Forest animals

One year has passed since I made my typography paper cut "Cras numquam scire". 
This is the first paper cut I made this year. It is supposed to be a birthday gift for a friend's father, who turned 75 years old this year and adores the art of cutting paper designs. I finished the paper cut one day before my trip to Strasbourg, France. 
Someone told me, the paper cut brought back his childhood memories of watching the TV series "The Animals of Farthing Wood", based on a book of the same title written by Colin Dann. What a coincidence!

Language of flowers: Phlox

Language of flowers: Phlox - "Our souls are united."

"A garden without a phlox is not only a mistake, but also a sin against summer." - Karl Foerster, gardener and garden writer

A phlox may not have a stunning beauty, but its gentle scent is just lovely. I love to receive flowers and actually receive them currently quite often. "What a lucky girl!" is what I talk about myself now. I have thought about creating a series of botanical drawings of the flowers I received. Each flower in the drawings will carry with it a common symbolic definition according to Western Culture.
Over the years I will have a great collection of drawings of flowers or plants people gave me, which is likewise a hand-made dictionary of the language of flowers, a nearly forgotten way of communication, and a treasure chest filled with warm memories of loving and being loved.

  “I must have flowers, always, and always.”- Claude Monet

My trip to Bruges, Belgium

It's time to pack my bags to leave home, discover the world and open up my mind.
The destination this time is Bruges- the capital city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Some friends of mine went there and adore the place so badly, that they suggested me to visit the city all the time.
I now also adore the city exactly the same as my friends do, after I came back home from there.
I spent one week in Bruges. Most of the time I strolled around, looked for a nice spot to make some sketches, stayed in the spot for several hours to sketch and got me later something tasty to eat. I didn't feel lonely at all while sketching, since there were always people coming to talk to me. They asked, if they were allowed to have a look at the sketches  I made, where I come from, and where I'm planning to go to on my journey. I'm really happy, since no one came and asked me stupid questions, such as why I don't just purchase a camera to take pictures, then go to other sight-seeing spots.
Everyday at breakfast, the owner of the B&B, where I stayed in Bruges, asked me, if I made some new sketches. I showed the sketches and we talked about the buildings I drew. She showed me a catalog of a Japanese landscape painter, who used to stay at her B&B one month and made a lot of  lovely sketches of landscape in Bruges. On my 3rd day in Bruges, while sketching, I met one old Belgian artist. He invited me to visit his atelier. What lovely paintings he has done! (AQUARELLE Lucien Vanden Steen- Peerdenstraat 17b, Bruges)
I enjoyed my time in Bruges. Good food. Good weather. Nice people.

20.08.2012- My 1st day in Bruges
This sketch shows the view from my room upon the B&B's garden. I left it in the B&B's guestbook to acknowledge my visitation in Bruges.

21.08.2012- My 2nd day in Bruges
Belfort (13th century)- the bell tower in the historical centre of Bruges. Sketch done at the market square, at 00:40 am. I gave the sketch to a very good friend of mine as a birthday present.

Bonne Chiere windmill (1844, from 1911 in Bruges). Sketch done at 05:50 pm.

Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (The Church of Our Lady) (1220). Sketch done at Rozenhoedkaai, at 22:45.

22.08.2012- My 3rd day in Bruges
Kasteel Minnewater- a charming restaurant located at the "Lake of Love". Next time when I come back to Bruges, I'd like to have dinner by candlelight with my beloved at this restaurant. Sketch done at 04:30 pm.

Guesthouse Coté Canal- House of Fidel- the most photographed dog in Bruges. You can see Fidel in the trailer of the movie "In Bruges" directed by Martin McDonagh. Sketch done on Groenerei street, at 08:30 pm.

23.08.2012- I headed to the sea.
Mercator ship (1931) in Oostende, used by the Belgian Navy for the instruction of the military sailors and navy-men. Sketch done at 05:00 pm.

