Bucharest, Romania

Tree in the green area.

There's a series of trees in the green area. It started raining shortly after I started, so had to cut this short. I'll have to wait till the sun comes out to get to the really big one that almost covers the green space. I was trying to look at the tree as a warmup for a portrait.



















Tree in the green area.

There was a small reprieve in the rain, so worked on this small one. These trees have these very round leaves. Now that it's getting to be summer, they're very solid forms.


























View from the apartment at night.

The light from the street lamp illuminates the solidity of the tree from the inside out.

Bucharest, Romania

Strada Schitul Magureanu. The little church next to the park. We looked for the rooster in the back, but didnt see it this time.




















Strada Stirbei Voda (every week day between 8am and 6pm)

Happening in June: The World Parking Symposium VII (who knew there were such things)
http://worldparkingsymposium.ca/ . Bucharest could use a World Parking Symposium. In Europe, one of the technologies that is popular in many congested cities is robotic parking. Sort of like an automated Self Storage for cars. Here are some of the videos for them, they're actually quite impressive. I like the music on the first one:
Robotic Parking
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh7NoBxdih4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E8ea5-20lI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtEHE6xk2bU

Despite the current chaos that is parking and driving in Bucharest, one of the advantages of places like Bucharest, is that there tends to be a leap in technologies directly to the state of the art; no need to try various intermediate steps, just go directly to the state of the art. So, maybe one day not too far in the future, a slew of U-Park-Its will suddenly pop up as a very attractive solution for everyone that wants a safe, clean parking spot. Maybe there will be U-Park-It Club memberships and VIPs, maybe with coffee lounges and concierge services. Coming soon, direct from Switzerland, at 15 locations around Bucharest, the U-Park-It Cafes and Hyper-U-Park-its.




















Parcul Izvor, Bucuresti

It seems that the guardians (meanies) have been removed from the parks, and that Izvor Park is once again a Place for Play. Febe will be really glad of this over the weekend. A recent article in the Nine Oclock News was referring to the guardians being removed from the parks; apparently tens of thousands of people didnt like their presence in the parks.
Nine Oclock News: article on the parks

Bucharest, Romania

Morning excursion



















The trip behind the bloc this morning to look for "a spot". Somehow when I got Febe, I never realized that somehow "finding a spot" can be sort of a way to forget about deadlines and phone calls and emails and all the millions of stresses at work. Somehow when your dog needs to find a spot, this seems to put in perspective the other stuff. Today Febe wasnt so sure about these particular bushes. The ones alittle further away were maybe a better spot.

Watercolor Practice - Paris

Flower shop on Boulevard Raspail

This was from a trip to Paris the other year, near the Jardin du Luxembourg. Practicing with the watercolor pencils. This time started with linework in pencil, then colored with watercolor, then added ink lines for emphasis. Fortunately the ink was semi-permanent, because came back and added extra washes to bump up the colors.

Watercolor practice

This is from the fictional village of Bucharest-on-Thyme. There are alot of things wrong with this picture.... just practicing with the watercolor pencils a bit.

Bucharest, Romania

Day after Easter: sketching around the apartments with colored pencils and ink.

Usual for Easter in Bucharest, the city emptied out completely, everyone going to the mountains for the long weekend. Very few cars around, and was a nice quiet weekend and Monday off. However, for those who stayed in town it was really nice, because the weather was good and the flowers were out.

On Monday, we thought about going down to the park or somewhere, but decided to just walk around the blocks of flats with the dog and do some sketching around the neighborhood. We came across a number of pink and purple Lilac flowers on trees. Also came across these two elderly russian or russian-style cars having their after-Easter chat.
















I was sketching this amazing purple Lilac tree, when I noticed that Febe was staring like a zombie at this cat who was busy ignoring her. Shortly thereafter, the cat assumed this "lizard" poze, and sat staring zombie-like back. We also found this more cultivated garden. The plastic bottles are actually little greenhouses for roses, and they really work. The fences for the gardens are lined with old rebar, with a bent stick at the top. Halfway through the sketch, an elderly lady came out and asked us if I was "measuring" her garden; we said no and asked her if it was ok to include her, and she said ok, but continued to watch us.
















The little playground, where a grandfather was pushing kids on the swing, and some others were sitting, or looking into the trees.

Bucharest, Romania

Calea Victoriei, Bucuresti

The other day we went over to the art stores in Bucharest to look for some watercolor pencils. As far as I know, there is one street in Bucharest (Hanul Cu Tei: translated: Tei Tree Inn) with four or five art stores, over in the Lipscani district, just near the glassblowers street (Pasajul Sticlarilor). So, we parked over near Calea Victoriei, and walked over to Lipscani. Just as we got out of the car, I saw a bunch of interesting things to sketch, but only had time for one. This is the history museum with the dome, and one of the street lamps. In the history museum, there's actually a full size copy of the Trajan's Column in the Roman Colliseum. The column is wrapped by a spiraling mural depicting the Roman war with the Dacians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Romanian_History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan%27s_Column