Train through Austria

When you cross over the wide Salzach river at Salzburg you know you are in Austria because your phone beeps and tells you welcome to Austrian telecom.

From Salzburg you wind your way between mountains, following the paths of pale green rivers. Perhaps the colour of the water is due to snow melt? When you get to Bischofhofen, stop a while and then set off back where you came from ...

The track diverts away from the incoming line and leads up and up. You can see across the valley to the incoming line below.

Up and up you go.  As you watch the back carriages snake along behind the train on the steep incline you wonder how much electricity it takes to move the train upwards at such a rate.
Before you know it you have passed through a couple of tunnels and you are in Heidi land, surrounded by grazing paddocks and geraniums on balconies.

Wine and water with a flourish

The elderly Russian receptionist at the Grafik Elephant recommended a restaurant across the road but when I asked if he had eaten there and he said it was too expensive for him.  So I asked about cheaper options and he said people seemed to like the Italian place in the next street.

The food at the Italian place nothing special (though the pasta was nicely al dente) but it was worth the visit just to experience the flourish with which the waiter put the wine and water on the table. 

By the time I had eaten my pasta it was growing dark.

Window shopping

I had time before my train to Graz to go for a walk in Munich. Window displays in Germany are always professional and interesting to look at. If this display of socks didn't make you want to buy some, what would?

Octoberfest is soon and the shops are full of Dirndls and other traditional south German clothing. In Munich it is not unusual to see women wearing Dirndls but even in Hamburg you can buy them in the shops in the lead up to October.

Travelling south

The journey between Hamburg and Graz takes over 13 hours so it helps to have pleasant company. I had a delightful child drawing pictures opposite me. 

We were somewhere between Wurzburg and Nurnberg when the train slowed then stopped at a village siding. Over the intercom came the voice of the conductor.
"As you can see we have stopped", she said. ”I will let you know what is happening as soon as I know.”
A few minutes later she told us there had been fire and a power failure and all trains had stopped.
“I have asked the driver to unlock the doors so you could get out and have a smoke. I'll whistle when you have to get back on and in the meantime I will keep you informed.”
A lot of people still smoke in Germany and they all climbed out to light up or have a bit of a stretch.

About an hour later we were whistled back onto the train and set off back to Wurzburg where we took an alternate route to Nurnberg then caught another train to Munich. I was too late to catch the last train to Graz but a friendly woman at the Rail Service Point booked me into a hotel nearby.
“Have a good sleep” she said, “and don't forget you get a free breakfast in the morning. Your train to Graz will leave at 10.07 from Platform 13.”
As I was leaving her boss appeared. He gave her a big hug and said "Thank you so much for working far beyond the call of duty” then slipped into the seat she vacated.
“I've worked over ten hours” she told him looking pleased at his praise.
What a worker, I thought, pleasant and unflappable in the face of queues of tired passengers even after 10 hours work. No wonder her boss treasures her.

The Hotel she had chosen was the Grafik Elephant a few steps from the station. It's bright painted facade stood out among brick and concrete neighbours. The room was small but welcoming and the bed comfortable.  I slept as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Matjes Herring

Matjes Herring is one of my favourite foods and the closer to the sea you get in Germany, the fresher the herrings.

This was my meal at a Hamburg inner city fish shop. The (very tender) herrings were accompanied by a baked potato smothered in apple/onion Mayonnaise which tasted much better than it looks. And a beer of course.

Boots 'n' Shoes

Hamburg shops are full of new winter wares, like these boots...

even though the country is in the grip of a heat wave (30C today in Hamburg.)

I had packed for autumn not high summer, so I was shopping for light summer shoes, not boots. Next week is forecast to be 16C so the boots might start selling.

Hamburg Town Hall

The Hamburg Rathaus (town hall) sits on one side of the town square, on the other side is a coffee shop where you can sit, watch people go by and paint (the town hall).

Green as green

You forget how green green can be when you live in Australia. You remember again when you visit Germany.

Hamburg sun

Seven and a half flying hours from Sydney to Singapore, 12 hours from Singapore to Frankfurt, five hours by train from Frankfurt airport to Hamburg-Rissen. It is a glorious day in Hamburg after lots of rain and the sun is shining through open doors and windows.

I don't know if it is the sun or the 6 hours I spent relaxing in a transit hotel room in Singapore, but I am still feeling okay at 4pm. Probably the latter. If I come straight through without the Singapore stop it is a struggle to stay awake after about 2pm.

Garden in August.

The Camellias in the garden are so tall that I don't see the flowers until they drop from above.

Victa and I

Old Victa Twostroke and I just mowed the lawn; a hot job even on a cool day like today. He has repaired exhausted to the garage and I am having a cup of tea.
(The earplugs are sitting on a tray I made in a Dunedin painting class several years ago.)

Capriccio

Act 1 of Richard Strauss's opera Capriccio which I saw at the Sydney Opera House on 27 July. It was a discussion about the relative merits of poetry, music and opera. Very clever and funny and definitely worth venturing out on a cold winters night.

White Music

White Music is a piece made from ceramic and wood.

Detail of White Music

The pieces in a collaged work like this often have diverse origins. I fired the ceramic notes at Otago Art School in 2008 and found the wood in a workshop bin at Sydney's National Art School in 2011.

Fred and Ginger

Window near Cooma

A farmhouse window: picturesque and speaks volumes.

Digging fence post holes

View over winter hills near Cooma in NSW. There was a sprinkling of snow on surrounding hills when I was there last weekend and painting outdoors was chilly.

Below is the remarkable Rodney who is still digging fence post holes aged 78. From his front window he looks out over the hills above.

Weekend near Cooma

There has been good rain this year in NSW and the rolling hills between Cooma and Berridale (south of Canberra in NSW) are covered in long grass. The land is rocky in places and like a flatter version of Central Otago in New Zealand.

The nights are cold and frosty but fisher folk and other early risers are rewarded with a silent sunrise spectacle as dawn breaks over the foggy valleys.

Eucalyptus trees scatter the landscape and some have trunks like woven carpets.

In amongst the trees people build their dream homes, bit by bit.

Dancing violins

These wonderful creatures couldn't contain themselves and embraced each other in the kiln. Now they are stuck together for life.

From my drawing pad

A page from my drawing notepad.

Ivor (drawing teacher) immediately said "Ah, Escher" when he saw it.  I had not consciously copied Escher's work but his image of hands (below) had been one of the many images that had been flashed across the screen in my portraiture class a couple of weeks ago and it obviously made an impression.

It is odd finding these clear links in ones own work. I have never obeyed teacher's instructions to 'look at other people's work' before starting projects. I prefer to make my own work without reference to others wherever possible. Inevitably one is affected by things one has seen, but it has to be ones own passions that drive ones work. At the moment I am finding violins appearing in everything I do, like the picture above (and the one below) which are drawings of a ceramic violin I made last year.

Balancing act

Do you feel like this sometimes? A balancing act with uncertain ground beneath you?

I made this 'painting' (construction?) during the Painting and Technology class where we are using hammers, saws and glue guns to make our work. The figure is ceramic, made in Dunedin almost 3 years ago (so long already.)

Next step ... added a bit of a print which had a suitable shape. Odd how these things sit around, then suddenly fit somewhere perfectly.

More constructed paintings here.