Saturday's PhotoHunting: Portrait

While visiting the the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, I stumbled upon this cool puzzle of Van Gogh's famous self portrait. With only three levels to work with I thought this would be an easy and fun puzzle to do.   

Well, turns out it wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. Notice the third left eye, which I didn't notice until I saw my photos later that night.  Major fail! 

I think one of these photos is a re-post.  :)

To see more PhotoHunters, you can visit Gattina's Keyhole Pictures website HERE!  

Saturday's PhotoHunting: Abstract

Abaporu is an oil painting by Brazilian artist, Tarsila do Amaral.  

I was able to admire this painting and some other pretty cool artwork at the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA).

I always find it very interesting to learn about the many things that can influence an artist: nature, religion, humanity, inhumanity, politics, other artists, culture, music, time, the good, the bad, life struggles, love, hate, relationships, current trends, etc.  

This makes me realize that our perception in everything we see, do and believe in is greatly affected by everything around us.  I think that's why I enjoy being outdoors, why I have a passion for music, photography and travel so much. Sensory overload  at its finest. :)  

To see more PhotoHunters, you can visit Gattina's Keyhole Pictures website HERE!  

Saturday's PhotoHunting: Sculptures

Here is a cute sculpture from Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin, Germany.   Notice how mother nature gave this piece a more fashionable look with a light dusting of snow from the night before.  I love her cute skirt, nice warm scarf and cool hat. :) 

 

 

To see more PhotoHunters, you can visit Gattina's Keyhole Pictures website HERE!  

 

 

Saturday's PhotoHunting: Paintings

A local artist painting the very beautiful town of Positano .  . . 

While traveling I enjoy looking at artwork that can be found in famous museums, but I also love admiring artwork from the many talented street artists.  Over the years, I've managed to purchase several beautiful pieces which I will treasure always.  

To see more PhotoHunters, you can visit Gattina's Kehole Pictures website HERE!  

Saturday's PhotoHunting: Metal (Possible End of Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin, Germany)

I featured the Graffiti/Street Art of Kunsthaus Tacheles in a previous post HERE and for this week's theme I thought I would post some of the creative and interesting metal sculptures I found as well.  

In writing this post and researching for more links I stumbled upon several articles declaring that an end could be in sight for this unique and popular haven for artists.  Once a thriving Department store, this structure strewn with a mixture of street art, photos, graffiti, old posters, bullet holes and a backyard of metal sculptures, an old beat up VW wagon and a pink flamingo bar may soon come to an end.   HERE is an article written in 2011 about it's soon to be demise and there are even more rumors swirling around on the Internet that the closure is pretty eminent citing the end of July 2012 as a possible date.

I do understand that times change and when they do we have to change along with it.  But there was something very appealing about this place. Kunsthaus Tacheles represents a free spirit and a venue for artistic self expression against what is supposed to be mainstream.  An intriguing and dramatic storyline about us versus them.   Maybe that is why I found it fascinating.

But having been there, this part of Berlin like many other neighborhoods in the city are constantly evolving and you might say that the writing was on the wall about its future.  I just hope that when they do build that new shopping center or high rise hotel that the owners do something to memorialize the artistic freedom and spirit that Kunsthaus Tacheles was known for, and which I find represents the spirit of Berlin and Berliners.    

So, if it is the end of Kunsthaus Tacheles, I find some solace in the fact that I can always revisit it through my memories and photos.  Here are several photos that I took of the Metal Sculptures I found in their backyard gallery.

To see more PhotoHunters, you can visit Gattina's Kehole Pictures website HERE!  

2011 Amalfi Coast Adventures: Positano smiles and says Buon Girono . . .

Okay, so I "borrowed" that line from Samantha Brown. :) Today, I will pay Positano a visit. A place where John Steinbeck was inspired to write that very famous article and now years later, I have this opportunity to see Positano through my own eyes.

According to the Sita Bus schedule I should  arrive in Positano by lunch time.  The bus lets you off at the top of this hill and you need to walk these narrow alleyways down towards the beach. The path is lined with cute shops and interesting and colorful signs showing you the way as you can get sort of twisted around because you can't really see the ocean walking down. There are white washed shops that line the narrow alleyways down toward the black/grayish sand beach.

First, I paid a visit to the Church of Santa Maria Assunta.  As you enter the church you can read a greeting which says:

I don’t think I have read such an inviting and pleasing welcome.  It’s like I was really meant to start off my vacation here on the  Amalfi Coast with this early visit to this wonderful church. I can now begin to understand why Mr. Steinbeck was so captivated by this town. 

The Santa Maria Assunta seems to be the center piece of this town more than the beach itself with it’s brilliant dome made of majolica tiles as well as a 13^th Byzantine century icon of the Black Madonna. According to local legend the icon had been stolen from Byzantium and traveling across the Mediterranean by pirates, a terrible storm had blown up.  In fear for their safety, the pirates unloaded the precious icon off in Positano and the storm stopped.

