NYE. Oasis backpackers.

Preparations begin!

It's fun here. Highly recommended.

Granada.

Nothing has been moved.

Backpackers in Granada...a word of caution.

There are good hostels. Regulated hostels. Oasis is exceptionally good value, and a very nice place to stay.

Rambutan is run by an evil witch who will try and play with your mind. It isn't a very official place. It is shit actually. You have been warned! Do your research.

i.e. Don't trust anyone at Rambutan. Don't even go there.

Why are bus stations always so seedy?

I'm moving...

Back to the land of...

I don't particularly like Alhambra beer, but I can't find any other brand on sale at 8 in the morning in Granada.

¡Feliz Navidad!

View from a window looking into a cafe on Calle Corredera Baja de San Pablo.

Think I may be late for Christmas again this year. Might even pass me by again. Although, I have to say this is a fantastic effort at the cost of much table space. Looks a bit surreal. Granny isn't walking through a nativity set in a giant aquarium, she's just inside a cafe with plant pots in the window sills.

The Loberation Libster Front!

These things were moving in SuperSol.


Am I being too English?





Friday (about 5 and a Half years ago).

Will anybody please pay me to paint? I have done enough sketching for the time being.

Thursday.

Wednesday.

It is getting cold.

Sunday.

Great Places to Eat on a Budget in Madrid Nº3

I've already mentioned the Secret Chinese below Plaza de España, and Despensa de Carmen on Calle Santiago. Both great value.

On a South American/Latino flavour (specifically Ecuador) try El Paso de Jean for a fabulous sit down menu of the day for just €8. Big hearty stews and soups - cream of pumpkin, fish caldo, pigs trotter caldo, creamy cheese vegetable stew. All delicious and garnished with a generous sprinkle of coriander. Followed by a fish, or meat course often served with lentils and rice, or creamed potato. Drink included with a choice of yoghurt, flan, or coffee to finish in a fun, friendly and lively Latino atmosphere.

Perfect now winter has arrived.

Winter :(

http://www.facebook.com/ElPasoDeJean

Contact Info'.

johncolley@hotmail.com
Spanish mobile: (34) 689 744929

Another BIG sketch finds a home.

I really enjoy receiving emails with photographs of my sketches in their new home. I seem to have reached every corner of the World - all continents covered!

Here's a sketch that made it back to the States from Madrid.

The Lost Photographer on Youtube.

This is quite old now. Four years! But, it is still pretty much what I am doing when I don't have commissions, or other projects to be getting on with.

Itinerants of yore.

George Henry Borrow (1803 -1881).

At Nº 16 (or, there abouts) on Calle de Santiago here in Madrid you will find Despensa de Carmen. I have no idea what Carmen does to her chicken, but it is the most tender, and most delicious chicken in Madrid. €4 for takeaway chicken and chips. Bargain. Plenty of healthier options also. I'm told the tortilla is a bit special.

Above the signage to her cooked food takeaway is a plaque. "Writer, traveller and theologist George Henry Burrow lived here from 1837 -1841 (or, there abouts - I didn't write it down)". "Also known as Don Geordie de Inglese" (or, something like that). I had never heard of him. Seems he outsold Dickens at his height with a book entitled 'The Bible in Spain' - a sort of 19th Century travelogue by a 19th Century Bible basher.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Burrow

His book (The Bible in Spain) is available for free on Project Gutenberg.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/415

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I now know all about Señor Borrow and can imagine what his life in Madrid may have been about next time I eat chicken and chips outside Despensa de Carmen on Calle Santiago.

Giving up?

Today, in Plaza de Santa Ana I was sketching. Just sketching. Two Policia Municipal told me to stop, pack up and leave. It is my work. I am doing as my client wants. I am not doing anything illegal. Charge me with something, or leave me alone. People like what I do. It is nice work. And, whilst the drug dealers and bag snatchers continue their business just a Two minute walk around the corner (the police know this) municipals decide to give me a hard time. They couldn't charge me with anything because I wasn't doing anything illegal. So I thought. However, it seems drinking a can of lager in a public space (a public space surrounded by people drinking beer and wine on open terraces) is illegal. So, to avoid a fine I had to sign a piece of paper admitting to being alcohol dependent. This is Policia Municipal in Madrid. Get your bag stolen and they will apologise for having to tell you there is nothing they can do. Sketch, or paint in a public space and they will shit on you. It is my work. I am just trying to make an honest living.

Plaza Mayor.

Spain in Crisis.

