the art of expression
Gary Kirkpatrick 
There’s an open air museum just outside Lublin containing houses, churches, barns and some bee hive structures unlike any I’ve ever seen before. Here are some pen and ink drawings from that visit. The setting is bucolic, with sloping meadows, wooden buildings on hilltops, a lake, a stream. You have a good view into the rural life style of area residents between 1800 and 1930. Some drawings and a water color from the museum:
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Ivanka’s Fall Collection– Check it out!
The cell is filling up, and with the most recent likely crimes exposed by the NY Attorney General, I’ll have to find a larger cell to fit Ivanka and Kushner.
Digital painting, prints only
June 15, 2018
We climbed Wawel Hill today, as people have been doing for the last 50,000 years. Only since circa 1000, however, has this climb served to gain the entrance to the castle. Now it’s a museum (1931), sitting in a complex of structures including the Royal Cathedral, atop the modest hill overlooking the Vistula River.
Today there are ten collections, including important Italian Renaissance paintings, prints, sculptures and textiles, including the Sigismund II Augustus tapestry collection, gold, Oriental art including Ottoman tents, armor, ceramics, Meissen porcelain, as well as period furniture. There are specialized conservation studios, making it a significant restoration center.
Krakow is replete with finely preserved notable architecture. The Rynek Glowny (Main Square) is in the center of the old town (Stare Miasto). Sukiennice (The Cloth Hall, 1400) is a fine example of the Renaissance. The Cloth Hall was a center for the export of salt (there is a huge salt mine nearby), textiles and lead and the import of spices, silk, leather and wax. The Rynek Glowey is normally full of visitors, horse drawn carriages, and outdoor seating at the many restaurants.
A short distance away is St Mary’s Basilica is late Gothic church with two unmatched spires at 80 m (260′). One was originally a city watch tower. The Basilica’s foundations date to the early 13th century. The church has a famous wooden altar piece by Veit Stross (Wit Stwosz). Every hour a trumpet plays from taller tower, the former watch tower. It commemorates the 13th c. trumpeter shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before a Mongol attack on the city. The noon hejnał is broadcast Polish national Radio 1 Station.
The Royal Cathedral is another Gothic structure dating from 1100. Pope John Paul II gave his first performance as a priest here in 1946.
The Church of St. Adalbert, which is one of the few remaining examples of the Polish Romanesque style in Krakow, and the oldest Christian chapel in the city to boot.
The pointed arches show the Gothic character of the Collegium Maius
The Barbican is a fortifcation once connected to the city walls just behind it.
The Church of St Peter and Paul is Baroque in style.
My wife Peg is in the Night Cafe in Arles, France, made famous by Van Gogh. Original digital painting.
The original drawing is in pen and ink, below. With Red Lips is the same drawing but painted digitally.
Polish food has long since been a part of American cuisine, even if a small part. Who has not had kielbasa sausage or dill pickles. Polish cuisine is a calorie and fat rich cuisine, heavy on pork, chicken and beef to a lesser extent. Cabbage is a major item — there were three types of cabbage served with the huge platter we shared on our first night. They use a lot of cream and eggs, as well as grains. Bigos is a hearty stew made of finely chopped meats sauerkraut and cabbage. Pirogi are a major feature, stuffed noodles or rolled pancakes– I had one stuffed with cheese and spinach. You can get a variety of pretzel (but soft) in food carts and bakeries everywhere. Sour dough breads are common, including its use in soups. In the main square there are booths. At one we tried a grilled smoke cheese with cherry jam. It was excellent!
A small place open just for lunch is called Lunch- that’s right, Lunch. We noticed that locals were piling in so figured it was probably both good and a good value, and it was indeed. This meal plus a beer and coke was just $15.00, and either would have been enough for two people. The pirogi had a potato pancake on top and another on the bottom.
Goulash was borrowed from the Hungarians, becoming an integral part of the cuisine.
I have my doubts about spinach as a traditional ingredient.
I’ll have more to add as we go.