A preview of our trip to Wales and my day-trip to Brussels

Recently Alex and I spent a few days in Wales with our family to celebrate my father-in-law's 65th birthday. I'm in the process of making some films from the trip, particularly one from the birthday party itself which was simply delightful. It was great to see so many friends and family and on the day the weather couldn't have been better.

I'll post more pics and some more notes later, but it will take some time to get through the photos of all the recent travel and events and some of you are already asking if I've fallen off the edge of the planet - I have not! I'm also transitioning to my new role as President of the AWC of The Hague, which has been quite a bit of work, and tomorrow my in-laws are coming for a visit. Which means more pictures and more blogging to come...

In the interim, I'm sharing a bit with you now.

Below is the peacock that wandered into the back yard one day (apparently escaped from a local peacock breeder...) Beautiful colors. I missed the moment that he displayed his feathers...wow! Eventually his owner came and retrieved him. By the way, peacocks have a loud screech (I think when they're particularly anxious) and this guy was quite a character.

Alex and our nephew, Steffie and niece, Catrin

The Man of the Hour....For he's a jolly good fellow!



Our Welsh family

Family and friends join to celebrate

Left: Me and Aunty Barbara

Below: Me and Aunty Peggy

Catrin and I share a laugh

We also did a couple of "photo safaris" while in this gorgous part of Wales with old Norman churches, castles, etc.

Kidwelly Castle (which can be seen from our en-suite room!)

Alex and I also took a drive to nearby Tenby, a colorfish seaside fishing village. Unfortunately, the day was quite gray and so were many of the camera shots (although now working with some of the creative modes I'm actually learning something about photography!)

A couple of Tenby sights and views:







In nearby Pembrey:

Above: St. Illtyd's, Pembrey (dates from 13th-15th centuries)

Above: Three of my favorite subjects.

I also very recently took a day-trip to Brussels to see the Royal Greenhouses (open for just a few short weeks each year) and a bit of time at Grand Place -- I plan to return to this beautiful city!

Above: Yet another floral shot :)

Below: My buddy Kim and I

Below: Heidi and Kim and below that, a view at the Grand Place

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FAWCO film part 2 of 2 (last one)

This film is slightly revised to make it a little more fun to watch :)

A Theft from our Back Garden

Well, I am sad to report we've had a theft...but not the kind you're probably thinking. The crows have actually stolen a bird feeder. You see, we'd noticed that the crows were eating the seed from a feeder filled with food meant for small birds, like Chickadees (or tits as they are known in the UK) so Alex bought a feeder that was meant to keep them out. Well, much to our dismay, they not only figured out how to pour the seed out one side of the feeder, but they have actually flown off with the feeder in question. No kidding! B*****d crows.

FAWCO Conference Films

You may find these films long as most of you don't know any of the people in the films, but I still think they portray the spirit of the conference and so you still might enjoy them. It took me many hours of work to compile and edit them (and edit them, and edit them...) but it was such a treat to watch them over and over whilst listening to some incredibly fun, appropriate and great tunes during the process. Let me know what you think.

I should also note, that although it looks like we did nothing but have fun, this was a serious conference at which we all worked very hard. None o' ya messin' !

European film premier

Marsden Hartley "He was really not a very nice man."

Last night I attended the European Premier of "Visible Silence: Marsden Hartley, Painter and Poet,"An Essay in Film. Ok, so "European Premier" sounds a bit more exciting than it was, but it was still cool. About 100 or so people (most affiliated with DFAS - the Decorative Fine Arts Society of The Hague) attended this event at the American School of The Hague (which is here in Wassenaar).

Now, I definitely don't claim to be an expert (or a fan, really) of modern art, nor had I heard of Marsden Hartley (who died in 1943) before this event - but it was still very interesting and I'm glad I went. He is, in fact, considered a master. He was actually from Lewiston, Maine.

The hour-long film is a "deeply personal view of Marsden Hartley, who has long been considered one of the fathers of American Modernism. Forty-three paintings and some of his writings capture the essence of Hartley." The film's director and narrator (Michael Maglaras), and his wife (Terri Templeton), the producer, came from the U.S. (Greenwich, CT) own a film company and recording company, and this kind of work is quite clearly their passion. This is Maglaras' second film about Hartley.

(see http://www.two17films.com/AboutMarsdenHartleyforVS.htm for more details.'

According to Wikipedia Hartley was in the cultural vanguard, in the same milieu as Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and Gorgia O´Keefe and several others with whom I am also not familiar!

A bit (ok, maybe a lot) above my level of understanding of art, the film still captured my interest. Hartley's personal story is quite interesting. His mother died when he was eight, and he lived a life of loss and isolation. Quite sad, really. And Chonoweth Hall, a scuptress who lived near Corea, Maine, where Hartley lived during his latter years, said of him, "He was really not a very nice man." Among other things, he became fascinated and charmed by Germany, and actually by Hitler himself, whom Hartley had wanted to meet but never did.

Hartley, who was gay, painted Portrait of a German Officer (1914), which was an ode to Karl von Freyburg, his friend's cousin and a Prussian lieutenant of whom he became enamored before von Freyburg's death in World War I (pictured here).

Mt. Katahdin in Maine

Some of his most important works, according to experts, were thos of Mt. Katahdin in Maine, and the narrator went on about his clouds, but I didn't really get it. Anyway...

I won't go into his story at length, but it is worth a lookup on Wikipedia or somesuch site. I'm sure that my brother-in-law Scott knows his work. I will tell you that his painting Lighthouse was sold in May 2008 for a whopping $6.3 Million. Sadly, during Hartley's lifetime he lived in poverty and never had a permanent address. He chose to paint and write and nothing else.

Lighthouse which sold for $6.3M in May 2008

"It is because I love the idea of life better than anything else that I believe most of all in the magic of existence, and in spite of much terrifying and disillusioning experiences of late, I believe." Marsden Hartley

Roses was apparently his last (or perhaps one of his last) works, understood to represent his time with the Mason family with a rose representing each member of the family. Adelard Mason was Hartley´s lover. Hartley had lived with the Mason family in Nova Scotia for a couple of years seven years before his death. The tragic of the death of the three drowned brothers, including Adelar, inspired Hartley´s return to the human form and portraits.

Adelard the Drowned

Roses

All very educational! I'm trying to be cultured, really I am :)