Halloween

Back in Sydney

Sydney. Yes, it is warmer here than in Hamburg, but the real difference is the light. In Hamburg the sun is low in the sky already, even though there are two months until the shortest day. In Sydney the sky is wide and blue and the light intense.

Singapore airport

Where oh where are the orchids gone? Singapore airport was synonymous with orchids for me ... but not any more. Probably they are still there, but not in the new terminal. Instead there is a room full of butterflies...

 

a 'relaxing Koi pond'...

 

and quite a few leg and foot massage machines. Two nine year olds were trying it on their three year old brother and finding that his legs were too short. But they told me it was good ... so I tried it, and they were right.

 

Hamburg: Elbe Frolic

Late October, a sunny Sunday draws people out of their homes to catch the last late autumn sunshine on the banks of the Elbe. Dogs frolic, people meander and the mood is mellow.

 

 

Great enormous container ships grind their way along the Elbe ...

 

and a sailing boat drifts past.

Goodbye bike

I sold my bike on eBay. I was very fond of my bike and was sorry to see it go but on the other hand the girl who picked it up was delighted to have it and I am sure it will be happy in its new family. Odd how inanimate objects can steal your heart.

Hamburg Etchings

Finally I have some Hamburg etchings on artsmitten.com


The Town Hall and Michel Church, Swans on the Alster in front of the Town Hall,


and springtime in the woods in Rissen.

Gino's (Gallery and) Eiscafe in Rissen

Gino has served the most 'Italian' coffee in Rissen for as long as I can remember but only recently did I discover that he is also fond of art and has a professional gallery system in his cafe. Last week I hung some of my etchings and paintings at Gino's. The waitress Andrea (pic below), bright faced and twenty years old, tells me she works a 6 day week and is 'always at the cafe'. But it feels like a family and she seems to enjoy it. Gino is friendly and supportive and has a loyal clientele who drop in at all hours. There are now three artists with their work on Gino's walls so he could really change the name of the cafe to Gino's Gallery Cafe.

Autumn = Herbst

Autumn, autumn (Herbst, Herbst) and out come the umbrellas. Leaves are starting to turn,
and bright berries are everywhere.
Most leaves are still green in Hamburg but the days are noticeably shorter (2 minutes shorter each day) and it wont be long until everything is yellow ... then bare.

Cafes in Berlin

It seems to me that cafes say a lot about a city. Here are some in Berlin:

Under the railway at Hackischer Markt.


On the river almost opposite Parliament House.

Restaurant in Oranienstrasse.

Gendarmenmarkt Cafe.

In the arty Auguststrasse.

and in the unrenovated part of East Berlin. At this cafe your sausage, potatoes and sauerkraut costs Euro 4.95. Just along the street in the touristy Nicholaikirche area the same sausage costs you Euro 16.95. It pays to get lost in the East sometimes.

Art in Berlin

Berlin has a very vibrant art scene and last week I went in Berlin to see the Berliner Liste and 14th Art Forum, two big exhibitions where gallerists exhibit their artists.

First I explored the area close to my hostel and discovered Auguststrasse, which is a long stretch of galleries and related shops. I paid an entrance fee to see a group exhibition from the KW Institute of Contemporary Arts. It was housed in three stories of a rather ancient complex. If I had not negotiated a student fee of Euro 4 I would have been tempted to ask for my money back. The exhibition space though enormous was almost empty.

KW Exhibition

In the photo above, taken on the first floor, you might be able to see the exhibit on the back wall. It was titled Monochrome Till Receipt (white), Ink on paper with spray fixative. It was the sort of receipt you are handed with your groceries. The very light coloured lettering (like a faded receipt) made reading it too difficult to spend time deciphering so I didn't bother to study it in detail to see if there might be a satirical side to it. I just wondered if all Berlin art was so behind the times. (This sort of art statement seems very last century to me.)
Gallery in a courtyard on Auguststrasse

Fortunately this was not the case. Other galleries showed intriguing and thought provoking works. I don't remember the artist who created these interesting textile works (photo above) which I photographed through a window in an inner courtyard. The coloured figures are photographs and the white figures are thread and they were about life sized. Somehow they seemed very appropriate to this area which is revitalizing itself and in which you feel the hand on history on your shoulder.

There is a lot of interesting public art in the area, like these indoor outdoor paintings. Paintings in an inner courtyard of a community complex (above and below).

The Berliner Liste Fair for Contemporary Art was housed over three stories of a glass fronted building not far from the National Gallery.
Buying refreshments at Berliner Liste Exhibition

This exhibition purported to show artists who had been chosen because of their innovative methods and it was a fascinating if exhausting journey. I am not sure why looking at art is so tiring, but it is, especially if there are a lot of artists you have never seen before and who are presenting really interesting work.In all there were about 300 artists represented: painters, photographers and a smattering of sculptors.

I collected brochures instead of taking photos but one work I did photograph was by Cony Theis who paints seaside pictures using oil on transparent paper (below). Capturing tiny swimmers in the surf is difficult and I thought the method that Cony Theis used enabled her to achieve the effect of the seaside better than most.
Work by Cony Theis

By the time I had seen all the 300 artists I was exhausted so next day, instead of going to the Art Forum (which I thought would probably be more of the same) I visited the Emil Nolde Gallery near the Gendarmenmarkt and spent time luxuriating in the work of my favorite artist.

