Jana Matusz on Site

During the morning I sketched at the Saturday Farmer’s Market. There I met Maggie and Glynda from Australia who also do artwork. We met up later in the day for dinner and sketching — it was a treat to hear and draw Jindra Capek and Radek Interholz, brilliant guitarists, who perform at the Restaurant  Konvice.

Cloister in Afternoon (20×20″)

Heavens, this town likes costumes! Tonight and tomorrow is “Baroque Night” at the Castle, with music performances and party. Very expensive, at night, and not for me, but it was nice to see some more costumes about.

See Marta — they DO feed makoviec to the bears. And the bear is guarding it quite fiercely. Smart bear.

It was a very hot day today. After my early morning painting, I set out in the one remaining direction not yet explored. There is the other river, the Polecnice, which flows into the Vltava at the Cesky Krumlov castle. (It’s not large enough for rafting.) And I got as far as Kajov, a pretty town.

View from the Bridge (16×16″)

I wanted to look for places to paint which included water, and the river drew me all the way upstream to Vetrni. The route made for a beautiful walk. I was even serenaded by passing boaters.

Started the day with another early morning painting. Then I did a hike to Zahradka and Chabicovice, just to enjoy this gorgeous, cool, breezy summer day.

Signs (16×16″)

It’s almost like nothing happened. The square feels barren without the tents, stage, booths, crowds, and commotion.

After I finished a drawing, I noticed another artist drawing in the square, and that led to a delicious dinner with delightful company. Charlie and Pui (the artist), from Hong Kong, shared a “restaurant highlights” dish for three with me at Laibon, a vegetarian restaurant. What a treat it was to eat with friends. (The “after meal” photograph looks a lot like the one from June 10…without the bone.)  🙂

After today it’s back to t-shirts and baseball caps. Sigh…

The last of the official Celebration events was a morning classical chamber and choral concert at the Jesuit Hall at the Ruze Hotel. It was wonderful music. They even included a spiritual, and I smiled as they sang “Am gon to leef veeth Got.”

Many of the booths selling food and crafts stayed open through the afternoon. Are you ready for today’s tease, Marta? I finally had palacynki (pal-a-CHEEN-key), crepes made with fruit or chocolate.

And so the dream passes. (p.s.Happy Birthday, Ray!)

I’m tired. It’s been a long day. I managed to do some drawing, but again, I was captivated by the costumes. And the birds! There were falconers with a selection of owls, hawk, eagle etc. What a delight to see those beautiful birds. A sudden thunderstorm interrupted the day briefly, then it was on with the celebrations. (They’re continuing late into the night, but Jana is not a party person…)

What a day! A visual feast. The town was transformed, filled with booths selling food and wares, and also populated with lots of medieval and Renaissance types! Alas, I didn’t pack any tights or tunics for myself, but I enjoyed looking at all the wonderful costumes. More celebrating tomorrow!

Did an early morning painting, then I decided to finally, at long last, visit the Egon Schiele Art Centrum here. I didn’t want to go too soon since I wanted to see Cesky Krumlov for myself first. Schiele (1890-1918) lived here for part of his life and did many paintings and drawings here. I think all art students fall in love with Schiele at some point. I’ve never fallen out of love with his work. For a sampling, here’s a website with many reproductions:

http://www.egon-schiele.net/the-complete-works.html

Another “finally, at long last” was trying a trdelnik. There are at least five booths or bakeries where you can buy a trdelnik. What’s a trdelnik? See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trdeln%C3%ADk

Marta, ready for another tease? Yum. They’re as good as they look.

This next photo looks dramatic, but it’s only some dredging in the river at a place where rafters must portage their boats while the new channel is under construction.

And the stone workers made great subjects for drawing today.

I’m looking forward to a lot of drawing in the next few days. It’s time for the Five-Petalled Rose Celebrations…