Teaser from A Cohort of Creative Bohemians: artists

Art is something that has fascinated me since childhood. Although I am no painter, art was one of the few subjects, along with drama and English, that I truly enjoyed at school.

Two of my favourite Spanish artists are Murillo, whose realist portraits of flower girls, street urchins, and beggars I find irresistible; and Julio Romero de Torres, the Cordovan artist whose symbolist style portrays a reflection of Andalusian customs and traditions.

My early fascination with art began with Francis Bacon, for I found his raw, unsettling imagery somewhat arousing. The screaming faces in his series of Popes (based on Valázquez’s portraits of Pope Innocent X), and the Study for Three Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion confused me as a youngster. Did these eerie paintings actually reflect Bacon’s character?

Art critic Michael Peppiatt claimed that ‘it would be no exaggeration to say that, if one could really explain the origins and implications of this scream, one would be far closer to understanding the whole art of Francis Bacon.’

Although I have yet to come across an artist of Bacon’s calibre on the Costa del Sol, I have interviewed several eccentric, or bohemian Brits whose works have appealed to me in some way or another.

A former teacher, newspaper cartoonist and architect, *******, is probably one of the most innovative artists living on the Costa del Sol today.

A bohemian by nature, ******* employs the unusual habit of mixing her lager with water, which, she declares, helps her to drink steady without getting drunk. She also insists on only being photographed with a pint in her hand.

If one made a list of eccentric British artists on the coast, she would have pride of place.

https://www.amazon.com/Tony-Bryant/e/B00S19QOWK/ref=aufs_dp_fta_dsk

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