Monday, April 28, 2014

Ten Days, Six Cities, Four Countries and People, One Car

Buckle your seat belts, cause you're in for a bumpy ride!  Seriously - if you're looking for art -- scroll to the end.  What's coming first is a travelogue!

Last time I posted, I was preparing for my European adventure while creating cityscapes for One Little Word's word-up - ADVENTURE! (And there's still time for you to link up!)

I'm back from our whirlwind trip, and it was quite a time.

The impetus for the trip was a visit to my oldest daughter, Mariel, who has been living in the Czech Republic as a Fulbright Scholar/English Teaching Assistant this year.  She had a few cities to check off her bucket list, and we were happy to help her!

We met her in Vienna on Wednesday, 4/16, after an overnight flight from Newark, NJ.  Our first day included some selfies in the car on the way to the airport, Freddie's first wiener schnitzel, the first of many potato dumplings for Samy, a quick look at Vienna's town hall, and a happy reunion with Mariel, who took the train to Vienna from Brno, Czech Republic, to meet us at our hotel.

The next morning, we got into our rental car (a brand new Mercedes!) with an English speaking GPS, and headed for Salzburg.  On the way we ooh'd and aah'd at the beautiful Austrian countryside, which was truly picture perfect.  And of course we had to break into "Climb Every Mountain" at our first sight of the alps.  Once we checked into our hotel, we strolled into the old city, went to Mozart's birth place, and checked out lots of churches.


The next morning, we were excited for the "official" Sound of Music tour, and weren't ashamed to re-enact scenes on location, sing our lungs out on the big bus, and take a zillion photos while dancing in around singing "Do a Deer!"  We also learned from our tour guide that in 1731, Roman Catholic Archbishop Count Leopold von Firmian demanded that all non Catholics recant their non-Catholic beliefs or be banished, leading to many Protestants forcibly exiled from Salzburg, where they were forced to leave their children behind.  Have we learned?

Later that afternoon, we headed West to Slovenia, a country I only recently learned about.  It's capital, Ljubljana (pronounced Lee-you-bli-yana), is rumored to be the "next Prague."  It did not disappoint.  And on the way, we stopped and had dinner at Lake Bled - truly one of the most beautiful spots I've ever seen.  

We were lucky to be in Ljubljana on a Saturday, the day of their big market.  It was also Earth Day, and divers were fishing junk out of the river that bisects the old city.  They even fished out a large "men at work" sign, which seemed rather ironic!  Among the many things we learned about Slovenia when visiting a wonderful "Ethnographic" exhibit in the castle was that the oldest wheel discovered by archaeologists was found in Slovenia.

We saw lots of cool signage, had a mid day beer at a Mexican restaurant (!), and climbed a windy staircase worthy of a Hitchcock movie to the top of the castle.  

After two days in Ljubljana, we headed to Znojmo, the Czech town where Mariel is living this year.  We wanted to be there for Easter Monday, when the Czechs have a unique tradition, which Mariel explains on her blog.  It's worth the hop and will definitely make you smile!  In addition to experiencing this tradition, Samy got to hold a baby fox, which we encountered in Znojmo's excellent vegetarian restaurant.


After barely 24 hours in Znojmo, we headed to Bratislava, which is just over the Czech border and is the capital of Slovakia.  There, we toured the beautiful old city in our day of worst weather.  We walked to the only remaining synagogue, and toured the Jewish Museum which contains what is left of the once vibrant Jewish culture.  We also got free shots of Tequila after I sang with a lovely violinist in a local restaurant.  He was playing American jazz standards - go figure!


Then it was back to Znojmo, where we accompanied Mariel as she taught some of her classes, and was interviewed by the Znojmo newspaper for passing her level one Czech exam!
After spending a wonderful evening with the family that has looked after Mariel this year, we headed back to Vienna for our last two days of this amazing adventure.  We went to the Jewish museum, which beautifully explained, in heartbreaking honesty and detail, the history of Jews in Vienna - how they contributed to Viennese society and culture, fought alongside Christian Austrians in World War I, and then were systematically stripped of their rights, deported and exterminated in World War II.  

As I said to my daughters, I believe that seeing how a country deals with it's own history is as important as the history itself.  I was very impressed with the museum, it's frank look at the past, and the work it is doing in the present.  I was touched by the gold markers that are ubiquitous - memorializing Jews whose footsteps are just ghost-steps.  We can only hope that history does not repeat itself.

Among the many things in the museum that struck me, the walking sticks with caricatures of Jewish faces with oversize noses stopped me in my tracks.  That something as ordinary as a walking stick should be imbued with a grotesque, racist image was telling of how deeply imbedded anti-semitic prejudice was, even in everyday objects.

I had minimal journaling supplies with me, but was able to do a bit with a pen, a glue stick, Neocolor II crayons, and two paint brushes!  Told you there was some art in this post!



Anyway - I hope you have enjoyed this travelogue and a glimpse of the type of journaling I did while I was on the road.  I look forward to being back in my studio and getting my hands full of paint!

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

One Little Word: Adventure

The word up at One Little Word is:

ADVENTURE!
When I was looking for quotes for this word, I found so many great ones.   But choices had to be made, and so I picked ... two!

"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams."  Oprah Winfrey and "Live, travel, adventure, bless and don't be sorry."  Jack Kerouac

  
These were perfect quotes to add to the citiscapes I have been working on for my class in October at Art-Is-You.


If you've never heard of Art-Is-You, you must check it out.  There are nearly 70 amazing workshops with the most incredible instructors, delicious food, lots of ice breakers and communal projects - it is five wonderful days of learning, recharging, and inspiration.  (You can come for one or all of the days.)  Give it a look, and I hope to see you there!


