Self Made Art

"Realizing the Self" self portrait, 2010.

Walking through miles of sandy beaches, traversing branches and rock that clutter our way. Staring at the distance we covered on the mornings glow, a breath escapes, a sign of relief or despair. Staying dry on a rainy night, warm when the cold ocean breeze breaks the sun. The moment we take the world into our own hands is truly the moment we become free, we own ourselves. We can now pitch the tents of the mind and climb inside, build the fire to light up the night and sway of the ghosts. Making it through the darkest days are the diamonds that shine brighter than the morning sun. The value not measured in gold, but measured in the weight we unpack from our hearts. discarding the waste, only keeping the tools we need to make it through the dark misty nights alone in the sand. 

Art has always been a way for me to express not myself, but express the struggles of "man". We all go through things in life and sometimes just don't know how to deal with it. One way for me has always been drawing or painting, self taught I found it hard to learn from someone else when only I knew what needed to come out. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I agree, with words can come emotions, stories and realizations. Sometimes they come out quickly and easily, sometimes it takes days of staring at the white blank canvas awaiting a memory or story to unfold. As time progresses I hope to dive deeper, produce more detailed pieces for others to enjoy. I hope that with what I can get out others can sense in the painting and open up in there own way, I feel that art is the thing that will transcend all history, from the beginning of us to the end. I just feel lucky to be a part of it, and to have seen so much of the world in the form of art, to me it is true love.

Paris, France

Eiffel Tower at night.

This trip was the first of many that facilitated the idea that in all trips something extraordinary has to go wrong, and with true traditions it carried through. To further explain this me and my fellow travel buddies (Jon and Terri) had a night full of experience on a trip into Munich. That night we learned that together what can go wrong will go wrong, or at least something will. Upon taking the train into Munich for a day filled with drinking at the Hofbrauhaus we had to take a bus to another town due to work being done on the tracks. After a good deal of fun times and drinks with many random friends who showed up we decided to meander back to the train, to catch the last train at 11:30 p.m., the adventure doesn't stop there. As we were walking we stumbled upon a fountain, and being drunk thought it was a good idea to run through the fountain, my idea. To add a hint of clarity as I went running into the fountain I was blasted in the face and lost my balance and slid across the whole thing, getting fully soaked. This was fun at the time but the immanent danger was awaiting us, we learned as we arrived to the station that due to work being done on the tracks the last train was an hour earlier. Leaving us soaking wet and stranded in the train station, now I have to say that the station is massive and not enclosed, it is very cold in Munich this time of year. So after wandering the streets from bar to bar trying to stay warm, getting kicked out of a strip club was the last straw. We then shivered as we slept on the floor of the open station, we eventually caught the first train back home at 5 a.m., this was the start of a glorious pact. So we decided to travel together to the great land of Paris, France. The start of the trip was great, we had a good flight in, arriving at about 10:30 at night. Navigating our way through the twisted corridors of the Paris metro system we found our way to the center of town. We checked some sites, took some pictures and tried to locate our hostel. Now keeping with tradition no one printed off the hostel info, I will go ahead and take the blame for that one. So we ended up near this massive weird looking building with the clever lighted name of "Respublica", this was after we wandered to the Eiffel Tower and realized Paris is not so safe after hours. Upon arriving at said building we decided we were gonna sit, then noticing graffiti and trash this might not be the safest of places, then we were whistled and yelled at by a group of men. We then were followed by said group until we lost them on side streets, which led us to our saving grace, the Four Seasons. The front desk clerk let me behind the front desk to look up our hostel location, best show of customer service ever by the way, they then proceeded to call us a cab and we made it to our hostel. And now remembering bits and pieces of that night, all this was after we randomly found a circus and rode a ferris wheel, and we got our picture taken after we got off. Good times!

The next great adventure

We casually walked in to our hostel, glad and relieved that we finally made it, not realizing the mishaps were not over. After speaking with the front desk we learned that we had booked our room for the next day, so we were stranded yet again. After laying in uncomfortable chairs and my fellow travelers sleeping for most of the time, we left the hostel around 7 in the morning i would guess. We walked to get some breakfast and coffee, they (Jon and Terri) got some weird pizza thing with tuna in it, I think they ate about half and decided to toss it, I made the smart choice and just got a pastry. We then deliriously walked around some random parts of Paris, not really knowing where we were. After complaining about our situation and laughing at ourselves we decided to check out other hotels in the area, we just wanted to get in and shower and rest. Long story short we found a better hotel, not a hostel, for less than we had booked the other hostel for. The trip is starting to look up.

Now I can't go into full detail of what happened on what day but I can touch on the best and worse of this trip. We debarked from the hotel early-ish in the morning, we roamed around town and made our way to the Notre Dame, it was a nice display of architecture but not really what I expected, I guess I had it built up in my mind as bigger than it really was. As we stepped inside my mind was changed, the inside of this church breathtaking, then as we were there there was a boys choir singing the opening for the mass, that in itself was amazing. After many pictures and a quick snack at the local Subway, we set off. Like I said this is not a day by day recount. Paris in the day is a very nice city to just stroll through, the weather was great, sun in the sky, and people were out wandering around with us. The main reason I set sail for this trip to Paris was the Louvre, now my mind was blown by this place, I knew it was big but had no clue how big. I could have spent days walking through all the hallways and seeing all the art and statues, even the Mona Lisa. Now the Mona Lisa lives up to its reputation, it is a small piece guarded by glass and a roped off section of floor, and I'm sure there were countless cameras and security present. The one think that disappointed me about the whole place was at the end, I didn't know but should have realized the consumerism has taken over. There was a massive Apple store and other stores inside the Louvre, I thought that was distasteful. Moving on shall we. Another great experience was ascending the top of the Eiffel Tower, the view from the top was amazing, seeing all around us, and we even spotted the "Respublica", and of course I had to take a picture. We also enjoyed a nice bottle of champagne in the park surrounding the tower, as we were awaiting going to a nice dinner in the city. Needless to say we were all dressed to our best as we drank in the park, we even were congratulated by random park goers, and we still don't know why but that didn't stop us from making up our own reasons. The dinner, was a great time. We each had something different, Jon decided to have escargot, I refused to try knowing it would not sit well. I had the filet mignon and it was delicious, and I'm not a big beef fan, I even tried some of Terri's veil and again amazing. To top it off we had a very nice bottle of wine, way better than the grocery store wine we bought for the hotel room.

