Thursday Night:
Exactly a week ago at this time, I was waiting, and waiting, and waiting…. in front of the Hofburg Palace for my Czech friends Antonin, Soňa, their daughter Iva and her friend Jakub to pick me up. I thought I had chosen a relatively easy place to meet, right off the main Ring road. Alas, road blocks and detours had them circling in Vienna for 2.5 hours before we finally met up. Thank goodness for cell phones!
Luckily, we had such a great weekend in the Austrian Alps that our rough start was soon forgotten. We got to Tauplitz , the oldest ski region in Austria, a bit past 10pm. Antonin and Soňa are part owners of Haus Alpin, a hotel at 1650 meters above sea level that caters only to Czechs and is booked by individuals and school groups 2 years ahead of time. A few choice times a year, they and the other 39 owners come together in this 40-room hotel to socialize, feast, and partake in the many blessings of these 2000-meter mountains. This time, I was blessed enough to join them.
Once in the parking lot at the end of a steep twisty road part-way up the mountain, we called Haus Alpin to be picked up by a couple of ski-doos with luggage/people-wagons behind them. After dropping our stuff off in our room (6 beds for 5 people – plenty of room!), we headed downstairs to the dining room to socialize. I was tired, but it was great. Czechs speaking Czech all around – what more can I ask!? Sitting on a small table was a huge round of Parmesan cheese from Italy (2 feet+ in diameter) with a few knives to jab our way through it. That was dinner as I was too tired to get a real meal from the kitchen (I’d be getting plenty of those later). Boy, did I sleep well that night. I didn’t even hear the others come in.
Friday
As was forecasted, we woke up on Friday morning to a huge snowstorm with hurricane winds that shut down the whole mountain. There were reports of thousands losing power in the Czech Republic from the same storm. So we spent all day
- sleeping (I was up at 5am, but ended up napping for 4 hours before lunch – it’s the altitude, you know)
- reading (thank goodness for Iva’s Kindle e-reader that had some English novels on it to choose from – I got hooked! I didn’t think I’d like reading on a Kindle, but it’s like reading on paper and fits in your pockets. I can see myself with one of these one day).
- eating (and eating, and eating – what great food and plenty of it – all included in the price, which was free! Such blessings!)
- playing ping-pong (while running around the table)
After lunch, which always consisted of 2 choices of soups with Czech rolls, Soňa, Jakub, and I headed out into the storm in full gear to go to the nearest hotel around (which is also the most historic), Hollhaus. There, upon request, we had an English lesson while Iva and Antonin trudged half-way up a nearby hill on foot, battling the elements, to then ski/snowboard down once. They had been more restless than I was. Tony joined us after that for a cappuccino and mulled wine. By then, every table was crowded with Czechs from next door – great minds think alike!
Friday night, we celebrated Saint Nicholas. No one told me that we’d be having a second feast, so I loaded up on the grilled potatoes and corn on the cob to go along with the bacon-wrapped turkey brochettes I chose (others had venison steaks with traditional dumplings and red cabbage). An hour after dinner, however, we were presented with a gourmet buffet (that I skipped), followed by amazing deserts (that I didn’t skip – a mouth-watering hot chocolate cake with hot chocolate sauce inside – a description that doesn’t do it justice). Oh, but I forget – sorry …. a bit food obsessed, especially after this weekend). Between dinner and the feast, we had a visit from Saint Nicholas, accompanied by an angel and devil. Each child (and a few teens) were called and The Book was checked to see if they had been good or bad in the past year. No one got coal, this year, but a few little ones who thought they might were literally trembling and crying, waiting for the verdict. A few had to sing a song, but, in the end, everyone got a bag of goodies, much to everyone’s delight. Once again, I was in bed and asleep before the others.
