Categoría: cork

The cork oak tree and pigs!

Hi folks! I hope you are keeping well.

Here is a photo of a cork oak tree taken from my morning’s walk in the countryside of Posadas (Cordova province in Andalusia). The photo’s a bit dark because rain’s expected (at long last, we’re having serious drought here!). You can see the red-brown trunk which has been exposed after the cork has been harvested.

Pigs love to eat the acorns that drop from its boughs:-

To see more photos of the oak trees and the PAINTINGS I do on the cork, you can click here.

Well, that’s all for now…

Thank you for visiting. Take care! xxx

Hand-painted stones from Posadas (Cordova)

Hi folks! I hope this finds you all well…

The good news is that since the incidence numbers have fallen here in Cordova and the province is now in level 1, things are gradually opening up and there has been more movement on the tourist front. This is also good for me, as the tourist shop in the Judería (Jewish Quarters) which sells locally-crafted items, has also opened. (See photos of the Judería here.)

I regularly place some of my items with them, the latest being a couple of paintings on locally-sourced cork from the oak trees in my neighbouring Hornachuelos Natural Park area — you can read about this area here in case you’re thinking about visiting in the future — after all, it is a place rich in ecological diversity and also boasts a supposedly-haunted monastery).

I have also painted some stones with acrylics and will start my new autumn/winter/Christmassy selection next week.

Here are a few photos of what I’ve been doing. (Most of these items are available in my Etsy shop at this link.)

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But how could I leave without a quote? So here’s one for reflection:

«I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.»

~ Saint Mother Theresa (26 August 1910, Skopje – 5 September 1997, India)

That’s all for now — thank you for visiting.

Take care xxx

Cork!

‘From little acorns, mighty oaks do grow’ — English proverb

Hello again — I hope you are all well.

This morning I went for a walk along my local country track here in Posadas (Cordova) and this is what I scavenged…

Cork — (the front side which I will paint)
The cork had fallen off the back of the truck which had been filled with the freshly-stripped cork from a nearby finca. (The more weathered, exposed side of the cork I will seal with shellac once washed and dried)
The neighbouring finca where the cork oak trees are stripped of their bark which is then used for making… corks! Also, the black-hooved pigs are often kept in these fincas so they can eat the acorns which produce a high quality ham (‘jamón de pata negra’ in Spanish)
The stripped trunks of the cork oak trees are even more red after the rain. It’s an impressive sight to see. These trees grow in the nearby finca of Calamon which once used to have an English-owned mine that worked til the beginning of the 20th century. I have written about this and other local mines in an earlier blog.

Those green-robed senators of mighty woods,
Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars,
Dream, and so dream all night without a stir…– John Keats, Hyperion, Book I

  • Bird oil painting on cork
    Bird oil painting on cork
  • Flowering oak tree painted in oils on cork
    Flowering oak tree painted in oils on cork
Before painting, I seal the washed cork with shellac varnish so that the natural holes won’t suck up the paint. I also give a coat of the same varnish to the finished product after edging it with gold paint
As usual, I always have my little helper to lend a hand — or paw, rather!

If you’d like to know why and how I came to live in Cordova, then a fully-illustrated description is given in my earlier post: From Richmond Park to the historic town of Cordova

Thank you for visiting — as usual, comments and questions are always welcome

Take care! xxx