Spain - amazing tiles and windows

Spain, wonderful Spain. I was so inspired by the tiles and windows of Gaudi. I am so thankful for tourist booklets. They hire professional photographers and have lovely print and colour values and it is all so much better than anything I could capture.

This park was one of the two best things I saw.
This is a close up of the bench that swirls around the plaza. The two images above and the one below are commercially produced postcards.

Each bench section is different. Some have tiles that have been broken and glued in in their original pattern, while others are a conglomeration of many bits.

Interspersed are various mosaic bits. I loved the lines of this bench, how you can sit in a different colour every time you visit, one to suit your mood, or suit your company, or suit your fan or dress. This is the right kind of too much choice, each choice is a right choice.

My second favourite thing to see were the windows in several of Gaudi's buildings. I don't know how much Gaudi designed and how much he left to the skill of the artisans he worked with. I get the feeling he left the people to do their things, once he outlined what he was after. I don't know, I only suspect. There is too much intricate cleverness for one person, plus he had tons of projects on the go that were very, very mathamatical. I can't see him spending time on each bench.


But the windows maybe were more under his control. I like the way the circles have more than one circumference. (if that's the right term) but there is an inny bit and an outy bit and some other bits. There are several complex circles. I love the range of possibilities. Every time you look, you notice something else, and if the light changes, voila, another set of possibilities.
These two above were pretty darn nice, but the next one is my favourite.
It's the combination of blues and mauves with that old gold tossed in like doubloons. I like the various intensities and that some of bits are clear, so you can see through the mosaic.
This is a very clever alternate. There is a beautiful view yet the foreground is so charming. There is clarity (a useful thing in a window) and there is conversation. There is the view and there is the up close pattern of simple lines. And as the garden grows and changes seasonally, the conversation continues. He really was intelligent when you see such a simple thing as a hole in a wall become several layers of intention.
At one point in our different Gaudi house tours I spied this skirt. Isn't it delicious! Since she was unlikely to sell it to me given that she was a tiny button and we would not fit into each other's clothes, I had to take a picture. Gaudi, the designer of this fabric and I are all on the some wavelength when it comes to dots.

I realize there is a vast chasm between us, but I'm getting there. If the moths ever bugger off, it might be soon. Below is a teaser for the next blog. It is the Palau de la Musica Catalan. We weren't allowed to take photos but we had a fabulous tour, managed to get tickets to classical Flamenco that night and buy the book. So I need to do some scanning to show you. Wish me luck.

These columns are in the main balcony, where they sip coffee and wine during intermissions.