Printmaking Courses in Spain

Australian artist, Lorna Ryan Burden, came to Granada last spring with her husband, Roger. She discovered solar plates then and was looking forward to returning to Melbourne and springing them on her printmaker friends. When Lorna and Roger left she said what almost everybody says, “We’ll be back!”

Sure enough, they’re back. After dazzling her colleagues with solar last year, she’s dedicating herself this time to learning liquid-metal printmaking and she’s producing some wonderful museum-quality prints using that technique (see photographs below).

Roger’s art is restricted to architecture, so when he’s in Granada with Lorna he spends his time taking long walks along the river, reading and taking it easy. Lest he get bored this time, I invited him on the first morning to take a long stroll around Granada’s high points. I haven’t done that for years, and the tour surprised me almost as much as it did Roger.

We took a bus to the city center (Don’t even think about driving around Granada!) and headed on foot up to Plaza Nueva, one of Granada’s oldest and liveliest, and the starting point for a morning  of sightseeing. The photographs (above) reflect the order of our walk, along the Carrera del Río Darro up to the Paseo de los Tristes (The Melancholy Walk) with it’s sidewalk cafes and unique view of the Alhambra looming down from above.  From there we headed up the Cuesta Chapíz in Granada’s Albaicín Quarter, which has been a neighborhood of skilled artisans for the past 1,000 years. It also has a lot of popular tapas bars and sidewalk cafes, and the definitive view from the Plaza San Nicholas of the Alhambra set against the backdrop of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada.

As it was getting thirsty out, we stopped on the terrace at the Bar Lara in the Plaza San Miguel Bajo and had a cold beer (“…pa regar la plaza,” the Spanish say, “to dampen down the playing field…”) before descending to my favorite tapas bar on the Calle Navas, just around the corner from the city hall.  Despite its unprepossessing 70s exterior and almost-always-overcrowded interior, Los Diamontes, has been renowned for years for it’s exquisitely fried seafood tapas. This time, though the chilled Rueda white didn’t seem quite  cold enough; and the friend aubergine slices weren’t properly toasted, we enjoyed a few glasses there.

Roger, who had just come from Barcelona, was extolling the grafitti on the streets there, so I couldn’t resist taking him up the Calle Molinos (another hill) to see the work of my favorite grafitti artist, Raúl García, El Niño de las Pinturas. (See pictures, above.)  On the way passed by Los Diamontes II, to make a quick comparison. The white wine was colder. On to the old house on the Cuesta de la Escoriaza where Raúl has one of his most impressive murals. I position Rodger strategically at a 45-degree angle to the facade and said triumphantly: “How do you like THAT?!”

“It isn’t fair, “said Rodger, “this isn’t grafitti, it’s Art.”

Just down the hill we caught the bus home. As we were passing through the village of Cenes I felt inspired to hit the big red “next stop” button and stop and visit Santi Moreno’s bar for just one last chilled white.  The Spanish call the last round “la espuela,” the “spur.” So we had two. The soul of Santi’s little bar/restaurant is his mother, who does the cooking and keeps the bar stocked with fresh flowers, a touch of class in these bucolic parts. Her tapas of fried fresh anchovies and crisp eggplant slices were stunning, the best of  our trek. And we didn’t have to walk uphill to get them.

Lorna and Roger left this morning. As they climbed into the taxi Lorna said, “We’ll be back!”

What we were listening to: Tina Turner & Chuck Berry — Rock ‘n Roll Music