March 2, 2023

 March 2, 2023

Recently, Jim and I did a day trip by train into Luneburg.  It was a bit unnerving even though Emily had arranged our tickets and given us directions.  The trains move so fast and I am slower to get to my feet. 

Our initial train was canceled and so we had to wait an hour at the train station.  I sat and did a little sketch of the wonderful Uelzen Train Station with its five coloured columns topped with golden balls.  Image my delight yesterday, when I discovered that the station was designed by one of my favourite artists,  Hunderwasser in 1999.  Hunderwasser died in 2000 and so I am assuming that this was one of his last projects.

Almost fifty years ago, I saw an amazing exhibition by Frederik Hunderwasser at the Saint Mary’s Art Gallery   It was part of a world tour and my German artist friend,  Brigitte Petersmann, had recommended that I see it.  I was hooked and have been a fan ever since.  It was only recently talking to a Parrsboro artist friend, Anna Hergert that I found out that Hunderwasser also started designing buildings in the middle of his career. Within the Uelzen Train Station, there is a small Hunderwasser art exhibition, which Jim and I visited this morning at ten am when the museum opened. Definitely this is one of the highlights of my trip.  I identify with  Hunderwasser’s love of water and of windows and I love his quirky, colourful architectural style that considers art and form before structure when designing new buildings.

I have always wanted to design a building.  After seeing the Hunderwasser exhibition, I asked Jim if I could design his greenhouse instead of purchasing a premade one. I promised Jim a greenhouse for his 80 birthday in January.   He said certainly I could.  Now I need a source of old windows!

We enjoyed seeing Luneburg which has been a town for over 1000 years.  It originally had a wall around it and was an independent wealthy town based on its profitable history of salt production.    I had a tour in the afternoon of the Rathaus, the government building.  Unfortunately, the tour was in German but there was a pamphlet on the building in English. I managed a lot of steps and walking and was totally exhausted afterward. 

I bought more bread this morning for my bread painting. We are now overwhelmed with stale bread. At some point, I need to bite the bullet and discard the stale stuff and get back to eating the incredible bread instead of just painting it and smelling it.