The Estremoz Paintings

Estremoz Castle, Spring
Estremoz Castle, Spring. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.
Estremoz Castle in the Summer
Estremoz Castle, Summer. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.
Oil painting of Estremoz Castle in the Autumn
Estremoz Castle, Autumn. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
Estremoz Castle, winter
Estremoz Castle, Winter. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

It’s been over a year now since we left Portugal, and even longer since I last wrote a blog post, but I wanted to show the series of paintings I did while we were living in the beautiful town of Estremoz. I had hoped to exhibit them as a group at the time, but between the Covid lockdowns and our other shows, I never got a chance to organize it.

Estremoz Castle #5. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

(Above is a YouTube video of the process for the previous painting).

oil painting of a field of
Yellow Lupine in an Cork Forest. 70 x 90 cm, oil on linen.

We loved our three years living in Estremoz. The Portuguese people were as wonderful as everyone says, the towns, cities and landscapes of the Alentejo are gorgeous, and the history and culture is utterly fascinating. I had no idea how much of the world’s culinary culture was influenced by the Portuguese. From the vindaloo curries of Goa, to Japanese tempura, to the multitude of peppers worldwide, Portugal had a huge influence on food everywhere they went.

Today as well, the food in the Alentejo and the Algarve is amazing, and not as well known as it should be. The seafood is especially great, in part because the area south of the Tagus (Tejo) river is the only area in Europe where cilantro is still part of the regional cuisine.

Today there are a lot of great restaurants in Estremoz, but we especially loved Larau and Mercearia Gadanha.

Saturday Market, Estremoz. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
Oil painting of Carnival in Estremoz
Carnival Parade, Estremoz. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
Cafe Alentejano
Café Alentejano, Sunday Morning. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
trees in bloom painting
Spring, Estremoz. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
Câmara Municipal, Estremoz
Tower of the City Hall, Estremoz. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.
Artists Society of Estremoz
The Artists Society of Estremoz. 25 x 28 cm, oil on panel.

We hadn’t originally planned on living in Portugal. It was one place on our list of possible places after my wife finished her studies at the Florence Academy of Art. But we really liked our time scouting in the Alentejo so we thought we would just look around at possible towns. One problem we had at first is that much of the architecture is designed around small windows as the summers are so hot. As artists we were looking for large windows with a lot of natural light. So we were thrilled when we discovered Estremoz. Much of the town is built on the north facing side of the hill under their castle, and there are a number of old, beautiful buildings with large north-facing windows.

Sociedade de Artistas Estremocense
Largo General Graca, Estremoz. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

As we walked around on our first visit, we stumbled across a large, ornate, empty building with large north-facing windows. The plaque next to the door read ‘Sociedade de Artistas Estremocense’, the Artists Society of Estremoz, so we asked next door if anything was for rent, and moved in a few months later.

We are very thankful to the Sociedade de Artistas for all their help in getting us settled into their beautiful building, and into the life and culture of Estremoz.

Rossio Marquês de Pombal painting
Rossio Marquês de Pombal. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
wildflower painting
Wildflowers. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.
R. da Campainha painting in Estremoz.
Rua da Campainha, Estremoz. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.
(Another process video, with thoughts on urban plein air painting in general).

plein air painting of the Igreja de São Francisco
Igreja de São Francisco. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

I also painted a few larger paintings. One is posted above, and here are a couple more:

large plein air landscape painting of Estremoz castle.
Estremoz Castle. 120 x 140 cm, oil on linen.
Plein air painting of my wife on our terrace in Estremoz.
Tina on the Terrace, Estremoz. 120 x 90 cm, oil on linen.

This last one is of my wife on our terrace in the Artists Society building. I love the huge chimneys that you see all around the Alentejo, apparently they were for curing meat for storage.

sunset painting
Sunset, Estremoz. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Overall we had a wonderful time in the Alentejo and it is a period of our life that, despite the Covid pandemic, we will always look back on fondly.

Paintings of Portugal

Plein air painting of cliffs near Peniche, Portugal.

Cliffs near Peniche. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

We spent our September this year plein air painting in Portugal. It was the first time I had visited the country and we started from the north near Apulia, and worked our way south to the Algarve. We had great weather, with the exception of some fog on the coast. The food was terrific (and inexpensive) and the people were all really friendly.

Outside of the cities, Portugal and California look very similar. From the ubiquitous eucalyptus trees, to the cliffs looking down on an ocean teaming with surfers, to the rolling hills with golden grass and cork trees (which look like California live oaks), to the traditional whitewashed architecture which is similar to the Spanish colonial buildings, there were many times when I did a double-take to remember where I was. The light, like in California, is especially beautiful.

Plein air landscape painting of villas in Sintra, Portugal.

Villas in Sintra. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of a street in Evora, Alentejo, Portugal.

Bougainvillea, Évora. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of buildings in Porto, Portugal.

Porto, the Waterfront. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of market stalls in Porto, Portugal.

Market Stalls, Porto. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Oil painting of a park in Coimbra, Portugal.

Pavilion in a Park, Coimbra. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Painting of a street in Aveiro, Portugal.

Street in Aveiro. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of a church in the Alentejo, Portugal.

Igreja de São Brissos, Alentejo, 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of a street in Lisbon, Portugal.

Street in Lisbon. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

 

The light in the Algarve is stunning. Since the coast faces south, the sun is above the water most of the day. The area is more built-up than other coastal areas that we visited, but there were a lot of wonderful views.

Plein air painting of the Praia de Dona Ana in Lagos, Portugal.

Praia de Dona Ana #1. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of the Praia de Dona Ana, Lagos, the Algarve.

Praia de Dona Ana #2. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of the praia do Tonel, Sagres, Portugal.

Praia do Tonel, Sagres. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of sunset in the Algarve.

Evening Light, Algarve. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of Praia do Camilo near Lagos, Portugal.

Praia do Camilo. 35 x 25 cm, oil on panel.

As pretty as Lisbon and Porto are, we didn’t spend a lot of time in the bigger cities as we were traveling with a dog and the smaller towns and countryside were more manageable.

Plein air painting of the Belem Tower in Lisbon, Portugal.

Sycamores at the Belém Tower, Lisbon. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of the Church of São Domingos in Lisbon, Portugal.

Igreja de São Domingos, Evening Light (Lisbon). 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air landscape painting of the windmills near Apulia, Portugal.

Windmills on the Beach, Apulia. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of Viana do Castelo, Portgual.

Street in Viana do Castelo. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air landscape painting of Rossio Marques de Pombal in Estremoz, Alentejo, Porgugal.

Rossio Marques de Pombal, Estremoz. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.