I liked this eight-point star superimposed on the blue sky and angles of the building. It’s found in Germany’s Black Forest.
I bet a whole bunch of you spend a fair amount of time looking around, see things, and wonder, “That looks cool; can I make a rug out of it?” I do. Even Tom has started asking me if I can use a particular design that he spies in nature, in the store, in the clouds…
My vacation is long gone now that summer is churning forward and August is just around the corner. Sigh… Sure, it’s freaking hot here in New Mexico, but I love the vibe of summer. So, I thought that I’d try go back to Germany in June – it was chilly – and share some of the “artistic elements” that I discovered there.
Okay, less an artistic element than a piece of art itself. I really liked these metal yard birds. Also in the Black Forest .These roof shingles were on many of the houses of Breisach, Germany, a little town on the Rhine. As old as the town looked, it was almost completely rebuild after WW2. Besides the scalloped shape, I like the variation in color.
Just check out the lines and the reflections of these homes in Strasbourg, France.
If only my own flower pots has this kind of artistry! Found this at Heidelberg Castle in Germany.
I loved the individual artistic elements incorporated into this sign, I think for a cafe. It was in Rüdesheim, Germany. The sun, the grapes, and the tea- or coffee pot caught up in the leafy grapevine.
Never mind the steepness of the hill that these grapevines have been planted upon (though workers do have to tie up to a bar at the top and repel down to tend to the vines). Note the rows and rows of straight lines. The ones that go off at a bit of an angle are owned by a different farmer.Kitchens – even in castles – are full of artistic elements. Here we have circular plates, cylindrical cups and vessels, and the horizontals of the shelving. Saw this in Marskburg Castle near Koblenz, Germany.
Spoons on a rack provide us with more circles and lines. They look like pewter lollipops!
Marksburg Castle had some interesting slate roof tiles.
And incredible woodwork!
Both Tom and I looked at this and the other wall panels and thought RUG!Dog? Sheep? You be the judge.Maybe snakes are more your thing… Seen in Koblenz.This window in the Cathedral in Cologne was made of colorful, glass squares. Being that I love to hook geometrics, I was quite taken by it. Wish the pic was clearer, but the camera on my phone bit it soon after this.
What have you recently seen during your travels that might make it into a rug?
Back to Bordeaux for another week and talking cool statues and sculpture.
Whether you hook rugs or draw or paint or in any way create “stuff,” you’re always on the lookout for other art that just might provide you with some inspiration. At least you should be. In theory. And given that we’re all carrying automatic copying machines around with us (in the form of our phones), there’s really no excuse for not making “graven images” of the things that call to us.
Okay, I admit that I often forget to jot down the artist info or even the name of some of the artworks I see when I’m out and about, but not in a museum or gallery with an identification sign conveniently placed near the object. I had to Google “large head sculpture in Bordeaux” to find out the info above. Enjoy!
That first night walking about the city, we came across the “Monument aux Girondins,” a monument/fountain created to memorialize the local heroes of the French Revolution. The various scenes portrayed seemed almost real in the dark and jet lag after traveling so many hours to get there.
Look at me pondering on how we shall take down that aristocracy and eat their cake.Why, yes, I do see you pondering what this will mean for our future. Do you think that their wardrobes will contain something we can wear? I mean, better than these bedsheets.
I am a mighty steed and have no need for stupid clothing. I am afraid, however, that I have caught a serious head cold.
Forget the Revolution! I fear that we’ve stumbled onto the set of “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Save us, Johnny Depp!
Sorry, sorry! It was the jet lag like I said.
Meanwhile back to real life. These guys were in l’Eglise Collegiale de Saint-Emilion. It’s still a working church though not a monastery any more. Interesting fact we learned: Sincethe Revolution, the Catholic Church no longer owns any of the churches and other buildings in France. It only uses and administers them. Because of such dwindling attendance at Masses in the last decades, the churches do not receive much in the way of collections and support for these marvelous buildings. It’s up to the cities and government to take care of them. It also explains why you can roam at will through them; they are truly tourist sites.
These guys were in the Eglise Collegiale de Saint-Emilion. Never saw anything like them in any of the Catholic churches that I’ve belonged to.
And then there were the carvings in the wall of a wine cellar beneath the medieval village of Saint-Emilion. Who knows when they happened or who made them?
Mon faux-pas! My bad! I neglected to write down the name of the winery who owns this most excellent cellar.
Oops! Sorry about that, Tom. You’re definitely NOT one of the statues, especially carrying those two bottles of wine we purchased.
Okay, this is my most favorite image of the whole trip. I’m assuming it’s Dionysus. I will hook this rug! And I promise that purple will fit in with him somehow.It is all about the grapes in Bordeaux. This is a BIG flower pot.I shall peel these grapes for you, mon cher. Mais bien sûr, we must have another glass of wine.
Okay, okay, I’ll stop now. Instead we’ll leave the statues and the trip behind for this week and head back into reality…
Tynan brings you this week’s “what’s on the frame.” Hm, looks very primitive doesn’t it? Not like what I usually hook. And yet, and yet… More next week!