Saturday:
I didn’t wake up as early, knowing that the ski lifts wouldn’t open in the morning due to the continuing winds and blowing snow. After a bit of yoga in bed, I really got into my book – “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn and enjoyed my time with my friends. After lunch, however, we got geared up and headed out to the few open runs in our vicinity. This was my first time on skis since a weekend in the Rockies with my ESL classes when I was teaching in Calgary (2004). It had been more than a decade before that, so you can imagine how nervous I was heading out with the wind and low visibility. But I did it (self-pat on the back), equipped with Soňa‘s ski pants, Honza’s helmit (the son that didn’t come this weekend), Iva’s old skis and boots, and Jakub’s goggles (he chose to use his new sunglasses). It was a bit nerve-wracking, but Tony and Soňa were patient and very encouraging. Yay! By the time I got back to Haus Alpine, my legs were sore (my butt wasn’t though, despite my one fall, which you may get to see when Tony edits his video that he shot with a camera on his helmit) and I was very hungry (those butterflies in my stomach made some space after lunch). Before dinner, however, the gals headed down into the hotel’s new steam sauna – very nice! I hoped it would help relax those unaccustomed leg-muscles that had had quite the workout that afternoon. I then thoroughly enjoyed my huge piece of vegetarian soufflé and salad. After dinner, I stayed downstairs to read, and just when I was getting ready to head up, Soňa asked if I wanted to join them at a crowded table. I had been relishing in all the Czech conversations I had had up to that point, but I knew that I wouldn’t understand a word anymore at that hour, exhausted from my first half day on the hills. So once again, I was first asleep.
Sunday:
Up at 5am for some yoga and reading again before the others woke up at 7:50am, 10 minutes before breakfast. I don’t know how they do that! What I do know is how I came back from my 2 years in the Czech Republic, 20 years back, with an extra 20 pounds! I’ve never enjoyed bread, but I do love my Czech rolls with cheese and tvaroh, a milk-product we just don’t have in North America. I worked it off though – with better weather and visibility, we headed straight for the hills. This time, I actually found myself enjoying it, just like when I was a kid zooming down the hills with such a sense of freedom. My family spent 5 years in Europe when I was 5-10 years old, and I have many fond memories of ski holidays in our camper. I reconnected with that on Sunday. Sure, the butterflies visited the belly a few times, but I even found myself singing as we coasted down Panorama Alley and other more leisurely runs. The whole mountain was open, and so we went on 5 different kinds of lifts and skied from 1914 meters all the way down to the village of Tauplitz and back up and around. Wow! At times, we could even see the mountains in the distance, which was spectacular! (photos included above).
After lunch, we grabbed our luggage, which we had stored in the ping pong room with everyone else’s stuff (no worries about anyone stealing anything in this crowd), and enjoyed a ski-doo ride back to the parking lot. I had my camera out and did some drive-by shooting, both on the ski-doo and in the van on the way down the mountain and away from Tauplitz. First though, we had to take the snow off the car, and no one has shovels or scrappers around here it seems (note: they wanted me to take pictures – it’s not like I wasn’t ready to help, just so as you know!). What an amazing weekend for which I am so very very grateful, thanks to my dear friends!
Since classes were finished, I headed back to the Czech Republic for 3 days with my friends, but I’ll write about that in the next post.
Transitioning Into a New Year
/in My Travels, Vienna - Life and TourismIt’s long been a tradition to set New Year’s Resolutions. I believe that how we choose to spend the transition from one year to another is, in itself, the creation of intention. So here’s how I spent the last day of 2013 and the beginning of 2014.
New Year’s Eve:
New Year’s Day:
After 10 hours of sleep (catching up for my short night on the plane),
and before the day is over, I plan to:
This is how I’ve chosen to end one year and begin another: a couple of days filled heart-connections, travel & tourism, stretching comfort zones, spiritual rituals, relaxation, inspiration, and other priorities. I hope you’ve also had a great transition into 2014, in line with how you like to spend your time – being true to ourselves is indeed a great gift to all those around us.
May 2014 be filled with love, peace, joy, health, wealth, and happiness to all of you, dear readers (from 30 countries in December alone! – baffling!) and all those you know and those they know, and so on, and so on, etc.
Tutoring in Payerbach- What a Great Idea!
/in My Travels, Vienna Academy of Visionary ArtsLook what I did! I’m so thrilled! – with both the process and the result.
Their little house at the edge of town was about 15 minutes walk away.
It felt so good to be out of the city – one of my goals during my time off from school was to explore the Austrian countryside. When I remembered Vera’s invitation to come and visit them after they moved out here, I came up with the brilliant idea (if I say so myself) to hire them to tutor me, which would also help me with another of my goals: to improve my drawing/painting. What a win-win situation!
