Eyes that seek the Unseen
An exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the April Revolution and the end of the colonial wars in Africa. Seven artists created images on very large semi-transparent canvases, installed in the abandoned buildings of the largest ship repair industry in the Lisbon area.
There is visible light from the roof windows coming in through the canvases.
Just by chance I was surprised by a book of drawings by the poet Sylvia Plath, edited by her daughter Frieda Hughes . High quality drawings most of them in pen and ink on paper, also some pencil sketches, made in England, France, Spain and the U.S. Sylvia Plath had art tuition in her teens and she used to draw during her life – many of her poems were said to inspired by visual artworks. One of her drawings
Harbour Cornucopia, Wisconsin (from Sylvia Plath drawings, edited by Frieda Hughes, Faber & Faber, 2022, London, U.K.)
This drawing brought to my mind one of her poems
A Winter Ship
At this wharf there are no grand landings to speak of.
Red and orange barges list and blister
Shackled to the dock, outmoded, gaudy,
And apparently indestructible.
The sea pulses under a skin of oil…
The complete poem can be found here https://allpoetry.com/A-Winter-Ship
My long-time friend João Spratley is an excellent writer. He wrote a series of short texts in the form of traditional Fables, and asked me to illustrate them. This resulted in a short book, in French, that was published in 2021 (“Le Sourire du Chat et autres historiettes”). In the same line, we have just published a second (and last) book of Fables, also written in French (“Le Dernier sourire du Chat”), and also illustrated by me. I created a page Books im my main menu joaoavelarnet.org/books/ where you can find more details
Yesterday, another model drawing session of the Lisbon Drawing Club. The venue was again the Roman Museum, more precisely the ruins of the old Roman Theatre. The model was dressed according to the place and historic time. , Nice session, a beautiful place with a superb view to Tagus, many sailboats under a bright blue sky. Some sketches from that session
Some recent sessions at the Drink&Draw initiative and at the Lisbon Drawing Club. A mix of snapshots and sketches
I was wandering about the concept of “sacred art”. As far as I know it concerns only christian inspired artworks. One can expand this concept to other cults and religions, as “The Sacred Art Collectors ” did. Oil on plywood, February 2024
From two drawing/sketching sessions this month, now with two male nude models
The Adufe is a square-shaped membranophone, introduced to Portugal by the Arabs in the 8th and 9th centuries. It has a square wooden structure and is covered on both sides with tanned goatskin. Traditionally one of the faces is that of a male animal, the other that of a female animal (some say it sounds better that way !). In the corners there are decorations with colored ribbons.
It is played in a vertical position and struck with the fingers and hands. Inside there are grains, seeds or small stones that make a rattling noise when shaking the Adufe. It is an instrument usually played by women (“adufeiras”) and has a strong presence in the interior of central Portugal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adufe
I used the old and very rough wooden structure of a small-sized adufe as a frame for a small painting (oil on plywood), as a memory of its origin.
Some recent drawings from a young asian girl wearing a traditional hindustanic outfit. Drawings on kraft paper using black marker, pastel, charcoal and white chalk
I found a photo of four ukrainians soldiers in a trench or in a sort of shelter, in a very heavy and dark atmosphere. I dared to make an adaptation of that image
Two quick sketches from a living model
From a recent session (live model)
Music show in downtown Lisbon
João Avelar images 