It's not until after midnight on a hot summer day when the real Spanish culture wakes. Many tourists miss it. Where is the Crisis in Spain? It's not with the foreign tourists. They fear it, but don't really feel it. I feel it. I am in debt. Not with a bank, but in debt. Not a great debt, but debt. This is my Crisis. Back in the Dark Ages when I was 15, 16, 17... 29(dunno - I lost track), a hot summer night in England during the low of Thathcer years I would be drinking Super Brew, smoking Benson and Hedges, experimenting with something a bit more exotic with friends. This evening I was offered a Lucky Strike by a teenager named juan who invited me to join his mates drinking rum with fruit juice and ice whilst smoking something a little more exotic in Plaza de España. Nothing new here then. I'm 45 now by the way. I remember the 80's fashion for trendy worn out jeans. Why does this happen. People see a threat of recession and hard times and try to sort of unite by spending loads of cash on brand new worn out jeans. It has happend again. However, when people spunk their cash on bad clothes and realise the reality is that they may well be wearing the genuine article themselves very soon, they react by buying poncey designer jeans on credit. A sort of denial when they don't want to address the truth. It is reported that unemployment is now at 70% amongst the under 30's in some areas of Spain. That is crisis. BIG CRISIS. No new clients for the banks to rob! Back to jeans. Once people have been told their credit is no longer good for a pair Ives Ponce Sauren €120 jeans they look at alternatives. I'm in Madrid. People are living with crisis here. Young people especially are finding their own unique style. They aren't thinking about the future. They don't give a shit what people think. Well, some of them. From parameters enforced from times of apparent austerity comes creativity fuelled by cheap rum, ice and a carton of fruit juice with something a little more exotic. Everybody is different in Madrid. Everybody is unique (apart from the evergreen, never dying Goths - ignore them). Young people are deserting the High Streets and getting into fun stuff. ------- Things are not going as planned. I have interviews with photographs. I don't have cash. It's tough making money on the streets ATM. Very tough.

Contact me.

johncolley@hotmail.com Spanish mobile: 689 744929 I'm looking for work anywhere in Spain. Anyone reading here who has expressed an interest previously, please express an interest again. I will be in Catalunya for work during August. From there I could head anywhere if the work is worthwhile.

Itinerants.

Thanks to whoever The Itinerant is amongst the followers.

i·tin·er·ant   /aɪˈtɪnərənt, ɪˈtɪn-/ Show Spelled[ahy-tin-er-uhnt, ih-tin-] Show IPA adjective 1. traveling from place to place, especially on a circuit, as a minister, judge, or sales representative; itinerating; journeying. 2. characterized by such traveling: itinerant preaching. 3. working in one place for a comparatively short time and then moving on to work in another place, usually as a physical or outdoor laborer; characterized by alternating periods of working and wandering: an itinerant farm hand.

I'm moving again. Chasing work simply because I have to. On this journey I plan to interview other itinerant workers (in the broadest sense of the word). Currently in Madrid finding things much more difficult than previous years as far as cash making goes. From Madrid I head to Catalunya. Interviews and photographs will come.

www.impresionesgigantes.com See the video for how we printed.

Impresionesgigantes.com

SATURDAY, JUNE 2nd. Paseo del Salon - all day. Come along. Participate. Watch. Buy. Bid. Sponsor the event. Help us raise money for a good cause.

Impresione​s Gigantes

www.impresionesgigantes.com

impresionesgigantesgranada@gmail.com


Or, contact me: (34) 689 744929

Giant Roadroller Linocut Printing is Coming to Granada.

Wait for it people. I'm doing my bit for charity again. Good me :)

The Bats are Back.

This is good news.

Cafe bar Esmeralda seems good again also.


Life as an itinerant artist? Well, you have to travel. But, whilst I'm in Granada I'll post some insider tips. Sometime soon. Tomorrow maybe. Or, the next day. Who knows?

Cafe Bar Esmeralda has just gone shit.

Shame really. Don't know who the new people are, but they're fucking the place up.

So, still stuck in Granada :D

It's the Granada trap!



---------------------

Will robot Kevin please fuck off with his spamming?

Granada.

People still keep asking me about photographs. So, as I'm back in Andalucia here's a B&W landscape from about 6 years ago...

...

Granada is difficult presently. Very difficult. More difficult than any other January I can remember here. Long hours just for subsistance living. Many direct flights have stopped flying into Granada. This is the biggest factor as far as I can tell. No cheap season tourists from other EU countries. Well, some, but not as many.

Planning to head to Gran Canaria next week. It may happen. Nah, actually, it WILL happen!

Granada.

I'm back.

...............................................