Plein Aire painting in Portugal
If you find yourself anywhere near San Anselmo, California, stop in and see my paintings at a shop called Delectables; it's on San Anselmo Avenue, across from the Town Hall. Tell Carolyn I said "hi."
|
I live most of the year in Seville, Spain, in an apartment overlooking a crumbling 18th century church. In recent travels, I’ve painted in Corsica, Portugal, Spain and my native California. My husband and I spend several months a year in San Anselmo, a small town just north of San Francisco.
Rich and I love California and Seville for their zany mix of upscale, downscale and outright loony. In our part of Marin County, there’s a flock of wild peacocks living at the local dump. Our neighbors range from George Lucas to the elderly woman who shows up at the coffee house with a chenille bedspread tied around her head like a burnoose. It’s comforting to know that when I am an eccentric old lady wandering the streets in my bathrobe, no one will mind. When I mentioned this to a neighbor my age, she said, “But Karen, I do that now!” Good point. Why wait? It’s all about the simple pleasures. The other day Rich and I were sitting in a sidewalk café in Seville when we heard shouts of laughter and looked up to see a bachelor party coming our way. The groom was standing up on the back of a friend’s motor scooter, dressed as a bullfighter, waving his hat to the crowd. As he swept past us, we realized his costume was nothing but an apron, and he was buck naked from behind. The crowd roared its approval. I told Rich this was good news for him, because when he becomes an eccentric old man wandering the streets of Seville without his pants, the locals will take it in stride. So there is that to look forward to. When I'm not painting...
My other great love (besides Rich, of course) is writing. I've recently published a book about my life in Seville called Dancing in the Fountain: How to Enjoy Living Abroad. It was great fun to write, and critics and readers really seem to connect with the story.
"I loved this book, " wrote Lonely Planet. "I must have laughed aloud at least once in every chapter ... The advice in the book is terrific." "Karen McCann's engaging style and sense of humor are both refreshing and immediately evident. In fact, I find them reminiscent of British author Peter Mayle and his romps in France, but with a bit more substance," wrote Spain Expat. "Her book is one long, glorious love letter to the Andalucían capital and its quirky, warm-hearted people," wrote Maria Foley, I Was An Expat Wife. For more about Dancing in the Fountain, visit EnjoyLivingAbroad.com facebook.com/EnjoyLivingAbroad twitter.com/EnjoyLvngAbroad And then there's my travel blog, ENJOY LIVING ABROAD
SOME OF MY MOST POPULAR POSTS ON TRAVEL
SOME OF MY MOST POPULAR POSTS ON SEVILLE |
