Spanish Life

Art life in Malaga, Spain /  by PIGSY

Art life routine in Malaga, Spain

An artist living in Spain

It’s been nearly 5 months since I arrived from Ireland and started working in my art studio here in Malaga. I’ve settled in to a great routine in Spain, which you can read about in this blog post.

The first thing I had to get used to when I arrived in Malaga was the different working hours in Spain as compared to Ireland. I’ve adapted now and we changed our whole lifestyle to encompass the different working hours. Back home in Ireland we tended to eat dinner about 7ish but now here in Spain we eat about 9pm or so.

So my routine is now working out as follows>

Morning Art Life

We start every day with some self directed Spanish language learning on the internet - we do a combination of Duolingo, Spanish Dict Interactive Classes and Dr Danny Evans (The Language Tutor) on Youtube.

We then have breakfast about 11 or maybe a little later and either take Bones the dog for a walk before or after breakfast.

The business end of things of being an artist here in Malaga, Spain - living in Spain as an expat and running my art career. Beyond the creation of art, the artists needs to catalogue and inventory the art along with working on the financials and ar…

Afternoon - the Business end of Art

Art Website and Blogs etc

In the afternoon, both my wife and I look after the business end of my art work. Enid updates my website, I answer emails and then update social media along with doing other items as they arise.One big project that I worked on was bringing my art archive fully up to date - this took a bit of time but is done now and so I only have to tip away at it now. Over the past while, I also had an online solo exhibition with Designyard in Dublin and a group art exhibition with La Casa Amarilla here in Malaga, There was both administrative and physical work (paintings to be framed, etc.) to be done for these art shows, so this all kept me extremely busy in recent times. I find Artmoi very useful for my art inventory.

Other art business includes the marketing and promotion of my art which is a huge area - but luckily Enid has a diploma in Digital Marketing along with having lots of experience in this from her time working in public libraries.

Creating art in my studio here in Malaga, Spain the home of Jorge Rando and the great Pablo Picasso

Evening - the Art of Art

And then it is down to the real business of art: studio art work. I head to the studio about 3pm every day and stay there til about 8/8.30pm. Sometimes I leave a little earlier if I have chores to do like packages that need to be sent in the post. The Post Office is open until 8.30pm and I find that it is quietest after 7.30pm so I like to go then. I discovered the quiet time after queuing for over 30 mins outside the Post Office a few mornings! But no more queuing when I go later in the evening.

Enid tends to meet me when I am finished work (particularly now the Christmas lights are up on Larios) and we have a little walk around the city before we go home for dinner. When we arrive home we have a drink while making dinner on the bbq (which we have used every single day since we got it about a month after arriving in Spain). The bbq I chose is an electric Weber and I find it brilliant - very easy to use and makes perfect food….or maybe it is the chef that makes the perfect food!!

And then there are the other things that we get up to that also have to be fitted in on different days

Enid and I on the rooftop if the O2 gym in Atico Padel club getting ready for a Sunday morning Padel tennis game

Padel Tennis in Malaga

I play padel in the Atico Padel Club which is on the roof of the O2 gym near the city centre (just across the river). It’s a great club with a relaxed atmosphere. Along with playing some good games of Padel, I also get to practise my Spanish and mix with lots of people. It seems like Padel is popular in lots of countries and I have met lots of people with different Nationalities in this club. They all speak Spanish a lot better than me!!

Poco a poco little by little I am learning to speak Spanish with Speak and Learn classes in No Pigui cafe in the centre of Malaga

Spanish Lessons (Online and in person)

Speaking of Spanish, we do two Spanish lessons with a teacher per week. One of the classes is currently being ran online due to Covid restrictions. Hopefully we will resume meeting in the Hotel Anihita in the new year for a face to face lesson on Tuesdays. Then on Wednesday we do a face to face lesson in No Piqui Cafe in a group of 5 learners with teacher Clara of Speak and Learn. An hour long class passes quickly and while is very inspiring and helps me a lot, it also highlights how little Spanish I know and how my progress with the leaning is slow. But I’ll get there - poco a poco!

Enid’s volunteering job - Cudeca

On Saturdays from 10am until 2pm, Enid volunteers in a local charity shop which is ran by Cudeca. This gives me a bit of free time on a Saturday morning so I tend to have a relaxed time which involves a slow saunter with the dog and maybe stop off in a local cafe for a coffee. On the way home from the walk I buy some bread in the panederia and then I go home and browse the internet over breakfast and catch up with what is going on in the world!

Sundays in Malaga

For us everyday is a work day so we tend to follow a similar routine on Sundays too, except that we fit in a visit to a museum or attraction on this day. You can see some of the museums we visited in past blog posts that I have written.

And so that’s my general routine here in Malaga but I also get up to different ad hoc things that come up like what we did last night !! Read below for more!

Artist Pigsy on Calle Larios with his dog Bones, visiting the Christmas lights on the Malaga street is very much a Christmas traadition for Spanish families and tourists

Lights on Calle Larios

As mentioned the Christmas lights are now up on Calle Larios and in other parts of the city. They are absolutely spectacular and as I said we like to make it a thing to walk on Larios every evening and enjoy the lights. It’s very much a family activilty here in Spain for families to get out in the evening and enjoy the lights and music. The weather is mild and given the Covid situation it feels very safe to do this as everyone is keeping their distance and wearing masks. In past years, Calle Larios has been very busy at this time but the light and music shows have been toned down this year. There is also a large police presence to crowd control if it got overly busy.

