Criminal Activity in Barcelona

Gaudí Park, Barcelona (but don't tell anyone)

They say that ignorance of the law is no excuse. All that does is leave me with no excuse.

Apparently, it's illegal to paint plein air in Barcelona, Spain. Thanks to James Gurney, I am now no longer ignorant of the law. 

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I was ignorant of the law when I sat down in the Gaudí Park in Barcelona, blithely pulled my Inktense travel kit from my backpack and started painting. I confess: I have committed art in the first degree. In Barcelona. Yes. It's all true.

Had I been caught, I would have been fined and made to go to the police station to fill out paperwork.

Gurney's interview with Roger Bansemer brings up the practical reasons why plein air painting has been banned in several places.I guess I'll have to watch my step in St. Augustine and Winter Park, FL, too, if I ever get the urge to paint there.

There's a simple solution: one painter, one painting. Let's all use common sense, not block traffic or anyone's business, and allow everyone a fair view of our subject. It'll all work out fine, then.

I wonder what the statute of limitations is on this. It's been a year. Can I go back safely yet? Maybe I'm on their no-fly list. The mind boggles.