Kuba put together a 2-day course based on my inspirations and desire to improve my understanding of the human figure to then be able to stylize it into my acrylic paintings. I’m so grateful for all his preparations – he started with an enlightening presentation that helped me understand the impact and appeal of works by artists that explored the more graphic 2-D style (e.g. Mucha) and the blend of 2D and 3D (e.g. Klimt). He also talked about how the Impressionists used colour to create depth without the use of neutrals, something more in line with my current preference for bright colours. I then spent time before lunch working on copying one of Mucha’s sketches. There’s a lot of value in copying the work of masters – and it’s not as easy as it appears – not for me, anyway… So much erasing went into creating this very simple sketch. Learning to see where I had veered from his was in itself a great challenge.
After lunch, we went for a walk in the woods around their house and on the hiking path alongside the train tracks. I had to take their word for it that we were at the foot of the mountains. The fog never lifted enough in my 2 days there to see past the foothills. Still, it was gorgeous!
After feeding the wood-burning stoves (the house’s only source of heat), Kuba continued what Aloria Weaver started teaching me during my last couple of days in class. I had asked her to spend several hours one-on-one with me (and Edgar – our class skeleton) to help me understand how to draw faces. That was an invaluable start. Kuba took that a few steps further. First, I had some serious work to do to grasp how to translate all the parts into a dimensional-looking drawing. Feeling my face with my fingertips, I tried hard to imagine it like a landscape that my pencil would translate on paper. This was tough since drawing dimensional landscapes isn’t something I can do either. But through a variety of exercises, I went from drawing this …
For my second day of tutoring, Kuba adjusted what he had planned based on my desire to translate what we’d learned into the world of painting. My task was to first draw a face from my imagination (and with a lot of coaching) onto watercolour paper and then to paint it. Using quick-drying acrylic paints, we approached this task in a similar way to the layering approach I’m learning with oils and egg tempera in class. I’ve only begun to understand the process in class, a reality that isn’t helped by the fact that it takes a week or more for some layers to dry, and therefore much too long between practical lessons for someone with my limited memory. Here, I was able to go from step to step, layer to layer, lesson to lesson, all within a day. Perfect! What I learned in my 2 days in Payerbach will greatly help with my in-class painting and beyond. I’m as sure of that as I am that what I have learned in my first trimester has helped with what I achieved here this week. Isn’t it great how life and learning work?!
With a very limited old-master colour palette, we first applied the whites and darkest shadows over an overall colour wash. We then accentuated the highlights and applied a dull greenish glaze to create what is called the “dead layer”. We then brought out some of the colour, highlights, and local glazes in a series of layers. I learned a lot about colour-mixing and blending in this process. It’s always been difficult for me to blend highlights to mid-tones to shadow without delineating lines. Again, practice will help here. It will also greatly help with symmetry. Try as I might, I needed Kuba’s eyes and hand to help fix the eyes – it took a while to figure out that both her eyes were looking in different directions – the difference a millimeter makes. Have I mentioned I’m an abstract painter? I am not inclined to precision in my painting as I might be in several other aspects of my life. Perhaps that’s why I find it so freeing.
Anyhow, by the end, I was thrilled with it all. As I sat on the 5:54pm train back to Vienna, looking at my finished painting, I found it hard to believe that I had created it. Yay! Thanks Vera & Kuba for a wonderful 2 days – it was also such a pleasure really connecting with like-minded souls.
OK – now it’s time to pack for my week in Ottawa – Christmas with the family. Yay!
Intuitive Walking Game – Fun!
/in My Travels, Vienna - Life and TourismI’m a walker. I’ve never owned a car (although I love to drive) and always find a place to live within an hour’s walk to school or work. It’s about the only exercise I get apart from some restorative yoga. I love walking – I get to see lots, think lots, listen to audio-courses, etc. We all know the benefits.
I also have no problem sitting on my butt all day. On Friday, I spent all day at school where I hired one of my classmates to tutor me on some Photoshop techniques he had wowed me with. On Saturday, I watched 6 movies in a row (I recently discovered that you can see full movies for free on YouTube, so I’m catching up…). On Monday, I spent 13 hours on the computer writing an article for a great inspirational website (my first draft was 2,000 words and the limit was 1,000 – I can be wordy at times… have you noticed?).
So on Sunday, when the sun came out (a rare occurrence during Vienna winters), I just had to get out. Usually, when I don’t have a destination, I like to play an intuitive game that goes like this: at every intersection, check which direction feels better and follow through. It’s a great way to explore the world and develop your intuition.
