Daily life in Konstepidemin

I woke up later than usual today because I went to a music party at an old home last night, it was packed into a courtyard with a
small bar and outdoor kitchen where they were serving curried couscous and veggies. I have to say this city is vegetarian friendly for sure. I have gotten into a groove where I get up and do watercolors for about 30-40 minutes while listening to meditation music, this is new for me and its something I would love to continue, feels good to connect with art first thing. After that I get a bit antsy and with the beautiful weather here which Swedes are thrilled about I head for a morning walk, usually to the park but sometimes I will walk around the town discovering new shops that I plan to return to..most don't open until 11. So far I have finished 3 larger pieces and lots of
little watercolor studies..
a few days ago one of the Swedish artist's who has a studio here fixed lunch for 9 of us which was so nice..the best part was it was amazing food, quinoa with nuts and veggies, wonderful salad with feta, fresh ginger grated carrots and toasted sesame seeds and yummy, crusty fresh bread. Then we visited 4 of the artist's studios, they were all so different but nice to see what they do and hear them discuss their work. Nils had installed a wall of self portraits from the 80's until now and he totally inspired me to want to do some self-portraits.
I told Linda, another artist I needed a mirror and later that day she drops by with a huge mirror- have made a few beginning attempts! 

    morning meditation with watercolors and ginger lemon tea

delicious lunch outside at Mona's

sunny day gathering 

Mona is makes jewelry, these all began as found objects, she then sands, drills and solders pin backs, so unique, anyone have a favorite?

Ashleigh (Canada) Tomas (Swedish) Linda (Swedish) Mona (Swedish) Nils (Swedish) and Ermate (German)

Nils in front of one of his beautiful self-portraits

This band was playing traditional Swedish music and many were dancing in costume along with them

A man playing the drum made me think of my Mike who is visiting the Riegel clan in Illinois now, I miss him!

I took this last night at 11:30 pm when Ashleigh and I walked back from the music party, sky still blue

Tonight Ermate has invited the group over for dinner at her place which will be nice..I am alone most of the time so its fun to have gatherings sprinkled in with art making. The artist Linda will be going to Paris for an exhibition she is in next week and she offered to let us use her car to go north to see a few art shows..looking forward to that, glad I can drive a stick!!

leaving you with this one I saw on window during one of my morning walks..love hearing from you! until next time

gorgeous Gothenburg

    All I can say is that I am loving it here, there's nothing not to like even the weather has been incredible..everyone is amazed by the daily sunshine, its not real hot to me but to them it is..there is a
nice breeze and warm sunshine and sometimes in the afternoon there is a cloud cover so the sun goes in and out, puffy clouds move through the sky and then sun again until midnight..I have nice curtains in my bedroom so I can fall asleep and my slumbers have been deep, dreams have been so vivid I cannot
keep up with the movies my dream psyche is producing. There is a small art gallery underneath my apartment and they change the exhibit every week during the summer, maybe that has something to do with it..
   Yesterday after my morning walk in the park and breakfast I did some fun mono printing and then started a new piece, then walked into the city centre in the later afternoon and checked out the art supply store and was blown away by the beauty of this city. It takes me about 15-20 minutes to walk to the city centre,haven't even tried biking yet but they did give me a bike, one thing at a time.

Slottsskogsparken is a huge park with lots of hiking and biking trails 5 minutes from me

I had to take this photo for my sis of these metal horses, fun! there are tons more in the park

fun braided sculpture in the park

This was on the way home from the city centre walk yesterday, the city is so charming and although large has somewhat of a small town feeling, easy to walk and bike

ready to dive into my art- all set up, the studio is terrific, lots of light and space

last night I fixed an eggplant, tomato, spinach dish with pine nuts and feta, it was delicious and I ate outside in the sun at 7 pm

something about all the colors together is inspiring

 the artist's dinner Monday night was lively! Four Swedish artists who have studios at Konstepidemin and one artist from NYC who is trying to move here she comes every year, one from Germany one from Canada. We are meeting Friday for an outside lunch break here and the German artist is having everyone over Sunday night, nice to interact and have break from art making 

  there is so much to share, everyday I discover something new,  so happy I am able to stay for 2 months, there is so much to see and do here especially after the Swedish artist's gave me a list a mile long of all of their favorite places!

love hearing how you are- please keep me posted!

