From afar Everything
It is a texture
II Painting Meeting to Disorient Oneself in the Landscape.
Coordinated by Prof. Luciana Rago and organized by Shodo Creativo.
***Lafora House***
Cercedilla, Madrid, 2024
On May 23, 24 and 25, in a rural house in the Camorritos Colony in Cercedilla, we held the III Painting and Nature Meeting.
A weekend meeting in the middle of a natural setting in the Sierra del Guadarrama where we worked on the motto “FROM A FAR AWAY EVERYTHING IS A TEXTURE” and carried out different exercises to raise awareness of the natural environment.
The first day we took a silent walk to a viewing point where we observed and listened to the landscape in 360°. We saw Madrid from afar, the reservoirs, the green mountains and we heard the barking of Ana Beny's dog who accompanied us throughout the meeting.
On the second day we approached the bark of trees first by touch and then we recorded three different barks using the frottage technique, a technique widely used in the Song Dynasty in China. It was very revealing to be able to deny the sense of sight first to give absolute priority to the sense of touch later. From that approach we built images with Chinese ink on Wenzhou and Xuan paper, discovering an incredible variety of textures.
In the afternoon we did collective painting exercises in horizontal roll format. We replaced our usual brushes with different elements of nature that we found arranged according to the laws of chance. Creating a painting as a group involves attentive observation of what is happening and developing flexibility in the face of unexpected gestures. On the last day we went for a walk up the river, reaching pools and painting those corners that spoke the language of nature to us. These were just some of the activities we got involved in and with which we worked attentively and curiously.
On this occasion, I would like to deeply thank Isabel Martínez and Ana Beny for their technical support and management, who contributed with generosity and love to make this meeting possible.