This trip was a trip of many firsts, things gone wrong and things going extremely right. Bonding a strong friendship for years to come, memories to hold on too, creating events that haven't happened yet. This trip will seal itself as the first best trip of my European adventure. Kudos to all who read this and to my two favorite travel buddies Jon and Terri.

The ferris wheel we found.

Jon, Terri and Me outside the Notre Dame. 2010

Jon, Terri and Me at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Arc De Triumph 

Ready for dinner.

Love and Art

"Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent, leave the house before you find something worth staying in for. " - Banksy.

Picture taken in Paris, France 2010

Barcelona, Spain

I started my journey around europe in Barcelona, Spain. This has to be the most abundantly art filled city, at least in the list of places I went. There seems to be an amazing appreciation for street art in spain, it is said that even shop keepers hired street artists to paint the front of their stores. It is breathtaking to see how freely they express themselves. Almost every street corner and corridor one could stumble down you will find art, I even came across a graffiti portrait of a Salvador Dali painting. I feel it is wrong to call it graffiti, when the work itself tops some works that I have seen in galleries. I took the opportunity to wander outside the city walls and find an abandoned construction site, with a slight kick of a wood door I snuck in. In there I found some amazing works of street art, some things I haven't seen before in my years of searching.

This one really stood out, I like how they used the shadow of the letters.
Barcelona, Spain

The city itself I would have to say is a work of art, the food and the people. Antoni Gaudi designed a lot of great structures within the city, making everything a magnificent work of art and shows so much passion. The spanish are full of passion. If you have never been to Barcelona i suggest looking up the Sagrada Familia, this massive church was designed by Gaudi. During my visit in 2010 the church was still undergoing construction and restoration, there has not been an end date for this project. The history put into the church is breathtaking. They say Gaudi put the last of his money into the church leaving everything he had to the city that inspired him.

Sagrada Familia, Barcelon, Spain. 2010.

Paris, France

Street art in Paris I would say is elusive, I found very few pieces worth capturing. And I know there are more out there. Maybe the city itself isn't as open as other places, but that doesn't mean there isn't a passion for art. There are many galleries throughout the city, amazing architecture and street layouts. The two most famous are the Arc De Triumph and the Notre Dame, then there is the gallery of all galleries. . .the Louvre. We spent a great deal of time wandering the corridors and many rooms inside, and I feel there was still so much more to see. I am pleased with what i saw and I feel everyone, wether you like art or not, should take a trip there. My mission to see the Mona Lisa was fulfilled, it is amazing how small it is and how well protected, sitting behind a wall of glass and roped off from the publics touch. 

We will discuss the food encountered on this and many trips in a later post.

There is so much more art out there that I hope to someday see, from Prague to Berlin, Moscow to Japan. someday I hope to have a folder in my pictures of these places, my life in travel will never be over. Until then I will continue to make my own art and maybe one day assist in street art around the world.

Cheers.

Sweet, sweet Germany

In 2009 I was given the opportunity to move to Germany. This I would say has been the single greatest experience of my life, it opened up so many doors and friendships. I was able to see so many cultures in Germany and other countries. Through my travels around Europe i found many types of art that inspired me, foods that opened my palate and oh the delicious beer. Germany has all the right concepts about beer and the many ways to enjoy it, I have been a beer enthusiast ever since I moved to Portland, Oregon. There I learned a whole new respect for beer and the multiple varieties.

One of my favorite places to visit, the famous Hofbrauhaus in Munich Germany.

I spent a great period of time in Germany, during this time I was privy to many of the beer festivals. The first being Starkbierfest, stark meaning strong in German. As you might have gathered the beer here is higher in alcohol content than the beer in everyday life. Then in the summer time each town has there own little fest lasting around a week or two, a lot of good food, beer and music. Then the last fest i was able to attend was the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest, I sadly didn't get to spend too much time at this one. I was traveling to Mykonos, Greece and then attended the fest upon my return, had a few hours and a few beers with some amazing friends. I have to say what makes Germany so different from other places is they seem to know how to treat beer, there are no open container laws, so we were allowed to walk the streets and get on trains with beer. Some one once told me that it was like a world designed for adults, and I can't help but agree. Beer has put me in some weird situations and has led me to some amazing places that I never would have imagined. so thank you beer, thank you.

Living in southern Germany has many great perks. You have beautiful mountains, fresh clean water and air, and an amazing countryside. And the people there are also amazing, the food was top notch and healthy, even when in big proportions. You could easily go out for a night and spend under 30 euro for a nice meal and a few beers, even the beer was in abundant sizes, anywhere from half liters to full liters. 

I will divulge more info about Germany as this blog is born, and matures, for now it is light and composed. Cheers.