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Archive for September, 2010

21 secrets

I told you I’d remind you and I forgot. :) Registration opened yesterday! For only $59 you will get workshops from 21 awesome artists:

Andrea Schroeder: ABC Creativity
Angelia Thompson: Angelia’s Art Journals
Connie Hozvicka: Dirty Footprints Studio
Dawn Sokol: D’Blogala
Effy Wild: Wild. Precious
Emma Peabody: Treehouse Jukebox
Hanna Andersson: iHanna’s Blog
Heidi Newstrand-Dilley:Heidiology
Jonathan “Blade” Manning: The Artistic Biker
Kelly Warren: Artful Happiness
Less Herger: Comfortable Shoes Studio
Lis Hofmann: Dandelion Seeds and Dreams
Lisa Wilson: Life Unity
Natalie Malik: Awkwardly Beautiful
Paula Phillips: Journal Artista
Samantha Kira Harding: Journal Girl
Sarah Whitmire:Caspiana
Spooky: The Paper Phantom
Tami Chacon: Dream Wish Hope
Tracie Hanson: My Blooming Life

Click here for workshop descriptions (they all sound awesome!) and to register.

artist: jacek polak

While in Krakow we met with BF’s dad’s friend, Jacek Polak. We went to visit his studio which is at the top of the tallest (no longer functioning) synagogue in Kazimierz, the old Jewish district. I impulse-bought a painting from him. I love the dreaminess of his style and use of color. The one I got is a watercolor of my favorite church in Krakow in really lovely autumn colors – when I saw it I immediately thought of Krakow in autumn and generally had warm fuzzy feelings (I tried to take a pic of it but they never look as good!).



Debniki — If this one had been available I would have gotten it too! ;)


Winter House


Winter on the Planty

21 Secrets

Connie of Dirty Footprints Studio has put together an amazing group of 21 art journalers (including me, for some reason) who will each teach a fun art journaling technique. Check out the the descriptions of all the mini-workshops offered! Registration begins next Monday, September 20 (don’t worry, I will remind you :) ),and the workshop opens on October 1.

Wieliczka Salt Mines & a little Krakow

Tuesday – Wednesday we went to Krakow, at my request because it’s awesome. We actually ended up spending most of our time at the Wieliczka Salt Mines because BF had never been there before.

wieliczka salt mines

To get down there you have to walk down like 500 steps.

wieliczka salt mines

The interesting thing about the mine is all the sculptures inside, some of which were just carved by miners with nothing better to do (these days if they add a sculpture it’s done by a sculptor -the most recent addition was Pope John Paul II). That’s Nicholas Copernicus above and St. Kinga, patron saint of the mines, below.

wieliczka salt mines

King Casimir the Great:

wieliczka salt mines

And the big attraction of course is the salt chapel:


wieliczka salt mines

wieliczka salt mines

The floor tiles are carved out of salt, the chandeliers are made of salt, and the artwork on the walls is carved into the salt:


wieliczka salt mines

As an added bonus, the air in the mines is supposedly very good for your respiratory system. They still have rooms today where you can go and sit for a while and just breathe the air. I think you have to go every day for a couple weeks, though, which would explain why BF’s asthma wasn’t cured by the time we got out.


krakow

We only ended up being in Krakow for like 2 hours because we had a train to catch, but it was long enough to get my mandatory picture of St. Mary’s Church.


krakow

Also we saw Edward Scissorshands. & we stayed in Hotel Francuski, a hotel that takes its keychains very seriously:

krakow

I wish we could have stayed longer! Also this store made me laugh:

troll

Not as good as it looked:
more cake

Warsaw

Warsaw’s Old Town is not as good as Krakow’s, but they DO have a mermaid:


warsaw

She is the symbol of Warsaw and you’ll find her image on pretty much everything.


warsaw

According to Wiki,

The origin of the legendary figure is not fully known. The best-known legend, by Artur Oppman, is that long ago two of Triton’s daughters set out on a journey through the depths of the oceans and seas. One of them decided to stay on the coast of Denmark and can be seen sitting at the entrance to the port of Copenhagen. The second mermaid reached the mouth of the Vistula River and plunged into its waters. She stopped to rest on a sandy beach by the village of Warszowa, where fishermen came to admire her beauty and listen to her beautiful voice. A greedy merchant also heard her songs; he followed the fishermen and captured the mermaid.[134]
Another legend says that a mermaid once swam to Warsaw from the Baltic Sea for the love of the Griffin, the ancient defender of the city, who was killed in a struggle against the Swedish invasions of the 17th century. The mermaid, wishing to avenge his death, took the position of defender of Warsaw, becoming the symbol of the city.[134]


warsaw

One of the interesting things about downtown is that it was totally leveled during WWII, so the Old Town that stands today has actually been recreated based on old paintings and such.

We went to the Warsaw Poster Museum which was a bit of a let-down; the entire exhibit was posters from 2008-2009. Some of them were good, but I thought it was going to be older posters, ones that made Polish poster art famous. But alas.


warsaw poster museum

warsaw poster museum

We also went to some palace next to the poster museum which was totally boring. But there was a cafe there where I drank hot chocolate through a straw for the first time in my life.


even more