ACA Newsletter

I went on a quick 4-day trip to Lisbon and Evora to check out the light, the setting and some studios. What to say? The custard tarts are amazing. The Jerónimos Monastery with its busy façade is huge and white and smooth. You have to eat a salt cod ball but probably better in sauce not just over the counter in a corner cafe. Lisbon is a busy port. This fact shadows the city. I'd struggle with the lack of lasting-the-test-of-time paintings to see and as impressive as the churches are outside, I found the decoration inside inspirationally dredging. Lx Factory has a self conscious buzz, Menina e Moça is a book shop but not only a great book shop, it's a lively bar/cafe/live music venue with an upbeat atmosphere day&night. So for me Lisbon felt a little too gentle and lacking in the cultural and soulful punch of other European cities. 

On to Evora with its staggering 1st C AD temple, 360d view from the rooftop of the ginormous Catherdral and fantastic home-cooked-come-to-my-house-for-a-7-course-suprise-dinner restaurant Taberna Típica Quarta-feira but the landscape is flat and pylon inflicted, and although the light is sharp and the shadows cast strong on the cobbles and yellow-windowed white houses I just didn't feel it's my place to paint.