Friday, August 5, 2011

Mediterranean coastal architectural colour plaettes 1

This week I went to visit  Vilassar de Mar, a catalan coastal village. I've always been in love with our seashore resorts, I'm fond of their old summer villas and their colours. About a year ago I did something I was wishing to since long time ago. And I did it with the guidance of who has become my paint teacher, Mrs. Marina Berdalet. I dived into the Color World.



I also learned how to create Color Moods for Interior Design with Kate Smith. And thanks to my contacting many Color Consultants worldwide, I  came to discover how Architectural Color for Exteriors is so well worked out in other countries.

Back to my trip to Vilassar, I was fascinated by a collection of old beautifully painted villas raised in the late years of XIX th. century.  Lucky that I had my Android, for I hadn't thought of taking my cam! I shot plenty of photos, pretty enough to begin writing a series of posts on Architectural Color in Catalan coastal villages . Colours here are warm and luminous as our Mediterranean sea...

I will begin with this building, known as  Ca l'Amat, designed by an unknown architect.


Isabel de Yzaguirre, 2011.

As you can see in the archs and can be checked in Wikipedia, this is a XIX th. century building, a historicist one, that mimics arab style. Sgraffitto and ceramic tiles are their more outstanding decorative characteristics.



Isabel de Yzaguirre, 2011

We can see them around doors and windows. Their richness and chromaticity bring the memory of the broad heritage arabs left in Spain many centuries ago.


Isabel de Yzaguirre, 2011.

This is the rich colour palette that was used in this villa's façade: 

Colour palette by La Colorista

This palette has some luminous colours and some muted ones. They are typical in the Catalan Seashore villages and  were most used in the end of  the XIX th. and beginning of the XX th. centuries. They were usual in the period that we know as Modernisme Català, .

I will go on extracting colour palettes and will do a post about some fascinating doors and windows I saw, even if they are not straightly related with colour. Here is one of them, aside of which I left a testimonial of my visit to Vilassar.



IdY, La Colorista.

If you need an improvement or redo in you Architectural Colours, feel free to contact me. I will be happy to help you!

4 comments:

  1. Isabel, congratulations on a lovely and informative blog. It's a travel experience for those of us far from Spain, like in New England, USA!

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  2. Thank you so much, Barbara!
    I do appreciate your comment, you honor me!

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  3. Nicely done Isabel!Beautiful location for you to work from! You leave me crying "More! More!"

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