We leave today for our 10 day adventure to Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia.  I have a post or two scheduled for you, and will be sure to post lots of pics when I return. 

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

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Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The Joy of Skipping and Stenciling


Remember when we used to skip?  Wow - that was a joyous, carefree feeling.  I'll come back to that!

I had a spread to complete in the very last journal of the 6 artist around-the-world-circle-journal project started by the lovely Tracy Woodsford.    We all started sending our journals to each other in September.  This was mine, using stencils by Pam Carriker for Stencil Club as well as Dots & Dashes and Hebrew Calligraphy with Hamsa.


I had created this spread in Beate Olivia's journal.  It began with a mix of orange and pink gelli prints and left over book pages, which I pulled together with a yellow glaze.  It sat and it sat in all of its beautiful texture all last week, as I prepped for Saturday's class at The Ink Pad.


But on Monday, a wonderful white chipboard envelope from Stencil Girl arrived, bringing me Mary Nasser's compass and latitude/longitude stencils!  Also on Monday, I saw this gorgeous post by Maria McGuire, in which she spread modeling paste through her serene goddess stencil.


And my muse grabbed me!  I mixed blue paint and modeling paste and "smeared" it through Mary's stencils.  Honestly, I don't know how Maria does it -- mine was not nearly as even and crisp as hers.  But that's ok!  My uneven application led me to do more to my image - giving it a painterly look that went well with my textured background.


I added "my girl" skipping through the world, skipping through life.  We are about to go to Austria to meet up with my older daughter Mariel, who is living in the Czech Republic as a Fulbright English Teaching Scholar this year.  We plan to visit Vienna and Salzburg, then drive to Slovenia (where I will meet up in person with internet art friend Natasha May), then drive up to the Czech Republic for Easter in Mariel's town of Znojmo, and then visit Bratislava in Slovakia before returning to Vienna and then home.  How's that for 10 days of skipping around!


I added some background stenciling with the Circles and Squares stencil, and embellished her dress with Flying Tulips.  I added some rubber stamping using Graphic Detail stamps by Michelle Ward, and some images from old maps on the top left and bottom right.  


Linking up to Art Journal Journey's Moments of Happiness theme,  Mix it Monthly's Maps Challenge (which includes one of Mary's paintings as inspiration!),  The Artistic Stamper (Embossing and Texture), Art Journal Every Day and Paint Party Friday.  

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Leave a comment and say hello.  It means the world to me to know that you were here.  xo



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Sunday, April 6, 2014

Stencils and Silhouettes at The Ink Pad


My cheeks are still hurting from all the smiling at The Ink Pad yesterday, where I taught "Stencils & Silhouettes" to 20 fabulous women.  The smiles started as I unloaded my car - Robin Amy Bass - a "regular!" caught me as the wind whipped me around and threatened to topple my carton of class kits.  Luckily, my mom was along to help me out!
We started with lots of demos about different ways to create our own colorful papers.  Of course, lots of stencils from Stencil Girl Products were in the house, as well as my Gelli Plate, thanks to Sandy!   Thanks again Robin for the pics!

 As everyone got to work, the eye candy of stunning papers drying all around was incredible!
There were lots of smiles and sharing of supplies and stories as people worked. 

And the finished works were beautiful!  Here's a sampling as I did not get around to get individual photos of everyone:

I am so grateful to all the students in the class, for making it such a joyous experience, and to The Ink Pad - fabulous hosts as always!

My next few teaching gigs are in my home studio.  You can join in the fun at Mixed Media with Jessica Sporn at Meetup.  You have to join Meetup to see the info - but it's free to join and then you'll get news of upcoming home studio classes.  

And then in October, I'll be at Art is You in Stamford, CT.  

 http://www.art-is-you.com/mysitecaddy/site3/artis...stamfordgeneralinformation.htm

If you haven't been to Art is You before, you must check it out.  It is fun, supportive, nurturing, inspiring and more!  I'll be teaching two workshops - one on Thursday, October 9th with tons of gelli printing and stenciling culminating in a citiscape or skyline, called "The Sky's the Limit:"


and another on Friday, October 10 where we'll make an altered book memory keeper:


I hope to see you soon!

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

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Thursday, April 3, 2014

Bravely Offer Your Heart


During last weekend at Big Fat Art, being pushed out of my comfort zone led to uncomfortable feelings of not being grounded.  On Saturday morning, I quickly painted this girl into my art journal.  (Do you recognize her - I've been painting her a lot...)  She is feeling so disconnected that she doesn't even have feet!!

I painted her over a collaged background stenciled with Sporn Flowers Negative and then glazed over with Turqouise and Green Gold Fluid acrylics.

http://www.yogalifesociety.com/
Rev. Jaganath Carrera
As the weekend went on, I tried to "just be" with my discomfort, rather than default to my comfort zone.  As Jane Davies said so wisely, the best progress and learning come at the height of your struggle.  When I turned to this girl again, feeling ungrounded was no longer moving me so much.  Instead, what was moving me were experiences I have had with people who are not kind, and not that nice. 

Yoga teaches us to try to see beyond people's surface acts and understand that the effect - unkindness - has a cause; people are going through things we know nothing about.  Moreover, we learn and grow more through how we relate to our negative experiences than our positive ones.

And so this girl evolved to bravely step forward out of the swirling of her thoughts and offer her kindness and compassion.

I added elements of Kae Pea's gorgeous Wheel in the Sky stencil and some journaling.  


http://society6.com/JessicaBethSporn/She-Bravely-Offered-her-Heart_Print#1=45
 Remember....

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

Linking to Art Journal Every Day and Paint Party Friday!

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