A Day At The Portuguese Coast
- Location
- Lisbon · Portugal
- Words
- Jessica Jungbauer
Living and working near Lisbon, Johanna Stickland creates sensual photographs as well as paintings. We’ve featured her work before. This time, the Canadian artist takes us through a day in her life at the coast of Portugal, her adopted country…
This morning I had a job in Lisbon and had to leave very early. I felt exhausted because I barely slept, my sleeping patterns have been all over the place since I returned home from America. The fog in Portugal is always so beautiful and inspiring to me.
It was still early in the morning when I finished my work in Lisbon, so me and my husband Miguel drove to a town near the ocean we had never been to. We had lunch near the water. I love to hear the sound of waves crashing.
After lunch we drove some more. These kind of impromptu road trip days are my favorite, they are so romantic and fun. We passed this place Miguel remembers from his childhood. It’s a crazy place with rooms full of clay statues, puppets and artifacts. There were many cats running around there, but they were too shy to pet.
In another town we found this incredible church with big marble statues. By chance, we wandered into a hidden courtyard with these majestic birds of prey. The caretaker who looked after them was cuddling with the owl when the onlookers left and no one was looking. I wish I had a picture of that moment because it was so sweet.
All images © Johanna Stickland