Gone Until September
Europe Summer 2019
I have an apology to make. If you have tried to reach me by phone, and I haven’t responded, It is because my phone service is off and I forgot to leave a voice message telling how to reach me. I’m not even getting your voice messages or texts! Please be sure to send me an email. You could also call or text me on What’s app or Facebook messenger, and if I have WiFi , I will answer.
We landed in Zürich Switzerland couple of days ago and are now up in the mountains in Davos. Marc’s mother lives here, and we plan on spending a few days.
I brought my oil paints and drawing materials. I bought a couple of meters of artists primed canvas, and yesterday I cut it into smaller sizes. My plan is to create a bunch of paintings here on un-stretched canvas. I will clip them to a board to hold them flat while painting, and roll them up when they are dry. I can easily fit them in my luggage and stretch them when I get home to the USA.
I left my oil paints here last April. I will be using Liquin as a medium as it dries the paint faster. I did two paintings here in April, and I was using linseed oil as a medium. When it was time to go, some places were still tacky on the front. I ended up placing wax paper between the artwork to protect it and that worked pretty well. I plan on creating a lot more pieces this time, and if drying time is an issue, I want to make sure they’re really dry.
Today I visited the gallery of Peter Claradetscher on the east end of the Lake of Davos. Peter is a sculptor and a painter who keeps a very low profile. He doesn’t have an email address, a website or social media profile. I don’t know how he manages these days! He relies strictly on word-of-mouth and walk-in traffic from hikers.
He and his white German shepherd greeted us as we entered the most unusual gallery I’ve ever seen. As Peter also is a skilled carpenter, he was able to design and build a wooden sphere with wide picture windows facing the lake.
Peter’s painting style is a combination of realism and fantasy. The first painting I noticed featured two mastodons walking in the mountains, and I was immediately fascinated. His paintings were sometimes simple mountain landscapes, and some included fantasy.
He is also a sculptor and his preferred medium is wood. He likes to create human figures in whimsical positions. Also he will take natural formations of wood and put them on pedestals in really interesting ways.
Currently it is a one-man show at his gallery. He was given permission by the community to build his gallery by the lake, and leases the right to use it for himself. Marc and I were impressed by his ability to imagine, persuade others and then create this amazing gallery. So many of us imagine doing things but then don’t follow through. He mentioned that one day he may do special guest artist exhibitions. He liked my artwork – who knows! My hat is off to Peter!
Tuesday we leave for Portugal. I hope you stay tuned !
Big hug from us both,
Martha and Marc
