norway

we spent the night in oslo and today we drove eight hours to voss, where we are now staying in a wonderful lodge. norway is cold and hearty in a way that makes me very glad to be alive and to be here. on the way from oslo, we drove through mountains and rose to such altitudes as to see patches of snow laying about here and there. and everywhere, neat wooden houses surrounded by quietly grazing sheep.

from somewhere at sea

today we left saint petersburg behind, drove through karelia, crossed the finnish border, and reached helsinki. now i am writing from the night ferry to stockholm. tomorrow morning we will get back in our car - which is traveling with us on a lower deck of the ferry - pass through stockholm (which, like helsinki, we will examine thoroughly on the way back) and go straight to oslo. (p.s. i love helsinki - more on that in my sketchbook)

northern wabi-sabi

above: empty studio at the stieglitz st. petersburg academy of the arts; below: the cold and windy gulf of finland.

let's get out of this country

i am going away for three weeks, on my annual trip to saint petersburg. this time we will be driving up to finland, sweden, and norway, too! i bought a new, tiny sketchbook for the occasion, and even though my internet access will probably be very limited, will try to share my whereabouts through this blog.

sketchbook, fourteen

last week i finally went to see this wonderful exhibition, featuring textiles by british designer lucienne day (1917-2010) (and a few key pieces by her husband, furniture designer robin day), as well as two of her contemporaries, marian mahler and jacqueline groag.

sketchbook, thirteen

one of the last scenes from andrei tarkovsky's "solaris" and a poem by his father, arseniy tarkovsky.

who was changed and who was dead

today in the mail i received two copies of barbara comyns' who was changed and who was dead from the lovely dorothy publishing project. i had the pleasure of illustrating the cover for this intriguing novel (originally published in england in 1954), as well as dorothy's owl logo. dorothy publishing project is "dedicated to works of fiction or near fiction or about fiction, mostly by women." this high quality, paperback edition of who was changed is endearingly small, very pleasing to hold, and is available for purchase directly from the publisher here.