Settling in Sweden

 I just returned from an invigorating walk in the nearby woods and wanted to share my new adventure with you. I am in Gothenburg, Sweden at Konstepidemin Art Residency for June and July, arrived
this morning..I swear by those no jet lag pills, I have been going non-stop since I got dropped off
here after 3 flights, a 20 minute bus ride and a short jaunt in the taxi. If you don't know about this website www.optiontown.com- make a note of it..I was able to upgrade with Scandinavian Airlines for my
flight from Chicago to Stockholm to business class for a nominal fee and it was a total godsend, my body was extremely grateful.
 A kind man and Swedish artist named Tomas showed me around Konstepidemin (the name
means epidemic of art) and told me a little
about the basics and walked with me to the nearest grocery store (5 minutes away) said goodbye and pointed me back in the direction of my new home. I unpacked my art supplies (some of my paint containers had opened a tad) but nothing I couldn't clean up, everything made it here safely including me so I am grateful.
It was a beautiful sunny day when I walked out of the airport this morning and later a small thunder shower moved in and now its fresh and sunny outside again as I stare out the window of my new studio in anticipation of beginning a new
chapter of my art tomorrow. 

getting under 50 lbs..this was a bit challenging this time, my cardboard tube with paper fit inside my big bag,paint, brushes and shoes etc. in other one, glad that part is history!!

100 local artists studios are housed here and 5 international studios, Monday we will have a dinner so I have a chance to meet the 5 int'l artists

beautiful walk in the woods nearby after the rain

part of my studio, there is a big white wall to the right where I will be able to work large, I found this purple yoga mat in the closet, guess this place was meant for me

couldnt resist this in the concrete on my walk

please email me let me know how you are when you can and if these posts are too much for you to read just let me know

until next time wishing you a happy June!

Happy 4th of July!!

 Final post for China!
 

Yesterday we went to this batik museum one block from where we are staying.. beautiful old home (they dye the fabric in the mountains of China,then fabricate the pieces in Shanghai)

They use a medicinal root that helps the liver to get that indigo blue color.  We loved looking at all of their pieces, what patience these people have with details. Mike got a fabulous blue striped cotton shirt that he is totally excited about( it gets softer as

you wash and wear it) we also got a piece that was displayed on a wall with artistic Chinese characters. I asked the man what it meant and he had to text a friend and ask him

"Where ignorance is bliss, its folly to be wise" loved this and will
use it for a table runner..
here are some of the samples,someday I would love to go to the mountains where they dye the fabric, wanna come?

 

sign out in front

 

We strolled by a few stores today to pick up last minute goodies,

cant fit the brush but was able to stuff our suitcases which are

packed to the hilt and almost ready to go, we leave tomorrow morning and head to SF

 it has become such a ritual sharing this 'Path of Art' with you,
thank you for your time, responses, questions and comments. I am so looking forward to being home in my own bed, fixing my own food
and sharing time with the ones that I love so much!

Toot toot

I wanted to share some of the magic of the other night with you.

 

a river cruising boat

 

we call this the bottle opener building. You can go to the top in an elevator,  beautiful twinkling lights

  

 another river cruise boat

 

loved this building lit up with the moon so close, btw- enjoy the full moon tonight in Capricorn, we are going to the Chinese Acrobatic Circus performance, should be colorful and entertaining! 

 
Yesterday was quite the experience going to Hangzhou and West Lake..the train ride was a terrific short one hour ride on the fast train. West Lake is a gorgeous lake with weeping willows overhanging the edges, on the east edge there is actually a national park and forest. We took a smallish outdoor 10 seater covered bus around the
perimeter of the lake and also walked around a bit, then ate our picnic lunch. When we were ready to leave in the afternoon we actually tried to get a taxi ride to this silk market nearby, the taxi kept making faces at us like he didnt understand. We had flipped a coin as to whether we would go or head back, so I told him just go
to the train station' by showing him the Chinese words but he gave
me a confused look and I wasn't sure he understood so I said
jokingly "toot toot" like the horn of the train, he started laughing
and then we all were laughing and he made some train sounds so we
knew he understood. There is something so wonderful about the universality of body language in any country. I dont think we saw
any expatriots in Hangzhou yesterday which was fine but different.

  
Enjoyed the many lotus plants in the lake yesterday, this flower looked so beautiful and fully open. I am feeling the beginning of
closure to a fabulous journey but also loving the new opening in
myself to the Chinese people and culture.

all that jazz

If you ever find yourself in Shanghai for any reason I would highly recommend staying in the French Concession area with its shady tree lined streets. This morning after breakfast we strolled the area. 
Its always when you're not looking for anything, something special appears. 

We stumbled upon a beautiful park where people were doing tai chi, then found a quaint Thai restaurant with an outdoor veranda (made a note for another evening), then a half a block later we walked past this really nice looking spa, I had to go in. We had been talking about getting a foot massage so after going up the stairs and loving the  comfy feel of the place and warm bamboo floors we decided to recline side by side in overstuffed chairs and were pleasantly surprised. Included in the one hour was a neck and shoulder, arm, hand leg and fantastic foot massage..best part was it only cost us each $18..and now

we really want to go back.

 Next door to that we went inside a designers tea shop, unique place for teapots and cups and tasted some awesome green tea while chatting with a few Chinese students. Later on we went for the 2nd time to the Fabric Market in the south part of the city- having so much fun viewing all of the styles and colors and having a few fun pieces made.

Oh I can't forget to tell you about these pom pom shoes I scored at this hand made cobbler shop one of my fellow artist friends was raving about-very fun!

