Art Holiday Ideas Anyone?

 

It is lovely to spend time working alongside other artists and watch how they work and share ideas and techniques, you always learn something new.

Last year I enjoyed a two day print workshop in Auckland New Zealand and five days at Artescape in Cairns. It was lovely to talk with the other artists because you can often find yourself spending a lot of time alone when you create art.

I tend to go from very busy days teaching art at school to very quiet times when I am creating art and often there isn’t a great deal of time to chat with others who have the same interests. It can become isolating if you are not careful and that is why joining a group is a great idea. I belong to The Firestation Print Studio and that has been a great bonus, providing terrific opportunities I would never have been able to do independently.

I am really keen to participate in another art holiday, maybe next year, but have found it difficult to locate just the right art holiday. Something with painting or printmaking and probably not too far away. Any one have any suggestions or recommendations?

I saw an interesting workshop in a little town in Scotland, bit far at the moment and of course there are always lots in Italy but I rather fancy one in Australia. School holiday time is good for me but not popular with the majority of art schools, teachers or workshops. So I’m looking for ideas!

 

Lino print book

I have been working out how to add a cover to my Lino print concertina book and it has taken quite a bit of planning. The one here is a simple version as I would like my final one to have a shaped cover and end papers. I like all the colours that are available for book binding cloth, so much to choose from.

The Lino print is based on a painting I have been doing of Garda in Italy. Again these are just trial prints, not sure about the right hand hills or the water but I thought might as well give it a try. That’s the great thing about printing, you can try different colours or hand colour.

Austria, the hidden gems!

 

 

A friend recently returned from a wonderful overseas trip but only managed to spend a few hours in Salzburg and that was it for visiting Austria! What a shame!

It made me think of all the wonderful places I have visited there, mainly because the relations have been kind enough to take us touring around each time we visited.

Here are a few great places to visit that you might not get to see on a tour.

Absolute must are the lakes and mountains of the Salzkammergut. Visit the town of Gmunden and see the beautiful ceramics that it is famous for. St Gilgen, one of my favourites, provides a fabulous cable car ride up to Zwolferhorn and the views are spectacular, often there are paragliders flying around the mountain top.

You can’t go past stunning Attersee, holiday destination for Gustav Klimt, and you will understand why he loved staying there. Attersee will provide a great opportunity for a relaxed cruise and perhaps catch a glimpse of Villa Paulick where Klimt visited with friends. I would quite like to stay there too!

Two beautiful old towns are Hallstatt, known for its ancient civilisation and salt mines and the medieval town of Hall in Tirol. And while you are in Tirol stay in Igls, just a few minutes out of Innsbruck in the mountains. It is small,  gorgeous and the perfect place to go walking in the mountains. I also particularly enjoy Bad Ischl, holiday town of the Emperor Franz Josef and the hunting lodge is delightful especially learning about the royal family on holidays.

Steyr and Kremsmunster are fantastic places to visit, the architecture is superb in both and if you are in this area Enns is well worth a visit as it was an old Roman township.

Of course a trip up a mountain is a must and Krippenstein/Dachstein and the ice caves is great and the views from the five fingers over Hallstattersee are incredible.

Hopefully this will give you some good ideas for places to see in Austria.