I had some exciting news last week. I've been accepted to do an artist residency in Can Serrat , Spain for next fall. It's about 45km from Barcelona . There are a couple of websites devoted to artist residencies. The one I used is called Res Artis . What mainly drew me to this area of Spain was my interest in seeing the Black Madonna in the monastery at Montserrat , about a three hour uphill hike from Can Serrat. This famous site of holy visions became a place of religious pilgrimage and has been for centuries, possibly going back to pre-Christian times. "The history of Montserrat is fascinating and started in 880 when a small group of shepherd children saw a bright light descending from the sky in the Montserrat mountains. In the same moment the children heard angels singing and the music filled their hearts with a radiant joy. Overwhelmed by the experience the children ran home to frantically recall the experience to their parents. The parents were sceptical bu...