Mário Linhares was born in Oeiras, but it is in Sintra that he lives and absorbs inspiration. Observational drawingis is his specialization.
Mário Linhares graduated in Landscape Design and, later, in Equipment Design. He worked in these areas, but quickly his childhood passion got the better of him and he dedicated himself to Drawing.
Master in Visual Arts Teaching, he is finishing his PhD in Drawing at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon. He compulsively draws and idealizes, without stopping, artistic and humanitarian projects.
Professor, co-founder of Urban Sketchers Portugal, he contributes with drawings to different books, exhibitions, lectures or conferences in Portugal and abroad.
Traveling is Mário Linhares’s second nature. Being out of his natural habitat is one of his favorite sensations.
Tell us something you've seen that you've never seen before.
Algar do Carvão, on Terceira island, makes the unthinkable possible and allows us to enter this territory that is not supposed to be seen or even walked on. Our mind gains new imaginaries, letting us dream of being burning lava that once inhabited the interior of a volcano.
If you had to tell a child about your trip, what would you say?
Many millions of years ago, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, several islands have emerged after a volcanic eruption. On this trip, we went to Terceira, São Jorge and Faial. We’ve got the chance to know the houses of the first inhabitants, go inside a volcano, see the happy cows, dive into the sea, draw the islands with very high viewpoints. By the water, we’ve ate limpets that tasted of sea and land, and so many other typical dishes of the islands, where the meat is so well treated and the fish tastes heavenly. In the end, you have the feeling that you have stepped into special, unique territory and that you have to get back quickly.
What was the biggest challenge and the biggest reward of this experience?
Traveling and drawing only becomes a peaceful decision when you accept that less is more. Slowing down is increasing the quality of the experience. A more intense experience means diving deep and with more time into the culture and flavors, the sounds and breezes, the walks and their breaks. And the sketches allows all this to happen with maximum quality. We have to stop to actively see what surrounds us, building an image not only on paper but also in our inner cartography. So, in short, the biggest challenge is to slow down. The biggest reward? To have more time and imagination.
Did you have any previously created ideas about the region? How did this experience change it?
I was convinced that the San Miguel accent was the most noticeable for a continental. Arriving at Terceira, I expected even more remote sounds and Portuguese words ringing like an Atlantic salt (which is not a language at all, of course). Prepared the day before for a hearing effort above normal, I found myself awestruck by the smoothness with which the language of Camões is spoken in the other Azorean islands. How wrong he was. After all, São Miguel has the strongest accent. It has some sort of French influence, they explained to me... The power of travel is also this direct contact with the folks in its landscape. Listen to them carefully. Deconstruct prejudices. Find closeness.