We had a great dinner at Grandmothers Restaurant, a Shanghai institution, very tasty eggplant,potato dish with a yummy garlic and spinach dish. Topped the night off gazing at all of the tall buildings on the Bund all lit up. The architecture here is the most exciting, daring and unique design I have ever seen. I will post a few photos of the twinkling lights and videos on sides of buildings soon, just fabulous..so we strolled over to the famous Peace Hotel and listened to as they call it "an old man's jazz band"

had a few drinks and called it a day...

plan to train to Hangzhou, West Lake (1 hr) for the day early tomorrow. Time is getting short-only a few more days here in China.

Origins and Destinations

The high speed train was right on time to the minute, it took us only 5 hours to get to Shanghai. What a cosmopolitan, bustling,
huge city, complete contrast to Beijing in many ways. We are staying in the tree lined French Concession area in a little apartment down a hutong. There's a photo on the wall that shows this whole building being demolished. It makes sense because the inside of this place is fresh as can be, big shower and fluffy white towels and beddings, a far cry from what we had in Bei Gao village..changes everywhere


We went to the Yuyaan Gardens market area and had lunch at this
wonderful Chinese restaurant, great veggie dumplings and soup with delightful noodles and mushrooms

We walked along the Bund near the Huangpu River and were amazed at the eclectic architecture and blue skies

I am standing in front of the Oriental Pearl TV tower

Fuzhou Street was filled with small art supply stores, loved browsing and buying a few new materials

Last night we had a real adventure hunting for a restaurant. Mike

was in charge of finding a place to eat..he had it all picked out,the best Indian food in the city etc. taxied there and it was
out of business..he had read about another place on the same street, but we kept walking and walking and passed the intended address so began asking people for help, first a women in a dress shop, then a girl on the street, then we went into a spa and they directed us around the corner, on and on until we were almost ready to give up but found a hutong where we asked a young man and he politely and proudly got up and led us to 'Origin' the restaurant we were seeking out..after an hour and a half of searching we were finally upstairs taking our shoes off and ordering..ahhhh the joys of travel!

We made it home and popped a movie into our DVD, I lasted about 10 minutes, big day!

onward and upward

Bye Bye Beijing

The Forbidden City was a place where civilians were once denied access. This place is vast, grand and totally impressive. We met our Chinese guide, Charlie who is a 82 years young. He was animated as he explained the feng shui (wind,water) and thought behind the design of this city. The number of stairs represent a person's status. The tiers on the roof were meant for protection.

There were a number of good luck pieces he pointed out, one was a large bat made out of stones that we walked on. We also touched the bronze cauldron with lion's head on top, another good luck charm.

We ended up in the beautiful imperial garden area, my favorite.

There were two trees that grew together in an auspicious way, of

course everyone was having their photo taken in front of it..

young and inspiring Charlie

a detail of the roof, the more animals a roof had the more status, the emperor's roof had 10

A retired horticulturist professor he has found his retirement niche

We left Forbidden City and walked across the street to Jingseng Park where we hiked up to the top of the mountain that protected the city. An amazing panoramic view. This is the exact center of Beijing, so all of this is on the central meridian, kind of fascinating how it was planned out. After we hiked down 

the other side and walked through the park  we headed towards the drum tower and walked and walked through many fun hutong areas (Houhai area) where we found a restaurant that had the spicy cuisine of the southwestern Guizhou province.

 We got all the exercise we needed and in a few hours will

be relaxing on the high speed train to Shanghai.

bye bye Beijing!

A Colorful Day

Yesterday morning we taxied to the Temple of Heaven, the center of imperial ritual for Ming and Qing Dynasties. Built in 1420 it is a
masterpiece of ancient architecture.

 

As we strolled through the grounds we enjoyed watching the Chinese people dance. It was remarkable how the older people participated in what looked like storytelling folk dancing. The dancing and the music were infectious.

 

 

We came home and all of the artists hosted our Open Studio Exhbition - I put up 6 of the 10 pieces I completed  

 

It was a good turn out, below the artists are preparing. It rained on and off, we were in and outside

 

Today will be a good time to pack up my work and art supplies. We have another cocktail party at the director's tomorrow night and after that an art opening at the Today Museum, tour of the Forbidden City on Wednesday morning by a Chinese 80 year old retired professor-  Next few days experiencing the last bits of Beijing then high speed train to Shanghai!

Mutianyu (backyard fence)

  Just like a gigantic dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching approximately 8,851.8 kilometers (5,500 miles) from east to west of China. 

We took a gondola up to the highest watchtower point- on the window was a printed message that Bill Clinton had ridden in the very same car.

Feel it this morning in our calves, all of those mini steps on the path but it was totally worth it to hike down to the bottom

On the way we saw several signs like this,love the

way they worded this!

At the bottom it felt so good to connect with this beautiful stone monument 

On the way home there was a mini traffic jam caused by a small herd of cattle crossing the road

Stay tuned