From the 30th of April to the 7th of May Cortijada Los Gázquez is running a Creative Course, Botanical Illustration.

It’s timed to run parallel with the great explosion of wild flowers here which are so part of the Andalucían experience. There are a few spaces left on the course so if you would like to join us you are most welcome. Plant life is the theme of the course but no experience is necessary, just an enjoyment of wild orchids and other flowers.

I took these photos this morning to show the wealth of colour and form on it’s way…

One evening this week found me talking to our resident artists from the University of the Arts, London, MA in Fine Art.

The subject of the talk was principally the renovation of Cortijada Los Gázquez, vernacular architecture of the region and traditional building techniques. We went on to discuss the ideas and techniques we employed to make the renovation of the cortijada along with our ecology systems and problems as well as successes in sustainability. Inevitably we moved on to talking about our plans for the Joya: arte + ecología residency…

Last weeks Art Forms in Nature creative course here at Cortijada Los Gázquez was a great success. As spring comes alive with a multitude of Andalucían wild flowers, our course goers were not short of material from which to draw form and design.

Everyone seemed to make the most of the course and what we had to offer. I was particularly interested in the work of artist and teacher Olivia Bishop who made folding book works, a collage of her observations of plant forms as well as bone structure from our collection of animal skulls. You can see more of Olivia’s work here at www.oliviabishop.com

Joya: arte + ecología resident artist Miranda Whall is dividing her residency into two parts in June and again in September. For more information on the artist look here… Miranda Whall

SUNTRAP the installation by Melissa Marks for Joya: arte + ecología is now open to the public via prior arrangement. If you would like to visit please contact us at [email protected] or through this blog.

Last Friday saw the completion of SUNTRAP the drawn installation for Joya: arte + ecología by Melissa Marks. To celebrate we had a little party to say thank you to Melissa and everyone involved in what has been a fantastic project.

So from the top left Vicente Caride (husband of Melissa Marks) talks to Donna in the SUNTRAP space. Top right and the third picture down too, Joya’s communication co-ordinator Gonzaga Gómez-Cortázar Romero, the artist Melissa Marks and me. The next two pictures are Vicente, Gonzaga and Zach a volunteer escaping Oxford to help out at Los Gázquez. The final three are Donna and Melissa in front of the SUNTRAP drawing.

Here is a message to all our Facebook friends out there. Joya: arte + ecología is now a Facebook page as opposed to a group as it was in it’s previous incarnation. So please visit Facebook. Joya: arte + ecología and click on the I LIKE button next to our name and then you will be able to continue to follow our activities.