They have some wonderful art as well and one that struck me was this “Chapel of Immaculate Conception”  Here’s what was said about this painting:

The painting (1795) depicts the Virgin as she appears in the Book of the Apcalypse: with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown with twelve starts, curshing the snake.  The angels around her are holding symbols taken from the Song of Songs that are applied to Mary:  the Lily, the mirror, the rose, the olive branch, the star

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After being inspired with my church visit, I decided to have lunch at Chez Black which is a restaurant located right on the Beach. Mimi mentioned that it was her favorite and I can see why.  It’s a little on the pricey side but the service is excellent, the food was outstanding (I had the grilled Sole) and the view….well it’s priceless!

More glimpses of a beautiful town . . .

Thank you everyone for all of your wonderful comments. They are very much appreciated. I am really enjoying this beautiful place in Italy! 

Ciao for now.

PhotoHunt: Broken

Broken . . . . and yet artistic.

I took this photo in the Sculpture yard behind Kunsthaus Tacheles, an art center in Berlin, Germany.  This place is pretty wild and with an interesting history.  I enjoyed my visit there.

To see more PhotoHunters, you can visit Tnchick's website HERE!

PhotoHunt: Self Portrait

This was a tough theme for me so this is a real stretch!  While visiting the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow I found this really cool interactive display where you match these puzzle pieces to come up with the face of a famous artist. 

After turning and twisting, I "thought" I had matched the pieces to an artist known for his self portrait paintings, Vincent van Gogh (Wikipedia).   But wait, I know that Vincent did not have a "third" eye! An artist, I'm not.  he, he!

Told you it was a "stretch". :)



See more PhotoHunters HERE!

Amsterdam: Sunflowers, The Jewish Bride, and the Kitchen Maid (Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Vermeer) . . .

I’m in an induced state of “Art” Euphoria. Yesterday, I woke up so late (not what I had planned for a head start at the museums), but such is life and being here in this beautiful city how could one really complain. It was a little drizzly, but I thought I would walk over to the museums maybe take photos along the way.

I saw the line at the Rijksmuseum and decided to pass it by and head for the Van Gogh museum. Well, there was a line too, but it wasn’t too long and I was already there so I waited and thankfully it went pretty fast.

In the Van Gogh museum there are 200 of his original paintings and several hundreds of his letters. Of course one of the paintings at the top of my list (The Bedroom) was on loan to a museum in Japan. Well, I can’t blame them for loving his work and wanting to see the real deal and as it turns out Van Gogh was a big admirer of Japanese Art and a few of his pieces reflected that.

Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists and it was utter joy to see his work up close and in person. Seeing them in photos or film does not do them  justice, because they can’t convey the emotions and mood of the paintings, you can’t feel or really see the texture of his brush strokes and be moved by the intimate manner in which he portrays his subjects.

I won’t deny this, some of his work was quite dark, especially “Wheatfield and Crows” which he painted in 1890. A few weeks after painting it Van Gogh shot himself and died a couple of days later in the arms of his brother, Theo.  Very sad.  But there were also moments when Van Gogh appeared to be happy. He loved painting the countryside and sunflowers using his favorite life giving color of yellow. The Sunflower painting was one of my favorites.

At the Rijksmuseum I was enthralled by a couple of paintings, namely the Jewish Bride. It was Sister Wendy’s favorite and also mine. There’s something about the portrait that draws you in . . . a tender gesture by the male towards the female. His use of light colors on dark contrasts to create the illusion of sparkles glistening from her dress. I watched as one person after the other got up closer to the painting to see how the artist created that effect. I did the same. :) The most popular piece is of course the Night Watch which is huge! I read that he was a genius in his use to create light and movement in his painting and you see it here. It’s hard to tell from looking at photos but I can see it much clearer standing only a few steps away.

And finally, my favorite Vermeer painting has to be the Kitchen Maid. He took something so simple and ordinary and created this powerful painting. The composition radiates a quiet calm and the only movement is the flow of the milk being poured. Something so simple and yet it is a standout piece for me. I mean sometimes the most simplest thing if done really well is often better than something really complex with a lot of mumble jumble that is averagely done.

And here are a few images of yesterday's day:

Here's the queue for the Van Gogh Museum. . .

The Rijksmuseum Building is actually more interesting architecture wise . . .

I guess this person decided to park their bike on "top" of the other bikes . . .

Near the Holland Casino, there is a big chess board and this little guy was playing with the big guy in the black jogger suit directly in front of him . . . gotta love that name of that fast food joint in the back "wagamama" he, he . . .

 
Yesterday my internet connection was lost on my laptop and so I'm a little late in posting yesterday's happenings. 
 
Today, I'm not sure yet what I'll do . . . woke up a little earlier and so I may be finally settling into the time zone here. I'll make some coffee and then contemplate today's explorations (I love slow traveling) . . . maybe Dam Square since it doesn't seem to be rainey. The weather is funny here, it stays dark until late and gets dark early. So I can't really tell time by the sunlight here. I guess I could set my alarm clock, but who wants to do that on vacation . . . not me. At least for now.