Cortijada Los Gazquez - Vida en 1000m. Parque Natural Sierra Maria Los Velez. Andalucia.

and the view of the Conviento La Conception and La Muela on the Sierra Gigante

Robert Reiter is a German landscape painter who spends a great deal of his time here in ‘Los Vélez‘. Last night we were at the private view for his new exhibition ‘Ventanas, puertas, muros…Una excurción a la arquitectura tradicional del parque natural de Sierra María-Los Vélez‘ at our friend Pepe’s gallery ‘La Concepción’

Robert Reiter was born in 1932 and studied  at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He and his wife now divide their time between Bavaria and the Comarca de Los Vélez.

And here at Los Gázquez we are huge fans of his work. He paints rapidly with a vibrant energy pushing the paint around his canvases. His colour is sublime but most of all I am  in awe at  his ability to capture the light here. And it’s a special bright light charged with photons, bouncing from the sun baked white clay earth. It’s lime light illuminating forms from beneath as  well as from above and it is this special quality that Reiter captures so well as he pushes his medium in and out of expressionist abstraction and figuration.

We should also add that it was a wonderful evening and so stimulating that such a small community in such a remote but beautiful place as this can produce  cultural gems like this.

… for we have a new road across this alpine desert from Vélez Blanco to Cortijada Los Gázquez. (Not all the way mind, we don’t want to be too close to civilization)

Today we were all invited to the nave, the old home in the country, of Tomas and Pepe for migas. It translates literally as crumbs but means much more. In a very hot frying pan, a sarten, you mix flour with olive oil and water. Stir the mixture vigorously and for a long time until it makes crumbs. To this add copious whole cloves of garlic, sausages, pork and liver.

The secret recipe was passed on from generation to generation and then onto Donna…

and when the meal was ready no plates were doled out, just a spoon and a napkin and a jar of jalapeno peppers. Delicious.

But Manhattan you ask? Well, resident artist from New York, Kathryn Lynch came too. A trip back to the old world and one keenly appreciated. Thank you Tomas and Pepe and all your family for being so generous.

It’s fiesta time here in the Comarca de Los Velez and this year Velez Blanco has a portable bull ring. If the funds are there they should build a new one. Not for bullfighting though but for real art and culture.