Duende: Spring in Andalusia

A Ronda town apartment, a coastal olive grove and a smart hotel, spring in Andalusia.
Now home, my mind is still full of the landscapes, music, food and colour that are part of my paternal heritage.

I sketched the Serrania de Ronda from the high walls of the ancient town and on my birthday Paco Seco dedicated a piece to me during his wonderful guitar recital. Another day on the patio of a tiny bar young and old men burst into song, accompanying themselves with percussive flamenco clapping, breaking into dance when inspired by ‘duende,’ the passion that moved them.

A day without technology during the massive outage that cut the power all over Spain and Portugal didn’t shake the relaxed attitude of the people of Ronda, there was none of the panic reported in the UK newspapers. Their laid back attitude is something we do well to emulate.

From Ronda we went to stay in a tiny hut in an olive grove, near Vejer do Frontera. We slept to the sound of waves and in the morning ate breakfast in the dappled light of the olive trees which also made it into my sketchbook. Visiting Vejer we spotted a young woman in a flamenco dress as we parked the car. “Let’s follow her!” I said, “see where she’s going, there might be something special on.” There certainly was, the Vejer Spring Feria where everyone was dressed to impress, the women in their best flamenco dresses, elegant and colourful. Children ran from one funfair ride to another and music played all over the site. Best of all the display of classical Spanish horsemanship, the poised riders and horses dancing together in what seemed like an effortless performance.

Spring flowers abounded in the very Green La Brena y Marismas nature reserve so I sat under the stone pines, breathed deeply and drew.

I have been to Tarifa before and am still enamoured with this port, the southernmost town in Spain where the sea sometimes carries the sound of the imam call to prayer from Tangier, just eight miles away. I’d always wanted to stay in Hotel Hurricane and was not disappointed – the Moorish inspired gardens are a delight and the graphic shapes of the palms, bird of paradise flowers and hibiscus will surely find a way into new paintings.