CJB's Art Notes: September 2011

Since arriving, our schedule has been pretty full, but I’ve managed to make a few travel paintings, watercolor/gouaches on paper. I’ve been painting from memory as well working from sketches made from observation. As you’ll see, many are re-interpretive explorations into extrapolating an idea or investigation over several re-iterations. Here is a selection:

Traum Sonnenuntergang #1

Traum Sonnenuntergang #2

Schwarz-Weiß Club #1

Sprache Dunst

Schwarz-Weiß Club #2

Schwarz-Weiß Club #3

The weekend before last, not only did we go on a city tour of Frankfurt with our Fulbright group, we stayed the night in Frankfurt and spent the next day in Mainz with Michael, Torsten and Birgit!!! Michael and Torsten are former roommates of mine from UC Davis that were, at the time, on DAAD scholarships from Germany for their graduate work. It was so nice to see them again and to catch up! Michael graciously gave us a day-long walking tour of Mainz, where he’s lived for the past two years.

Frankfurt, banking district

Stadtverwaldtung

Altenikoliakirche

Yummy looking local pastries

Inside the great hall in the Stadtverwaldtung

We then made out way to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's family house, also in Frankfurt:

Copper cooking tins in the kitchen

Carved mirror frame

Goethe's ink-stained Schreibtisch

Dramatic and beautiful Frankfurt

Awesome find in our hotel room! Title "Sunny-side." The best!!!

Frankfurt train station

Buildings in Mainz (the capital of the state Rhineland-Palatinate)

Tyson, Michael, Torsten and Birgit in Mainz!

Here we are at the Mainz wine festival!

Back in Marburg, and as part of our Culture Course, we went on a special tour under the castle:

Just this past weekend, we made a return trip to the Landgrave Schloss museum to see some amazing relics and antiquities. The following is an image sampling of our adventure finding treasure:

Inside the Schloss courtyard

Pyramid of figurines from the 19th century

Cast-iron heater from 1579

Carved chair

Carved pipes

Pipe-packing devices

Detail of carved pipes

Marquetry on a chest of drawers--note the circular cross-sections

Hunting chandelier

Ashield from the 13th century--several displayed here

Stained glass

Carvings for a church

Detail from a painted carving

Castle cathedral, painted as it would have been in the 14th century

Castle cathedral

"Transparency" at the castle--part of a new exhibit that looks beneath the surface

Looking at decorative shields at the Schloss cathedral

Lionhead Trinkwasser

And then we visited the very regional/small town museum affiliated with the university in Marburg. Here are some quirky details from paintings we found there: