For the third consecutive year I am spending time sketching in Spain in late winter and into Spring. This trip I started in Madrid and this post is about Granada, Malaga, and Almeria, all cities in Andalusia in the south.

Of course, coming from Maine, the weather seemed very mild. Especially in Malaga and Almeria the temperatures were like a cool summer day.

Granada is nice city. I thought in February I wouldn’t have the book the Alambra, but tickets were already booked six weeks out.

I did, however see the fascinating Sacramonte neighborhood cave museum, which was about apartments that locals had dug out of the local soft stone. They were all cleaned up and felt cozy. In the 60s or 70s there was a landslide locally and the government ordered everybody to move out. John Singer Sargent did several paintings here of the local gypsy inhabitants.

And I enjoyed Malaga, probably especially because I had a very nice place to stay. An apartment hotel with a kitchen. I find it really depends on if I have the right place if get I can get a lot of work done. And of course the weather.

But Malaga is a touristy place. My favorite stop of these three cities was Almeria. A quiet city dominated on a hill by an old Arab (later Christian) Alcazaba, which I loved painting.

Also, I especially enjoyed a visit to the Museo Arte Dona Patyka and the Center of Andalusian Photography, two museums in Almeria.

Above is my final sketch of that Alcazaba in Almeria. These fortress ruins dominated my neighborhood and much of the historic town. It was only a few blocks from my room.

And the Alcazaba was certainly was the most interesting thing to paint in town, although I didn’t get around much because I was on foot. There are some reportedly sensational beaches and bluffs about an hour bus ride away in the Cabo de Gato national park. Have to save something for next time!

After Almería, I went up to Valencia, to visit a friend. The paintings I did there and in Segovia and beyond will be in my next post.

Below are a few different images of the above. If you’re getting this article as an email, you have to click through to the web version.