New Painting: Dancing in the Plaza de Espana - Ronda Spain

In 2004, I was part of a group of people from my church that went to Algeciras, Spain to assist some missionaries  for 2 weeks. One Saturday, we took a trip to Ronda. Ronda is one of the Southern Spain   White Villages or Pueblos Blancos know for their white washed walls and red or brown tile roofs. It is a town perched on two cliffs with an ancient Roman Bridge connecting them 

We were there when 2 events were occurring , a bull fight and the Ibero-American festival celebrating the Spanish countries of North and South America. Lots of people in traditional costume, good food and much celebrating. 

One such event was traditional dancing demonstrations in the main square, or the Plaza de Espana. I  took a few pictures and enjoyed the scene. I fell in love with one  picture in particular and decided some day to paint it when I had some more confidence in painting people. Meanwhile I stuck to my usual lighthouses, covered bridges, etc. I finally painted people in a another picture  I took in Spain  of a roadside café in Andalucia  (my Spanish Cafe painting) , except they were small and far away. The Dancing painting would require much more up close work. As we left Ronda, going back down the mountain to Algeciras, we had beautiful sunset  

I finally had the urge  to paint it. This is my first real attempt to paint people. I tried putting face on them but they looked horrible, so I decided to leave them out. In my way of painting, I essentially built the painting. I don’t sketch anything, I have a vision for where the paint should go and lay it on. I first block things in black and let that dry  (except for the rear buildings) and then paint the entire scene.Anything in front gets painted in black over the rear scene, dries and then gets painted fully, etc. The people I did not sketch. I just loaded up my brush and carefully blocked them in in black and painted the colors over them. There may be a few flaw in it but I’m happy with it. As an artist you have to grow and expand your boundries.

On the same trip we went to Fez Morocco for a few days with another missionary to visit a Childrens Home in another town, but I have many pics of the Fez Medina with many people in them that I want to paint, one of  a fish seller in the Medina, 

 so watch for them! So enjoy. This is 11 x 14 oil on canvas board with a price of 200 dollars. As usual mugs and bags and available with the Dancing image on it