24.08.2012- My last night in Bruges. It rained all night long.
Blinde Ezelstraat ( Blind-Donkey-Street)- a narrow street runs from the Burg to the fish market. Sketch done at 11:00 pm.

P.S.: While I was sketching the Blinde Ezelstraat, I met Lies Ackaert- a blogger in Bruges, Belgium. She writes blog entries in Dutch about interesting things and people she encountered in her beautiful hometown. Check her blog entry about me here.

West Flanders on Dwellable

Wanna be a teen girl again!

I went to Heinerfest with a very good friend of mine two days ago.

Have you ever heard of this festival? It is an annual festival in Darmstadt, Germany, believed the second largest city festival in Germany, celebrated at the beginning of July and will take 5 days. On the last day of the festival, there will be a beautiful closing firework show. This time I enjoyed the show with my friend and we had lots of fun.

My friend, she brought hopes, inspiration, wise advice and lots of laughs. She and the festival made me feel like being a happy teenager again. Best friends forever! 

La dame de thé- The tea lady

I call this drawing a touch of romance and a sigh for the lost beautiful old days. 

When I talk about tea, I mention neither herbal tea nor fruit tea. To me, the word "tea" means the hot aromatic beverage prepared from the leaves or leaf buds of the Camellia sinensis plants. Through different techniques with which it is produced and processed, tea is classified into white tea, yellow tea, green tea, oolong, black tea and post-fermented tea.

I got my inspiration from the antique botanical lithography illustration of the tea plant from the German medicinal guide "Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen", one of the most well-known handbooks of medical plants in the 19th century.

Let them eat cake

This is my last post of this July, before I go on a Finland vacation.

"Let them eat cake", translated from French for the phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", is thought to be said by Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, when she learned that the peasants had no bread. However, we are not sure, if it's for real.

My trip to Spain- Part 2: Toledo

Toledo was the old capital of the kingdom of Spain in medieval times, before the Spanish court was moved to Madrid. Nowadays, this city is the capital of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. In the past, Toledo was well-known because of the co-existence of Jews, Christians and Muslisms. That's why, it earned the name "the city of three cultures".

 I love this city and its very, very delicious marzipans. It's fair to say that the marzipan of Toledo is considered one of its finest food products. Making marzipans has a long tradition and it has brought fame to the city. Remember the name Santo Tome! You won't be disappointed by marzipans from this confectionery shop.

 

There is a lot of narrow passages in Toledo. As a fan of old, narrow and mystic-looking passages, I found here my heaven. This is a sketch of one passage heading to the university.

The kingdom of Spain is well-known for its Spanish inquisition in the past. Maybe, people in Spain won't like to hear of this fact as well as people in Germany feel uneasy, when we discuss World War II. I was really excited to go to the exhibition of ancient instruments of torture at the Alfonso XII exhibition hall. The exhibition hall is not big. However, it's scary enough to make you very grateful not to be born as Jews or Muslims at the time of the Spanish inquisition. These three masks of shame are the most harmless.

On the way to Puente de San Martin ( the bridge of Saint Martin), I discovered this lovely inner yard covered by oleanders and rosemary. I'm really envious of the people living there. They have huge rosemary bushes. I have a pot of rosemary at home. No matter what I do, my rosemary doesn't grow bigger. It stays tiny and weak. The lack of sunlight is the main problem. I have heard, in sunny Mediterranean area, rosemary bushes can reach up to one meter in height.

If I have a chance to go to Spain again, I'll come back to Toledo for sure, stay here longer and eat so many marzipans, that I feel like I'm going to explode.

Toledo on Dwellable

My trip to Spain- Part 1: Madrid

Happy Hippo and Iwent to Spain to visit one friend of us living now in Madrid. We stayed in Madrid for one week. Besides the capital of Spain, we also visited some cities in the proximity.

This is how the Kingdom of Spain looks like. As you can see, there are 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities (Ceuta, Melilla). If you don't have a keen interest in visiting Madrid, but Barcelona, you have to go to Cataluña. 