Sunday, however, that didn’t appeal to me. As I was putting on my boots, three numbers kept popping up in my mind: 6, 8, and 2. So I tried something new. I walked 6 blocks in a direction I had never walked before, 8 blocks to the left, and 2 blocks to the right. Perfect! My intuition brought me to a neighbourhood park where I spent a while sharing a bench with a pigeon and soaking in some Vitamin D. I felt honoured that he didn’t fly away. I was sure there would be something at the end for me, no matter what it was. As a bonus, I got to see all new things along the way, including a farmer’s market. When I lost my count, I just checked on my smart phone’s map app and got back on track. As a reward, after my total of 32 blocks (I discovered some blocks in Vienna are super long), I found a store that actually had Lays potato chips – Paprika (to go with another couple of movies on YouTube).
I usually go walking on my own, but I’m sure you could play this with friends – get each one to subsequently tune in and come up with a number and a direction and trust that there will be something there for you at the end, even if it’s a bird on a bench.
Guest Teaching in the Czech Republic
/in My TravelsAfter a wonderful 3 days in the Austrian Alps relaxing, skiing, socializing, and feasting, I went back to the Czech Republic with my hosts. We got to Blansko at 8:30pm and I went straight to bed after a very welcomed plateful of spaghetti. I’m glad I got a good night’s sleep because on Monday morning, at 7am, I was heading off to work.
Monday:
On Monday, I joined Soňa at her primary school in Adamov, the small town where I spent the first month of my 2 years in the Czech Republic back in the early 90s. It was fun! I taught 4 hours of English in grades 1,2,3, and 4. We played vocabulary games, Simon says, and learned/sang Jingle Bells. Check out my drawing of the “one horse open sleigh” – my 3 months of drawing lessons are definitely not evident there…. sigh. I still had a lot of energy after 4 hours, but spent the last hour at school reading my borrowed Kindle before joining Soňa and the kids for a bowl of goulash and a plateful of noodles with a sweet poppy seed, sugar, and butter sauce. Hadn’t had that in 20 years!
At 1:30pm, we headed out to Boskovice with a stop at a palace on the way. I had never visited this historic town with its former Jewish ghetto, its palace, and the ruins of an old castle up in the forest. A great day indeed!
Tuesday:
At 7:15am, I met my friend Lenka, who is the director of a primary school in the small village of Rudice. After an hour of reading and an hour polishing my mathematics skills in Lenka’s grade 4/5 class, I spent 3 hours teaching grades 3, 4, and 5. That last class could go beyond the word level and into sentences and questions, so we covered much more in our time together. I also got to try a smart-board (interactive white board) for the first time – cool! One of the classes was much more… energetic … than all the other classes I had taught so far, and so I’ll admit, I was tired by lunch time.
Lenka and I went to the Golem restaurant in Blansko, and I enjoyed a huge plateful of roasted duck, sweet cooked red cabbage, and 2 kinds of dumplings (the traditional and potato, which I preferred). We then spent a relaxing afternoon at her place with her partner and her cute little rabbit.
In the evening, I joined Honza (Antonin & Soňa‘s 18-year old son) at Ulita, the community tea house in Blansko where he works part time. What a great place – some of the regulars were playing board games and Honza and I got to know each other over a cup of rooibos tea. He’s quite fluent in English, and so we chatted about a whole variety of things, including his other part-time job designing computer programs for his sister Iva’s university professor in Brno. Impressive.
Wednesday:
I woke up early and finished the novel I was reading on Iva’s Kindle. Yay! I was then able to join her and her brother on the 9am train to Brno, the city where I lived and taught in for 2 years. I had 4 hours on my own to walk down memory lane, pedestrian malls, and historic alleys of this, the second biggest city in the Czech Republic. I found 3 Christmas markets, which was perfect. You can imagine my surprise when I heard a children’s choir on stage singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah in Czech – beautiful!
At 2pm, I met my friend Lucka, who is also a school principle. We headed to her home in the village of Omice and spent the afternoon catching up, cooking, eating, and decorating gingerbread cookies. I remember her doing this back in the 90s – amazing skill! I just wished I remembered some of the zentangle patterns I had learned for this welcomed culinary arts & crafts activity.
At 7:30pm, I was on the Student Agency bus back to Vienna – I had bought my ticket online for $10 (200 Czech Crowns), a third of the price of the train. They even have individual TVs at every seat, so I finally got to see the Academy Award winning film Argo. By 10:30pm, I was back in my student residence bed, thankful for such a wonderful week with such wonderful people. My heart just opens up every time I’m in the Czech Republic. It’s a very good feeling, and I’m glad that this time, I was able to give as well as receive. There’s such pleasure in both!
