EXCERPT FROM SARA’S JOURNALApril 7, 1999
Calle Conde de Barajas, Seville
Artists in the Conservatory
Natalia and Rana are students at the Escuela de Bellas Artes.
They live in the Conservatory, next door in Apartamento #12.
They are walking in the hallway with two other classmates. I am in the
hallyway, too, and we begin a discussion about my studio window, which looks out onto the
Conservatory’s central patio. Everyone can see my works in progress. The girls are
enthusiastic to see my paintings.
"They are representational but abstract, too" says Natalia,
perusing a dozen or so pastels taped to the wall. "I myself am painting lightbulbs as
a metaphor for the electricity of human love".
The girls are animated. They like the drawings of Javier’s cacti.
They point to a pastel of a long, prickly cactus jutting from a small terra cotta pot.
They tell me that everyone in Art school is painting cacti. Cacti are hot in the studio.
The watercolours are a hit, too. I’ve been making
postage-stamp-sized watercolours of cacti and streetscapes. It’s fun to reduce the
composition to just a few shapes.
Natalia disappears and returns a few moments later with a small
portfolio of watercolours. Most are of lightbulbs with winding chords going into
electrical sockets. They are colourful and loose. She has several dozens of drawings, like
me. Rana hands me a book she has been holding to her chest. It's a collection of paintings
by Spanish painters—Miro, Picasso, Goya.
Next we go over to Apartmento #12. The place is small, with only one
window looking into the patio and another that opens to the alley behind us. Rana’s
bedroom is filled with handmade straw animals and linocuts. Natalia has some large,
gestural nudes, and many small Twombly-influenced drawings. I praise a 2 x 3 foot
reclining nude. "Do you like it?" "Certainly…it is lovely". We
decide on a trade and I take home the drawing.
"Anytime you need a book from the Art Library, let me know and I
will get it for you". The girls are off for an evening of studio, or socializing, or
both.