Last night we got up to something fun on Calle Larios. My wife’s sister in the USA is working on a facebook project called “Me and my Tree” where she is compiling a collection of people dressed up in their party best (even though most are not going out and some are even in places that are on lockdown) posing with a drink beside their Christmas tree. Even though we aren’t putting a tree up this year, my wife Enid definitely wanted to partake in this fun Christmas project so she put on a party dress and I took some pics of her beside the tree at the top of Calle Larios on Constitution Plaza.

Amy in her 1950’s Florida home posed beside her vintage mid-century modern looking Christmas tree along with her Moscow mule cup in hand

“Me and my Tree”, a global Facebook project created by Amy

Enid’s twin sister, Amy, came across some vintage 1960’s pictures of glamorous ladies in sparkly dresses posing beside their festive trees. She thought it would make a great activity for her friends to do in 2020 and so put the word out on Facebook that she was looking for people to join in and send her their pics of themselves with their tree. She has created a collection of pics on facebook.

If Amy decides to share the photos from the collection on her blog I will put a link to them all. But for the moment, please do enjoy the pic of Amy beside her vintage looking white Christmas tree covered in colored baubles.

And below arethe pics of my wife Enid with the beautifully lit Christmas tree on Calle Larios that Amy has included in the facebook album of her “Me and my Tree” collection of photos for 2020.

How to set up a "Home Cinema" in your back yard! /  by PIGSY

Have you ever wanted to watch Movies in the Garden?

Here’s how you can set up your own home movie theatre in your backyard in a few easy steps!

When I lived in Ireland I always thought that having a home cinema in your back garden was something very cool. However with good weather being fairly unreliable I never went ahead and set up one in my garden.

However, when I moved to Malaga in Spain I figured that it would be the perfect opportunity to go ahead with my plan and set up a home movie theatre on my balcony - or as a balcony is called in Spain, my “terrace”. During these covid times I am not venturing to the cinema and so having a home movie screen means that I am not missing out on watching films but I am also social distancing at home and therefore keeping my circle of contacts very small. Home entertainment definitely seems like a wise choice at this time. Also here in Malaga the weather is perfect for sitting outside in late at night. It is September now and still very warm.

Malga apartment wall for projecting movies on to

The terrace in my apartment is perfect for a home cinema set up. We live on the top floor (atico) and there is a gable wall of the apartment next to us, that is in a perfect position for us to use to project movies on to.

Home Cinema Location Choice

The terrace in my apartment is perfect for a home cinema set up. We live on the top floor (atico) and there is a gable wall of the apartment next to us, that is in a perfect

Look how the projection looks like when the sun goes down!

image of what it looks like when I projected an episode of “Narcos” up on to the side gable of my house so I could enjoy a home cinema experience outside on my terrace here in Malaga, Spain

We are currently watching “Narcos” and the outdoor projector is definitely giving us that “big screen” experience at home.

Here’s how I set up home cinema experience on my terrace and the steps you can take in order to set up your home movie theatre (indoors or outdoors).

Follow through the steps I outline below to set up your own outdoor movie theatre in your garden or on your terrace!

5 Steps to Set Up your Home Cinema

  1. Scope out where is the best place to project on to. You are going to need a large blank wall (preferably white), but if you don’t have a blank wall you can buy a projector screen and use that.

  2. Consider how you are going to power your projector and laptop set up. If you don’t have an outside plug you are going to need to use an extension lead or power strip with a long cable.

  3. Buy a projector. I bought mine on Amazon and it was delivered ridiculously fast. I ordered it about 3pm on Friday and it arrived the next day at 9.30am. Projectors can be really pricy but I budgeted about 100 euro and decided upon the Vamvo Full HD 1080P Mini L4200 Projector with Dolby.

  4. Think about speakers. The projector I purchased has built in speakers which worked perfectly. However, my apartment is above a really busy street with bars and restaurants below so it is NOISY! I am going to try using an additional blue tooth portable speaker that I have and look at connecting it by cable to the projector. Depending on your situation, you may not need additional speakers and the built in ones on the projector may suffice.

  5. Set up is very easy. Firstly it is a matter of plugging in your laptop and projector and then connecting them together with an HDMI cable.

  6. You will then need to look at positioning the projector in order to have the screen the size you need on the wall.

  7. Finally once you have something up on the screen you can use the manual lens focus to get the screen in to focus.

Choose snacks and wait for the sun to go down!

It’s that easy to set up your own home movie entertainment system - all you have to do now is decide on what chairs to use (I like a lounger with a light blanket), what snacks to eat and then wait for the sun to go down!

Benefits of a Home Cinema

If I haven’t sold you already on the Home Cinema concept, here’s a list of some of the benefits

  1. You can watch what you like when you like (although if you have set up outside, you will need to wait until it gets dark. If you went for an indoor set up you can just pull the curtains!)

  2. You can make your own snacks and just pause the movie when you go for a refill of popcorn in the kitchen

  3. The family pet can enjoy the film too!

  4. You don’t need to get a babysitter if you have little ones in the house - just pop them to bed promptly and set up the cinema in the front room

  5. You can watch a film over two nights if you get tired halfway through it

  6. You can have a beer or wine or even a cocktail while watching your movie…….a signature cocktail could be created for when you are showing a film or you could even create a specialty cocktail while watching particular films eg. 1920’s cocktails for The Great Gatsby

  7. You can lounge and wear your pyjamas and get cosy under a blanket

  8. You can talk during the film

Have I missed out on any other benefits to watching movies at home? Let me know in the comments section below!