A she-bear and a strawberry tree (Spanish: madroño) -Arbutus unedo- are the symbol of Madrid.

I'm not sure, if this hand-made stuffed animal is a "cat", because it looks more like a little dinosaur to me. However, his creator considers it a cat. Maybe, at first, he wanted to sew a stuffed cat. The final product varies from the idea very often. Anyway, I like it.  

My friend in Madrid cooked dinner. It tasted good.

The 2nd day in Madrid was Sunday. That's why I went to El Rastro- the most popular flea market in Madrid. I like flea markets. Things are cheap here and sometimes, with a bit of luck, you can find some odd-looking but very interesting ones.
I got this wind chime, made from sea shells, as a present.

At El Rastro, I found a lot of stalls selling Spanish fans. I love hand fans of all kinds: Chinese folding fans, Japanese round fans, Vietnamese straw fans. Why shouldn't I add to my fan collection a Spanish one?
I'm not really a fan of Real Madrid. However, if there is a final match between this football club and FC Barcelona (as usual), I'm in favour of Real Madrid. 

I have heard, churros with thick hot chocolate is very popular in Spain and Latin America.
No one in my family is fond of chocolate; so am I. In my opinion, we can eat the churros without chocolate. They themselves taste already very good. Eating churros reminds me so much of Youtiao 油条, which my Mum likes to eat with rice congee for breakfast.

Street plaques in Madrid are beautiful. Have a look at some I saw not far from Plaza Mayor!

There is a lot of cockroaches in tropical countries. When I was in Vietnam, I saw them everyday. Since I've been in Germany, I haven't seen anyone. It made me think, these stinking creatures don't inhabit in Europe. I'm totally wrong. In the warm Mediterranean area, there are some of them.

While walking across Plaza de Colón (Columbus Square), I saw this artwork of Fernando Botero, a well-known Colombian artist. I don't have a clue, in which relation this statue of a naked "large" woman holding a mirrow has to Columbus.

Motives I cut from a brochure for the 28th festival "Fall in Spring" (???). What a name!

At the night of the 4th day in Madrid, the friend in Madrid and Happy Hippo gave a cocktail party.
Don't mistake this kitchen implement for a microscope. It's a juicer, comes from Venezuela and is made specially for oranges. Oranges in Spain taste very, very good.

I visited Museum of the Americas on the 5th day in Madrid. My favourite object is this vessel in the form of a guinea pig. If you google the word "Cui/Cuy", you get a lot of scary pictures of a dish made from the meat of guinea pigs. A whole baked/grilled guinea pig showing its teeth is often served on the dish.

Other objects in the Museum of the Americas.

On the 6th day, I went to Toledo-located 70km south of Madrid- for a one-day trip.

This is my dinner, cooked by Happy Hippo, with some rosemarries we got from Toledo, after we arrived in Madrid.

(Sketches from Toledo and Aranjuerz are coming soon.)

Madrid on Dwellable

Sketches in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

 I'm going to Amsterdam to visit the Van Gogh museum. How deeply I'm now in love with Vincent!

This time, Ben'll stay at home. Amsterdam might be a bad influence on such a spoiled boy like him. Danny- a sweet Koala- will go with me to the Netherlands.
Notes: Don't mistake a coffee shop for a café. People go to a café to enjoy a cup of coffee but go to a coffee shop to buy hemp.

 I'm now staying at Annette's Bed and Breakfast happily. There's a small kitchen in my room, so I can cook everyday and don't have to go out for a meal.

 Have you ever been in Amsterdam? Did you know, see, taste, try...?

 The House of Bols is a must-see for cooktail lovers. Is it a bar? No, it's a museum of cooktails and genever with a stylish bar, where you've got a cooktail for free.
I ordered one glass of Vanilla Berry Crush. It was tasty. Yummy!

Some souveniers I bought from the Van Gogh museum. Because the museum was crowded with visitors from many countries, it wasn't pleasant for me to stay longer in the museum shop.

