Meeting María Jimenez ...and her art

I am delighted to finally introduce you to María Jimenez. Although María has been involved part-time with Pura Aventura for quite a few years, from last year she joined the team as a full-time member, running our group operations in Spain and Portugal from our Spain office.

María was born in Zaragoza, which is located on the shores of the Ebro river and a couple of hours south of the Pyrenees. Mostly known for its gorgeous basilica, its strong winds and the good character of its people, Zaragoza is also surrounded by some of Spain's most extreme landscapes. For example, the Monegros desert – which is in sharp contrast with the greenery of the Picos de Europa.

María started working as a graphic designer in her family´s business from an early age, developing a love of wildlife painting at the same time.

Through the years, she has been lucky enough to match her work with her true passion and love for nature by working with different conservation entities such as the Picos de Europa National Park, the Bearded vulture Conservation trust (FCQ) and the oldest Brown Bear conservation trust in Spain (Fapas). She has created many illustrations for environmental awareness campaigns, such as kids' books about brown bear conservation, the bearded vultures and the capercaillie.

Voy a comer el mundo & El retorno de Villarina, two books illustrated by María

Her favourite subjects though are insects, flowers and anything were beauty can be found in the micro scale, in the big landscapes of Northern Spain.

In fact, the attention to detail and passion that María shows in her paintings is very much replicated on her work. This dedication is indeed key to what she does here at Pura, and we are proud to have her in our team. She always makes sure that all the small details of our group holidays are taken care of.

María will certainly be writing more about her passions here in the near future but in the meantime, we’d like to share some of her paintings from her last work for the Picos de Europa National Park. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Bee

Pink and yellow orchids

Tawny owl (Strix aluco)

Pearly heath (left) and Adonis blue (right)

Bee beetle (Trichius zonatus)

Yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis)

Iberian emerald lizard (Lacerta schreiberi)

Southern scarce swallowtail (Iphiclides feisthamelii)

Least weasel (Mustela nivalis)

Mountain Clouded Yellow (Colias phicomone)

Tongue orchid (Serapias lingua)

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The Pothole is Pura Aventura's popular monthly email. We share what we love, what interests us and what we find challenging. And we don't Photoshop out the bits everyone else does. We like to think our considered opinions provide food for thought, and will sometimes put a smile on your face. They've even been known to make people cry. You can click here to subscribe and, naturally, unsubscribe at any time.