Hmmm. It's been some time hasn't it? Four months more or less since my last Estepona art trail post. It's not that I haven't been looking, I have and I do have some excuses for being so rubbish with my lack of art trailing posts which I shall list now -
1. I did actually find a couple more murals while out and about on my bike over the past months but to be honest I didn't really like them and so I wasn' too inspired to write about them. I won't tell you which ones they were because somebody reading this (assuming there is anybody reading this!) might have thought, 'oh I do love that ________mural!' and then I would feel terrible that I had rubbished it.
2. This one is a bit embarrassing. I got a bit disheartened at my lack of mural discovering while employing the 'cycle around and see what you find' method and so one day, not too long ago, I gave in and went to the Tourist Office in Estepona. I picked up a couple of the mural maps, determined to find them all especially a few that I had seen pictures of and thought were fantastic and really wanted to see in person. However, map reading is not one of my talents. Despite having two maps (one in big print!) with most of the murals marked on I still failed to find any more.
3. I've been a bit busy with other things - children, work, writing other things, reading my book, drinking too much tea, spending too long on Facebook and Twitter, you know the sort of thing, sometimes other stuff just gets in the way.
So those are my excuses. Make of them what you will.
But one day my friend Carrie and I decided that after a few months of talking about it and not actually doing it we should go on a collaborative mural hunt and find ALL of the murals in one big cycling session! So we met up one Thursday a couple of weeks ago and set off armed with our maps. Rather wisely we decided that Carrie would be the map reader due to my map reading troubles, so thank you to Carrie for her invaluable navigational skills and also for thinking to bring sweets to fuel our cycling mission. Our approach proved to be successful, we found them all! Well, most of them. There are a couple more obscure ones that I'm still trying to find but here, in their almost entirety, are the wall murals of Estepona starting with the earliest and finishing with the most recent mural.
1. 'La Venus'
‘La Venus' can be found in the Barriada Mar y Sierra. It is 120 m2 and is by Ana Cecilia Salinas. It was created in September 2012. If you look closely you will see that the artist has included a representation of the statue known as ‘La Venus de Estepona’ which is a clay Venus dated 5000 years ago which was found in Estepona!
2. 'Estepona Bermeja'
‘Estepona Bermeja’ is in the Barriada de Los Televisores. It was created in January 2013 and is another work by Ana Cecilia Salinas. It is 30m high and the red tones that the artist has used in the mural are intended to reflect the famously red earth colours of the Sierra Bermeja mountains.
3. 'La Casa de la Buena Gente'
‘La Casa de la Buena Gente’ is by Conchi Alvarez. It is in Barriada Tres Banderas, measures 80 m2 and it was inaugurated in January 2013. I love this! It is one of my favourite murals and one that I was looking forward to seeing having previously seen photos of it in the paper and online. The mural is a trompe l'oeil created over four storeys of a block of flats and it depicts people looking out of windows and on balconies and features some actual residents of the block. The artist wanted the mural to be an interactive experience and she has even published a book about the mural and its creation. This one is great!
4. 'Pasen y Vean'
‘Pasen y Vean’ can be found in Calle Goya and is a collaborative work by local artist Elena Aguilera with Alejandro García and Manuel Aguilera. The theme of the mural is the circus world and the artists wanted to present a sense of the elegant movements of trapeze artists performing in a circus tent. It is painted in oils and acrylics and was created in February 2013.
5. 'Almas del Mar'
‘Almas del Mar’ was inaugurated in April 2013 and was created by Blanca Larrauri. It is located in Avda San Lorenzo and the mural is a tribute to Estepona’s seafaring history. It is made up of 3 maritime scenes – boats returning from fishing, fishermen sewing nets and boats moored in the harbour.
6. 'Tiempos de Claridad'
‘Tiempos de Claridad’ is another mural by Ana Cecilia Salinas, created in May 2013. This mural is intended as a tribute to the natural scenery of Estepona and has been created in two perspectives. It can be found on Avenida Andalucia in the Barriada San Isidro.
7. 'Estepona Siglo 21'
‘Estepona Siglo 21’ is located in Plaza ABC. It was created by Nestor Prada García and it was inaugurated in June 2013.
8 & 9. 'Madre Amorosa' and 'La Mirada de un Niño'
‘Madre Amorosa’ and ‘La Mirada de in Niño’ are both by the artist Francisco Alarcon and are located on Calle Terraza in Barriada Primavera. The murals are on two walls which are next to each other and were created in July 2013. Tones of grey, white and black have been used exclusively on both and it was the artist’s intention to honour the mother figure on one side and to highlight the importance of learning, personal development and creativity in children on the other.
10. 'Fundacion Antonia Guerrero'
‘Fundacion Antonia Guerrero’ is a work by Joaquín Fabian Aguilera Diaz and it was inaugurated in October 2013. The mural is a tribute to Antonia Guerrero and her work to improve the education of women in Estepona. It is created in paint and relief and it depicts a girl going up the stairs of Los Remedios church. The doves which can be seen at the top of the mural represent the liberation and freedom of women.
To be continued.......