Saint Nicholas Ski Weekend in the Alps
/in My TravelsThursday Night:
Exactly a week ago at this time, I was waiting, and waiting, and waiting…. in front of the Hofburg Palace for my Czech friends Antonin, Soňa, their daughter Iva and her friend Jakub to pick me up. I thought I had chosen a relatively easy place to meet, right off the main Ring road. Alas, road blocks and detours had them circling in Vienna for 2.5 hours before we finally met up. Thank goodness for cell phones!
Luckily, we had such a great weekend in the Austrian Alps that our rough start was soon forgotten. We got to Tauplitz , the oldest ski region in Austria, a bit past 10pm. Antonin and Soňa are part owners of Haus Alpin, a hotel at 1650 meters above sea level that caters only to Czechs and is booked by individuals and school groups 2 years ahead of time. A few choice times a year, they and the other 39 owners come together in this 40-room hotel to socialize, feast, and partake in the many blessings of these 2000-meter mountains. This time, I was blessed enough to join them.
Once in the parking lot at the end of a steep twisty road part-way up the mountain, we called Haus Alpin to be picked up by a couple of ski-doos with luggage/people-wagons behind them. After dropping our stuff off in our room (6 beds for 5 people – plenty of room!), we headed downstairs to the dining room to socialize. I was tired, but it was great. Czechs speaking Czech all around – what more can I ask!? Sitting on a small table was a huge round of Parmesan cheese from Italy (2 feet+ in diameter) with a few knives to jab our way through it. That was dinner as I was too tired to get a real meal from the kitchen (I’d be getting plenty of those later). Boy, did I sleep well that night. I didn’t even hear the others come in.
Friday
As was forecasted, we woke up on Friday morning to a huge snowstorm with hurricane winds that shut down the whole mountain. There were reports of thousands losing power in the Czech Republic from the same storm. So we spent all day
After lunch, which always consisted of 2 choices of soups with Czech rolls, Soňa, Jakub, and I headed out into the storm in full gear to go to the nearest hotel around (which is also the most historic), Hollhaus. There, upon request, we had an English lesson while Iva and Antonin trudged half-way up a nearby hill on foot, battling the elements, to then ski/snowboard down once. They had been more restless than I was. Tony joined us after that for a cappuccino and mulled wine. By then, every table was crowded with Czechs from next door – great minds think alike!
Friday night, we celebrated Saint Nicholas. No one told me that we’d be having a second feast, so I loaded up on the grilled potatoes and corn on the cob to go along with the bacon-wrapped turkey brochettes I chose (others had venison steaks with traditional dumplings and red cabbage). An hour after dinner, however, we were presented with a gourmet buffet (that I skipped), followed by amazing deserts (that I didn’t skip – a mouth-watering hot chocolate cake with hot chocolate sauce inside – a description that doesn’t do it justice). Oh, but I forget – sorry …. a bit food obsessed, especially after this weekend). Between dinner and the feast, we had a visit from Saint Nicholas, accompanied by an angel and devil. Each child (and a few teens) were called and The Book was checked to see if they had been good or bad in the past year. No one got coal, this year, but a few little ones who thought they might were literally trembling and crying, waiting for the verdict. A few had to sing a song, but, in the end, everyone got a bag of goodies, much to everyone’s delight. Once again, I was in bed and asleep before the others.
Saturday:
I didn’t wake up as early, knowing that the ski lifts wouldn’t open in the morning due to the continuing winds and blowing snow. After a bit of yoga in bed, I really got into my book – “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn and enjoyed my time with my friends. After lunch, however, we got geared up and headed out to the few open runs in our vicinity. This was my first time on skis since a weekend in the Rockies with my ESL classes when I was teaching in Calgary (2004). It had been more than a decade before that, so you can imagine how nervous I was heading out with the wind and low visibility. But I did it (self-pat on the back), equipped with Soňa‘s ski pants, Honza’s helmit (the son that didn’t come this weekend), Iva’s old skis and boots, and Jakub’s goggles (he chose to use his new sunglasses). It was a bit nerve-wracking, but Tony and Soňa were patient and very encouraging. Yay! By the time I got back to Haus Alpine, my legs were sore (my butt wasn’t though, despite my one fall, which you may get to see when Tony edits his video that he shot with a camera on his helmit) and I was very hungry (those butterflies in my stomach made some space after lunch). Before dinner, however, the gals headed down into the hotel’s new steam sauna – very nice! I hoped it would help relax those unaccustomed leg-muscles that had had quite the workout that afternoon. I then thoroughly enjoyed my huge piece of vegetarian soufflé and salad. After dinner, I stayed downstairs to read, and just when I was getting ready to head up, Soňa asked if I wanted to join them at a crowded table. I had been relishing in all the Czech conversations I had had up to that point, but I knew that I wouldn’t understand a word anymore at that hour, exhausted from my first half day on the hills. So once again, I was first asleep.