I love Nolde's colours and his figurative work, in particular his series of unpainted pictures, small scale colour masterpieces created during the years un which he was forbidden to paint by the Nazis. The letter from the authorities to Nolde, informing him that his work had been confiscated because it did not fit the direction of art that had been determined by the Fuhrer was on display with these paintings. This typewritten letter on typical beige coloured paper had obviously been folded and unfolded many times as it had come apart in the middle and was stuck together with sellotape.

In the evening I amused myself by making little paintings in the style of Nolde.
Berlin Woman.

Backpackers Pool Game

A Backpackers in Berlin

My heart did rather sink when I found the hostel in Berlin where I had booked a bed via Internet. The stairs looked the type of stairs that featured in who-dunnits. At the top of three flights of stairs (old building = no lift) was a friendly reception and a lounge that looked as if it was the last of the hippy generation. 'Relaxed atmosphere' apparently meant that it was fine to smoke in the lounge room which was a constant fug of smoke. Then into a room with an artist's touch ...

The good thing about the hostel was its position, right in the middle of the art center of Berlin. In neighbouring streets one gallery after another was interspersed between buildings that had been reclaimed by residents. Pleasant inner courtyards, ruins made into cafes ... and playgrounds.

It was just around the corner from the world heritage Museum Island, a river island with four magnificent museums.
There are pleasant walking paths along the river and one evening I sat on one of the benches to sketch the Bode Museum below. My bench neighbour was a friendly drunk who had finished his carton of white wine but kept raising it to his lips, forgetting it was empty. He peeped at my drawing between non-sips and very much admired the end product when it was finished. Ink sketch: Bode Museum

The hippydom hostel had another interesting feature. It was right behind the Friedrichstadtpalast, home of Berlin's musicals. Looking down from my third story window in the evenings I could see ushers and the occasional dancer smoking behind the building.

Above them on the second story, I watched young men donning their gold lamé trousers through one window and the costume manager hanging and sorting racks of costumes through another. As I drifted off to sleep I could hear the musical as if next door. Old buildings have little sound insulation.

On Saturday evening, as the the music floating over from the Friedrichstadtpalast was ending, the music in the club downstairs was starting. It was a techno club and the music reverberated through the building and the beds until the early hours. In the morning a room-mate told me the hostel offered free ear-plugs at reception.

Berlin: bricks and mortar

Berlin. Full of whopping great buildings. The Brandenburg Gate must be one of the most photographed buildings in the world. It is busy and noisy and it would be easy to walk past a small door built into the gate which leads to the Silent Room. The silence in the silent room is so profound that it almost hurts to sit there for the first few minutes. As time passes you notice a faint movement as a train passes below. As you sit a bit longer you feel the tension leave your body and the healing begin. Finally, you feel ready to emerge and see some more great whopping buildings ...
like those on the Gendarmenmarkt, a neoclassical square whose name dates back to the Napoleonic occupation of the city. On one side is the French Cathedral (in the photo) and on the other is the almost identical German Cathedral.
Between them is the Konzerthaus (Concert Hall), home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra which had a red carpet running down the stairs (a permanent feature?).

In front of the Konzerthaus stands a statue of Schiller surrounded by seated damsels.

Self portrait as tourist in Berlin.

No all of Berlin is so monumental. One day I got lost in East Berlin and landed in an area that had been redeveloped. A passing Berliner said that the architects had been given the dimensions of the buildings but could then do as they pleased. This is the result, a place that woudl be nice to come home to.

What a pity the city planners and architects responsible for Sydney's Green Square didn't show such discernment.

Just married

Philipp and Miriam.

Cedrik

After a week going slow in Hamburg I have recovered from the rigours of drawing/hosteling/traveling. I am looking after Cedrik while his family are away.
Cedrik is an old dog, a clever dog and also a stubborn dog. He plays tricks on his carers. He limped dreadfully for a time a few years ago but it turned out that he was not hurt, it was just a trick to get attention. He comes and lies at your foot, wherever you are. He would lie on your foot if you kept still long enough.

Cedrik has to take a fitness walk twice a day. He and I walk down the drive and out the gate at a great pace, then a few steps along the street on the way to the woods he stops. He pants and looks mournful and at least 90 years old. If you don't know his tricks you would be tempted to take pity on Cedrik and take him home but instead it is a battle of wills to get along the street and into the woods. I am as stubborn as he is, so we always get there and once there he is happy and sniffs his way along the rest of the walk.

Dornava: Braiding onions and singing

One of the concerts of the Maribor Music Festival was held in Dornava Mansion about 45 minutes from Maribor. A bus was arranged for international guests.

Onion growing is a very important industry in the area and the women of the Onion Growers Association entertained guests before the concert with an onion platting demonstration.

Next door to the mansion is a small farmers cottage that has been converted to a museum.

The cottage had two rooms each with a big ceramic stove: the farmer and his family would have lived in one room and his parents in the other. I wonder which used this ancient sewing machine.

Maribor: Music with Atmosphere

This photo was taken at a concert in Maribor called Musical Tide. It combined surfing images and music. Images by Jon Frank and music by Elgar, Tognetti, Shostakovitch, Bach and Richard Strauss.
The last night of the festival was a sell out performance of Bach's St Johns Passion in Maribor Cathedral. Richard Tognetti played violin and conducted the chorus (from Ljubljana) and orchestra.