A Spanish-American musical collaboration on display in Granada

Granada-based American artist Cheryle Beatty is holding her first exhibition in the city since moving to the town of Vélez de Benaudalla six years ago with her musician husband David Beatty.

The exhibition, Proyecto Nur, runs from 4 to 13 April at the Caja Granada Fundacion and features 12 paintings from Cheryle's Spirit of Spain collection which she started when the couple moved here.

Cheryle explains that the project is the brainchild of Monica Laguna whose partner Pablo Guerrero is the director of the Coro de la Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and the Coro de Ópera de Granada.

"I am very excited about it because, as an abstract artist, you always wonder how your work is seen and interpreted," Cheryle told SUR in English ahead of the exhibition.

Monica, who is currently studying a Master's degree in musicology, has selected 11 of Cheryle's paintings to form part of her thesis. For each painting Laguna issued an invitation to composers from all over Spain and Europe to write a composition inspired by a painting and each composer has written a new choral piece. The composers have been in contact with Cheryle with questions about the inspiration for her work.

The 11 choral compositions will be sung alongside the corresponding painting on the evenings of April 4 and 11. During the exhibition the paintings will each have their own QR code so that visitors can listen to the compositions while viewing the artwork on display.

"It is very exciting and an honour to be selected for Laguna's first project. Music is already an abstraction of emotions and ideas and as my work is abstract, I feel that gave the composers a lot of liberty for creative interpretation," Cheryle says.

Originally from south Texas, Cheryle, 72, was already creating art and worked in soft pastel abstracts in the US, but since moving to Spain she says that she has started working with oil and acrylic paints.

"Naturally I have been influenced by the culture, landscape and music of Spain and these paintings reflect an abstract interpretation of those influences," Cheryle says. She adds, "Working in paint my work has become stronger and more dramatic. Two of my favourite themes are classical guitar music and flamenco."

She started painting when she was young and studied Art at college. Then in her late 20s she began studying commercial interior architecture. The artist worked for several large firms before running her own business for 22 years. "I had a mid-life crisis in my late 40s and started painting again, working in soft pastels," she admits.

Cheryle says that as well as the exhibition, her studio in Vélez de Benaudalla "is always open to interested visitors".