Sunday:
Up at 5am for some yoga and reading again before the others woke up at 7:50am, 10 minutes before breakfast. I don’t know how they do that! What I do know is how I came back from my 2 years in the Czech Republic, 20 years back, with an extra 20 pounds! I’ve never enjoyed bread, but I do love my Czech rolls with cheese and tvaroh, a milk-product we just don’t have in North America. I worked it off though – with better weather and visibility, we headed straight for the hills. This time, I actually found myself enjoying it, just like when I was a kid zooming down the hills with such a sense of freedom. My family spent 5 years in Europe when I was 5-10 years old, and I have many fond memories of ski holidays in our camper. I reconnected with that on Sunday. Sure, the butterflies visited the belly a few times, but I even found myself singing as we coasted down Panorama Alley and other more leisurely runs. The whole mountain was open, and so we went on 5 different kinds of lifts and skied from 1914 meters all the way down to the village of Tauplitz and back up and around. Wow! At times, we could even see the mountains in the distance, which was spectacular! (photos included above).
After lunch, we grabbed our luggage, which we had stored in the ping pong room with everyone else’s stuff (no worries about anyone stealing anything in this crowd), and enjoyed a ski-doo ride back to the parking lot. I had my camera out and did some drive-by shooting, both on the ski-doo and in the van on the way down the mountain and away from Tauplitz. First though, we had to take the snow off the car, and no one has shovels or scrappers around here it seems (note: they wanted me to take pictures – it’s not like I wasn’t ready to help, just so as you know!). What an amazing weekend for which I am so very very grateful, thanks to my dear friends!
Since classes were finished, I headed back to the Czech Republic for 3 days with my friends, but I’ll write about that in the next post.
The End of Chapter One
/in Vienna Academy of Visionary ArtsBoth my paintings are still too wet for me to paint on, so the break between trimesters will allow for good drying time – a good thing as I keep lifting previous layers, which are taking way longer than anyone expected to dry. Here’s where I’m at with the one that’s advanced since the last blog post. Many more layers to come.
Last night, after class, my buddy Donnalynne and I had our last little tourist adventure together as she won’t be returning after the holidays. We froze our fingers off taking photos of all the Christmas lights on the several pedestrian malls that join up around St. Stephen’s cathedral (Vienna’s main landmark). Each branch and the streets around them have a different set of hanging lights – gorgeous! I sure wish my iPhone could read my finger touch with my gloves on, but alas, it doesn’t. Once again, I didn’t have my real camera with me. 🙂
When hunger and cold discouraged any further picture-taking, we started looking for a place to eat. I’m grateful that the first place we tried enveloped us with a cloud of cigarette smoke when we opened the doors because it sent us back out on the streets and to what turned out to be a fantastic experience. Café Central is one of those traditional Viennese cafés with what I’m sure is a lot of history. Everything about it was great – the atmosphere, the live piano music, the architecture, the chic tall slim waiters (they all had the same look), the deserts (we shared a peanut brittle chocolate creme brulée pastry that disappeared too quickly for a photo ), and, of course, the food. Although not the most aesthetic colour wise, my chicken with sauerkraut were great and Donnalynne loved her venison stew with sweet cabbage and dumplings. Thanks Donnalynne for your in-class coaching and friendship this trimester!
One Thing Leads To Another
/in Vienna Academy of Visionary ArtsOur lives are truly like a tapestry – sometimes our noses are buried so deep in the threads that we can’t see the big picture. Years later, however, looking back, we see how each little event has contributed to the uniquely beautiful beings that we are. There are no two humans on this planet with the exact combination of gifts and experiences that we have. Isn’t that great?! I think so.
