"Enchantment at Monserrate" MONSERRATE PALACE AND GARDENS Artist in residence 2012 -2013



I was invited to be the inaugural Artist in Residence at the World Heritage Palace and Gardens of Monserrate in Sintra, Portugal. I spent eighteen months painting  in the gardens and the surrounding countryside making a series of paintings which were exhibited in the palace.   







The artist at work 


 




















  





The Palace

The Opening Night 































The Paintings

many of the paintings from the earlier Lisbon show were also exhibited


NOTES ON THE PAINTINGS AND THE EXHIBITION

What is the nature of enchantment?

 A layering of realities, a resonance which has a sense of  “the other”, a scintillation of significance, human time suspended or slowed, plant time unhindered, weaving into the abandoned spaces.

With its repeating history of both splendour and decadence the palace and gardens of Monserrate emanate this quality of enchantment.

Part of the nature of enchantment is the way we happen upon it, our discovery is filled with a sense of chance as though we are being led in, that things are being revealed to us, and to discover and wander in the gardens in Monserrate is to sense the harmony of plant form and ornament and to be led in to areas of extraordinary stillness and beauty, where plants and architectural elements weave together and where deep perspectives are revealed.


As a painter I was enchanted by the design of the gardens, the variety and combination of trees and plants, the colours and the shapes that they formed in space, and the way all of this changed mood with the light and the weather. 



















































































































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