Inspiration Everywhere

Traveling is like a long-running Artist's Date, as described by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way. You get to feast your inner artist on beautiful things, coming away refreshed and inspired, full of ideas. This past trip I was less tuned in to my Inner Artist than usual for some reason, but here are several things that struck me.


Rinder by Franz Marc, in the Pinoteca Moderne in Munich. Doesn't this make you think of a quilt? I should even be able to say whose style is is, but I can't; maybe someone else can. Does comparing this painting to a quilt belittle Marc, a painter I like very much? According to the museum information card, he was killed at the battle of Verdun in 1916; what a tragedy.


The palette of neutrals in these paintings by Murillo is stunning!


This is a major department store in Munich. Wonderful patchwork design, isn't it? I like the silhouettes too.


I'm always fascinated by the patterns on inlaid wood floors. This one, in the Prince Archbishops' Residence in Salzburg, is an interesting variation on the six or eight pointed star you often see.


The shapes and colors of these buildings beside the river in Innsbruck make a wonderful silhouette against the mountain. I found a postcard featuring a painting of a similar view, so I'm not the only one who liked it.


Something about the shapes of these arches as they change with the curve of the porch struck me as beautiful, especially with the lines of the palace in the background. (My husband thought I wanted his photo; I didn't disillusion him.)


A little stream is in the English Garden in Munich. I tried using the cut out filter in Photoshop to simplify it, as described in Elizabeth Barton's blog, and that worked really well. It would be fun to do something from this photograph someday.


But first I have to finish the Hoffman Challenge!

Travelogue Lite

Germany and Austria were beautiful,

the beer delicious,

the buildings historic,

the people friendly,

the museums fascinating.

(I even enjoyed the Deutsche Museum, full of science and technology exhibits.)



And my packing plan worked perfectly!

It's good to be home, however. I spent yesterday unpacking and doing laundry. I thought about doing something in the sewing room in the afternoon, but didn't. In a Munich shop window, I saw this carpet that made me think of my Hoffman.
Maybe I'll get to that today. It was fun to catch up with everyone's news although I haven't commented much. That's something else to do today.

The Hills are Alive...

Sunday we are leaving for 6 days in Innsbruck, Austria, followed by a weekend in Munich. Munich was a sweetener for me, since I didn't have any interest in Innsbruck when my husband was asked to speak there, but I've always wanted to go to Munich. I've since found out that Innsbruck is in Eastern Austria, in a valley surrounded by the Tyrolean Alps. Think Sound of Music, everyone. So this should be fun. I'm certainly expecting good, fattening pastries and sausages, washed down with coffee and beer, but maybe I can hike it off. Or not.

So I've been doing the things you have to do to get ready for a trip. Organizing stuff, running errands, etc. I can't work up any interest in German for some reason, so I hope for friendly, English-speaking people. I finally forced myself to dig out the phrase book this morning, much too late to learn anything.

The part I love is packing. It's such a challenge. I think I mentioned once before my fascination with this web site: One Bag. It's got everything you need to know about traveling light. I'll never be as light as the author, but I try. It doesn't matter how much junk you have for some kinds of trips, but if you've tried to get a suitcase on or off a European train while a bunch of men sit and look at you as though you had two heads, you learn to pare down!

Ironically, since men are supposedly better at traveling light, it's my husband who has all the luggage. He's always weighted down with things he thinks he'll "work on", but of course never touches. He also has to be forced to give up the heavy cotton underwear, socks, and shirts which take up half a suitcase, and never dry, so have to go to hotel laundry. We've made progress though. This time we're checking one full size bag (his) and one smaller one (mine). But then there's his backpack and his briefcase...
We look like one of these pictures, but in reverse.

Of course, probably anyone watching will think Herr Professor Doktor is chivalrously carrying his wife's overload.

In quilting news, I've also been working on the Hoffman Challenge, and have made some progress. I got through the part that seemed tedious or tense, and now have to make some design decisions. But I may wait on that till I come back.