This week, I’ve been musing on what everything I’m learning here in Vienna might lead me to in my life and in my art. That journey forward has also had me reflecting on all the layers of my life so far. There’s so much to be grateful for – even things I had no idea how they would fit in the big picture.
As for my paintings, the tree one is evolving nicely – there’s finally colour! Yay – my world is always better with colour. Here you see the first local glazes, another layer of whites in three of the totem animals, and more local glazing on top of that. There are many more layers until they’re done (and days of drying time in between) – so this is still nowhere near the finished stage. Just like with life, I have a bit of an idea where this is heading, but truly, it’s a mystery as this Mischtechnik methodology is totally new for me. I’m still not attached to results – a very helpful state. I recognize that this is a learning process and that the challenges this painting has experienced along the way have provided valuable lessons for me, fellow students, and even the teachers. Glad to oblige.
Apart from that, the Thriving Artist Online Summit started yesterday and on its first of 11 days, I got access to 2.5 hours of talks on various aspects of a successful arts career by 3 different experts. You too can join for free at http://thrivingartistsummit.com/signup/ Learning about the business of art is very important to me – so my days are full on this last week of classes for this trimester.
Learning is great – hope you’re learning a lot from the various threads in your gorgeous tapestry.
Oh So Much Fun!
/in Vienna Academy of Visionary ArtsInterestingly, this is not actually totally new to me or to the world – even though the name and extent might be. I’ve long since played with meditative patterns (mostly swirls, spirals and dots) in my artwork and had already planned to incorporate new ones in both the paintings I’m working on, inspired by the work of two Viennese artists who inspire me: Klimt and Hundertwasser. Although they didn’t use that name for it, they were zentangling long ago. Check out all these bubbles of gorgeous patterns.
I’ve had one of these Hundertwasser images on my desk for weeks as I plan to stylize my childhood totem animals at the bottom of this painting in a similar way. It’s still a long way from that stage though – it now has its 3rd full layer of whites due to 2 glazing misfortunes/ opportunities-for-learning.
My plan also involves covering the female figure and the tree she’s emerging from in sigils (secret sacred patterns I’ve developed). The figures’ hair was inspired by Mucha’s art nouveau style. In my second painting, (which you see here with the first localized magenta glaze), the hand at the top will eventually have an eye in the centre and all sorts of zentangle squiggles in it that spill out into a ball of energy spirals that is between them all (I just realized that I don’t have a photo yet of the sketches I made of that weeks ago – I’ll have to add those later.)
All this to say that it’s just so cool to see how all the things I’ve been exploring and learning about are coming together. It’s really helping me define what I like and where I’m going. What a great day! And it doesn’t end there. During our session with a nude model, I decided to take one of my 5-minute stylized sketches and fill it with zentangles. I then did a very quick outline of another pose and filled that one up too. Again, what fun! I especially like the tall one – but for my first try at this, it’s not bad. I wonder how it will be to play with this in coloured acrylic paint in a faster, more intuitive way rather than the carefully planned Mischtechnik layers I’m working on at this school or in black marker. I’ll eventually find my own unique way of stylizing figures and nature, inspired by all I’ve seen and done along the way. And as I head in that direction, I’ll keep enjoying the journey. Yay!
P.S. May 14, 2014. I did another zentangle during life drawing class. Fun!
Inspirations
/in Inspiration, Vienna Academy of Visionary ArtsAm I ever glad I didn’t follow through on that boat trip down the Danube to a Christmas market a few hours away – it’s cold and very rainy today, and I’m totally in hermit-mode. I’m therefore spending time online reconnecting to art that has inspired me on my life’s journey. This latest project started when I asked two of the teachers from our Intensive, Vera & Kuba, if they would provide private tutoring for a few days at their country home during my Christmas break so that I could focus more on my drawing skills, and more particularly on applying what I know into stylizing figures. You see, I’d like to find my own unique way of incorporating people and other real objects in my art in a non-realistic manner. To do this, I still need to learn more about anatomy and dimension, but there may be more I can do, and I’m looking forward to finding out. In preparation for our tutorial, Vera asked me to show her some images of what I like – and here’s some of what I found.
I don’t have a great memory for names, but thanks to my Google searching skills and a lot of patience, I’ve reconnected to these artists’ work (they all incorporate figures in unique ways).