 From my room, I could see the small garden in the courtyard of the guest house.

Mailboxes in the Netherland are painted with red. I don't like these funny, long mailboxes, but prefer the ones in Germany, which are yellow. Yellow is one of my favourite colours.
Now I knows, that TNT comes from the Netherlands.

 "De Molen De Gooyer"- the last windmill in Amsterdam, built in the 17th century.

 Friday, 15.10 was a really bad day. It rained cats and dogs all the time.

 

Begijnhof is a special courtyard middle in the city. Only women reside here. At Begijnhof, you'll see a lot of old houses, built from the 17th century. However, the house called Houten Huys (The Wood House), which were painted with black, originates from the second haft of the 15th century.

 A ship souvenir I bought from a ship shop owned by a German.

Amsterdam is crazy and international, and I love this city. There are some reasons why...

Sketches in Firenze (Florence), Italy

I'm going to take a short holiday in Florence- the city of my childhood's dreams

 Things I packed in my suitcase. If you don't know who Ben is, I'll happily introduce him to you.

 Before going to Florence, I still had enough time to go to a party held in a farm, where the air is fresh and reeks of cows' droppings...

 ...and saw there for the first time in my life, how people milk cows and roast a whole pig...

 ...and enjoyed a very frustrating German song sung by a guy sitting on a strawroll at the party. What a day to remember!

 Because I wasn't able to wait to drink coffee in Italy,I went to a coffee house in my city and ordered me a "Moby Dick".

 

Finally, I flew to...Paris Charles-de-Gaulle. While waiting for my flight to Florence, I bought some postcards of "La Tour Eiffel".

 Hotel Ariston, Firenze.
No fridge. No hairdryer. It didn't annoy me at all, as long as I still had clean bedclothes to sleep on.

 Carriage first in front of the cathedral, later at Piazza della Signoria

Although there's a lot of horse-drawn carriages at the centre of the city, the streets aren't full of horses' droppings, because each horse carries a bag behind.

 Crests on the facade of the cathedral

As a crest fan, I found in Florence my paradise. There are crests everywhere in this city.

 

The drawn wall clock  in the cathedral from the year 1443

 Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore, Piazza del Duomo, 10:30 p.m

The square where the cathedral is located is full of tourists in the daytime, that's why I waited for the night. During the day, it was hot in Florence, but it became very cold at night. As a result, I caught a cold.

 Santa Croce, Piazza Santa Croce, 03:00 p.m

What a beautiful day! I visited the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo in Basilica di Santa Croce and bought there a lot of postcards.

 View from Piazzale Michelangelo, 06:00 p.m

From this hill, I could see Palazzo Vecchio, San Lorenzo, Duomo and Santa Croce. What a view!
Besides, this place was full of German tourists. No more Italian, only German. It made me wonder.

Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, 01:00 a.m

The streets at the centre of the city are crowded to midnight. It was funny to eat ice-cream at this time of day.

 Mozzarella cheese made from buffalo milk and me writing postcards 

It's a passion to write postcards. Ben was a little bit upset, because he would receive no postcard from Florence.

 Panforte Fiorentino

Panforte is a traditional Italian dessert containing fruits and nuts, similar to ginger bread. A piece of a Panforte from Gilli- a famous coffee house located at Piazza della Repubblica- could cost 12 Euro. Crazy!

 Montefioralle, Greve in Chianti, Toscana, 03:00 p.m

A walk to remember!

From Florence to Greve in Chianti by bus, then to Panzano on foot through beautiful vineyards and olive orchards.

 Piazza G.Matteoti, Greve in Chianti, 02:45 a.m

Unfortunately, I missed the last bus from Panzano to Florence. I went back to Greve and stayed for the night there.

 Dishes I ordered in a restaurant in Florence and another in Greve. I'm now deeply in love with Italian food and decided to learn a bit Italian, in case I come back to Italy or want to read a real Italian cookbook in Italian.

 Florence is a great city. And the reasons are...