My residency at Tablas de Daimiel National Park was twelve days of study time inside one of Europe’s treasured wetlands. The program, Art and Nature, links contemporary painting to landscape, biodiversity, and cultural heritage at the park. It is backed by the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha and tied to the international tARTget Prize.

I came to test whether Structural Omission could hold at a site that reads abundant on the surface while remaining, in hydrology, time depth, and stewardship, partly beyond what any single visitor can know. Every act of seeing is partial. The gaps are there from the start.

I rolled canvas from Seattle I had prepared with an iron oxide ground, stretched them on site, and worked across five paintings. This is the same iron oxide underpainting used by the great Spanish master Goya. On June 12, a jury awarded me the Grand Prize, Art and Nature Award. The winning work will travel to the tARTget Prize 2026 ceremony at the Ateneo de Madrid on September 18, 2026.

These residency notes document what changed in the work: anticipation on the flight, studio friction on the ground, and a longer philosophy essay.

Official announcement of the Grand Prize, Art and Nature Award:  Grand Prize, Art and Nature Award — Ayuntamiento de Daimiel (Spanish) .