1 – Gustav Klimt:
You already know that I like this Viennese artist’s work and the way he blends 2-D and 3-D together. You can find more images at:
2- Maxine Noel:
This Canadian First Nations artist’s work is so very recognizable – beautiful, simple, and spiritual. My parents gave me one of her greeting cards (image top left) years ago and it traveled with me for a long time (a rare thing with my penchant for de-cluttering). I love her use of curvy lines and colours as well as the unique way she creates her faces. You can see more of her work at: http://www.sa-cinn.com/maxine_noel.htm
3 – Rassouli
A fellow art student in Saskatoon showed me this spiritual artist’s work, knowing I would like it. Seeing Rassouli’s work reinforced that wanting in me to incorporate human figures in my abstract landscapes. It also showed me how important it is to understand dimension and light and shadow, even if I wasn’t interested in painting reality as I see it with my eyes. You can learn more about this artist at: http://www.rassouli.com/ and www.avatarfinearts.com/ .
4- Alphonse Mucha
When I lived in the Czech Republic in the early 90s, I was re-acquainted with the work of Alphonse Mucha – most particularly his art deco posters. I’m not sure where I had seen it before, but I remember my surprise at having known of a Czech artist before living there. You can see more of his work on the Mucha Foundation website.
5- Janet Williams
I met this artist in Saskatoon when I was living there (2006-2011). Seeing her booth at the Fringe Festival always lifted my spirits. It’s such happy art – the colours, movement, simplicity… Two of her fridge magnets are here with me now as reminders of my goal to find my own unique style of human figures. Once again, I’d recognize her art anywhere. I like that. You can see more of her work at: http://www.janetwilliamsart.ca/
6- Flora Bowley
I have known of this artist’s work for less than a year. I’ve since taken her 5 week e-course, regularly enjoy her blog, and am looking forward to her Bali retreat in April. What I like about her intuitive work is her use of colour and the integration of birds and other figures in her own unique way. What I like even more is her way of being: living, teaching, exploring, business success, etc. She’s truly an inspiration. You can learn more at braveintuitiveyou.com
I’m sure there are many more who have inspired me, past, present, and future. For example, while looking for images in Google, I was very taken by this painting of a foal by Bob Coonts, someone I had never heard of, as well as a lot of the simple stylized line tattoo work. If I spent more time looking at others’ work, I’m sure I would find zillions more that I like – but this gives us all a good idea of the style of figure I’d like to incorporate into my current style. One thing I know is that I need to draw and paint more on my own in order to develop this – something I haven’t done at all this weekend. I’m starting to miss having my well-stocked acrylic painting studio at hand. It’s like I’ve put my usual work aside for the time being to learn what I’m learning. It’s not a good or bad thing – it just is and I’m noticing that. I’m just feeling in sync with the weather outside and watching the clouds going through my sky. All is well.
Now That’s a Market! +
/in My Travels, Vienna - Life and TourismWow! OK, so if you have time to only go to one Christmas Market in Vienna, definitely go to the one in Karlplatz, in front of St. Charles Church. There are over 80 booths/cabins filled with the handcrafted wares of juried artists and artisans. Nothing junkie here. Plus I’m told the organic mulled wine and the children’s activities here are better than anywhere else. Again, I didn’t buy anything, but enjoyed immersing myself in the creative beauty.
I came across this market when our class exited from the subway after a fantastic afternoon in the studio of Micheal Fuchs (one of Ernst Fuchs’ sons, who is also a successful artist and teacher – as is Micheal’s son… talent runs in the family). His studio is in a small historic town on the outskirts of Vienna. I love field trips, plus I learned a lot about sight sizing portraits. Great stuff!
After a quick dinner, we all headed back to school for a painting party. Apart from the mulled wine, our party was just like class, but more chatty. At about 11pm, it was finally my turn to get help putting my second glaze on my painting. We opted for a magenta to keep it in the warm tones, but the colour that came out of the tube was much too red, and so we added blues and rose to try and achieve what Laurence was used to from his higher quality oil paints. The glaze went on much darker than I would have liked, obscuring my whites more than it did for other students (but it didn’t melt them away this time! yay!). It’s true, I initially felt disappointed, but also calmly resigned (Laurence might disagree with this description)- trying to reserve judgment. I’ll just see where this painting goes and learn a lot in the process. I did get to see how Laurence lifted glaze with the palm of his hand – the artist’s karate chop technique… probably not recommended for your health, but interesting. I got home at midnight and not sure what I’ll be doing this weekend. I’m open to spontaneous ideas. First, breakfast.