediately said, "That reminds me of a photo I took a few days ago." This is what he showed me, and I knew exactly what I was going to paint for my next commission: Montserrat, Barcelona's most popular day trip.

Montserrat is a place of historical, spiritual and cultural importance to the Catalan people. This year the Benedictine monastery celebrated 1,000 years since the first monastery was built on the site. Most of the paintings I share with you are of places that are already personally meaningful to me, but this latest piece is a little different: it's aspirational.

I went down so many diverting rabbit holes for this piece, and I look forward to the day when I can paint this scene in person. Since I didn't take the photo myself, I used it as inspiration rather than trying to follow it exactly. Instead, I took two of my imaginary friends from the Mirador de San Nicolás, and envisioned them on a trip to Montserrat, this time with their new puppy. It was fun to have that continuity and send them on another adventure, until I can visit Montserrat and have a real one of my own.

I enjoyed learning about Montserrat to help me capture its essence for this piece, and dreaming about what my perfect visit to the site might look like. I think I'd start at the Museu de Montserrat with Caravaggio's painting of the Penitent Saint Jerome, who's famous for translating the bible into Latin. Caravaggio is one of my favourite historical painters for the way he captures light, and uses value contrast to its full extent.

Then I'd wander through the museum's collection of modern, Catalan art, stopping at this captivating portrait of the model, Madeleine de Boisguillaume, by Ramon Casas, painted in 1892 while he was living in Montmartre, Paris. He's depicted a seemingly-ordinary moment at the Moulin de la Galette, a popular dancehall. Madeleine is sitting by herself at a table with a glass of absinthe, holding a cigar in one hand. She's focused on something we can't see off-canvas, and is poised to spring out of her chair. She's beautiful, and it's a realistic beauty in that she has dark circles under her eyes and a concerned look on her face.

I'd also visit the Monastery's Library, which dates back to the eleventh-century scriptorium. I had a great time exploring the library's digital collection of hand-written manuscripts and incunabula (books that were printed with a printing press before 1501). Look at the intricate decoration on this capital "A" in The Book of the Angels published in 1494. It's one of the few volumes that was recovered from the 1811 fire that destroyed the monastery during the Napoleonic wars.

I'd love to stay overnight at the single hotel on the mountain, waking up before sunrise to see the light seep back into the spectacular scenery. Wind and rain have eroded the mountains over time to create expressive monoliths, each of which charmingly has its own name, like the elephant, the parrot and, of course, the monk. I'd spend the morning hiking in the National Park, before heading back to Barcelona (maybe for a quick stop at my favourite of Gaudí's creations, Parc Güell).

Sketches from Granada celebrates every-day moments of connection with strangers, friends and ourselves. I know how easy it is not to be present in your own life, and I hope these sketches inspire you to seek out those moments that are worth savouring. 

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