New surrealist painting - Bizarre Dream

I just finished my new surrealist painting. Tell me what do you think about it? Feed back is actually not really a good thing for an artist. I have to admit I don't like criticism, I hate it. Negative critique has always discouraged me. Probably it is normal, especially if you are an artist; we have big egos but also very often we are very uncertain about our creations.

Here is the painting - "Bizarre Dream" or should it be Bizz Dream"?

Wyverns in Sampford Brett

Sampford Brett is a very small village in the County of Somerset in South West England. My path often takes me through this village when I walk through the meadows, the woods and the fields around Williton (a village bigger than Sampford Brett). Sampford Brett is a village with some very old houses, with a beautiful garden (next to the church) that has stolen my heart and with an old church; a Gothic church naturally, The Church of St.George. Around the church there is an old cemetery (which is usual in the case of old churches in Europe). Some of the graves are extremely old. If you come across it by accident in the middle of the day, let's say in the summer, you will be delighted by the silence of this place, the beauty of the trees and the rose garden (by the entrance). Of course the present building of St. George Church cannot really be appreciated without some knowledge of how all this came about. This church is not the most amazing, or most beautiful medieval church in Somerset, but it has its own charm and attraction and an interesting history. The exact age of the church is uncertain but everything points to its foundation during the first q

uarter of the XIII century. By the end of the XIII century, the church consisted of a nave, chancel and a north transept. The tower was added in the XIV century, forming the main entrance to the church, and completing the basic structure which remained for almost five hundred years. In the XV century the use of the Perpendicular style of Gothic architecture was in full swing (and you can discover it in many medieval Somerset churches) and so the north transept of the St. George was extended, the walls of the nave and north transept were raised and new roofs added. Other major changes took place in XIX century. The style of this restoration is that of the early Victorian Gothic revival; very different in spirit and execution from the original. The results are still to be seen today, and they are the essence of the present church.

As you step from the porch into the nave your first sight of the interior of the church is an uninterrupted view through the nave and chancel to the east window. This is the body of the original church. The line of the roof still runs unbroken to the entrance to the chancel, confirming the medieval origin of the nave. The carved wooden roof bosses are part of the original roof. Although some of them are not in a very good state of preservation, they show great variety of style and subject matter. If you will look carefully you will find what I found, two creatures from the medieval bestiary; a pair of wyverns. Do you know what wyverns are? Wyverns are dragons with bat-like wings, long necks and only two legs. I also found in the roof of the nave a griffin and some vine leaves with a bunch of grapes. While you are outside the church if you look carefully up towards the tower you can discover a few remaining gargoyles; the evidence of the true Gothic style.

The most interesting and puzzling features of the church are the carved wooden bench ends. I couldn't believe that such a small unimportant village church in the middle of nowhere (who has heard of Sampford Brett?) could posses such incredibly wonderful artwork. No one knows how long they have been in the church, or how they came together as a collection. One of the wooden bench ends is associated with Florence Wyndham and the local legend about her. But expect more about this in my next post. See you soon.

Leonardo da Vinci and his Dragon

You will probably ask yourself what Leonardo da Vinci has to do with Fantasy Art.

Leonardo was a visionary, an absolute visionary genius, like all the best Science Fiction writers, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Issac Asimov, Stanisław Lem or Philip K. Dick. OK, but what has Leonardo to do with Fantasy Art, precisely speaking. You will be surprised what I discovered, he drew dragons and he even described in one of his notebooks how to paint/ draw a dragon “take for its head that of the mastiff of hound, with the eyes of a cat, the ears of porcupine, the nose of a greyhound, the brow of a lion, the temples of an old cock, the neck of water tortoise.”

Leonardo da Vinci is my hero, my master, my idol. I would love to be able to speak to him and to see him thinking and making sketches. In my dream, in my imagination it has happened already.

FantasyFairyArt

I found this video on YouTube “Fantasy Fairy Art” made by lancecuttler.
Tell me what do you think about it?
The acoustic version of “Scarborough Fair” played by Riche Blackmore (from Deep Purple) is pretty; however I prefer the original version.
I think I like this video, the lights, the colours and the music – you can feel the magic.

The unspeakable beautiful city - Regensburg

I have been thinking about the most beautiful, interesting "medieval" cities in Europe, ones that could be an inspiration for your fantasy.
All those cities in Europe with Gothic Cathedrals and churches have some medieval accents. But they are sacral buildings not secular ones. There are lots of Walled cities in Europe such as Avila and Girona in Spain, Rhodes in Greece, York in England. But what I was looking for was a city that still has (as much as possible in this time) the authentic character of medieval time and one I had visited and seen with my own eyes. I was thinking about all those cities I have seen with some medieval character: Bruges, Sienna, Salzburg, Dubrovnik, Krakow, Prague, Edinburgh of course, Torun (beautiful medieval city in Poland). And suddenly I knew the name of the most unspeakable beautiful medieval city in Europe that I have ever visited- Regensburg.
Regensburg is one of the oldest cities in Germany; it is older than 2.000 years. With a moving political history, an ancient Christian tradition, an old history of art, one of the oldest stone bridges in Europe (the Steinerne Brϋcke = Stone Bridge) Regensburg on the Danube is a city that you should visit once in your life. I visited it in August 1998 (?); there was a lot happening then, such as: Festival of Silent Movies, Regensburg festival, great concerts, street events, and the biggest event of all- visits to a great Irish Pub. J) Nevertheless the weather was unpleasant (the year of the wettest summer in Central and East Europe) I had a great time and enjoyed myself enormously.

In the medieval time there were many unusual secular monuments built in Regenesburg. The character of the 13^th and 14^th centuries was moulded by a great number of citadels which possessed armed, reinforced towers. These towers which served also as living accommodation gave the city a unique and mellow patina. Especially Patrician Tower "am Watmarkt" is a beautiful creation. Another outstanding example of municipal Gothic architecture is the Rathaus (Town Hall). In the morning The Town Hall Square, especially when it basks in the golden rays of the morning sun, is an incredible spot of beauty where the past and the present engage in a perfect harmony. There are lots of great sculptures in the Gothic Cathedral and in the other Gothic and Roman Churches. The small streets and lanes as one finds in the Goliathviertal (Goliath Quarter) are very rare and remind you of the medieval time. Regensburg, Bavaria's medieval jewel, is a place so precious, that it has been named a UNESCO World Heritage.

I did some search online; I couldn't find any big tourist websites (the best cities, the most interesting cities in Europe etc) recommending this city. There are some small websites recommending holidays in Bavaria, mentioning Regensburg. I lived in Germany, Munich for a while. I have seen all the big cities and lots of historical towns in West en East Germany and I can say with honesty that Regensburg is perhaps on the most outstanding cities in the whole Germany. Just go and visit it. Believe me.

Franz Sedlacek

Last November I spent 3 weeks in Vienna. I had enough time to visit my favourite museums, galleries, cafés and all the other interesting places. As usual I also went to the Leopold Museum. Jim wanted to see all those famous Schiele paintings and I wanted to see the special exhibition "Between the Wars - Austrian Artist" from 1918 till 1938; ( By the way this exhibition has been extended until March 3, 2008).

At the exhibition "Between the Wars", they were lots of very good, interesting paintings and artists. Some of them I had never heard before. But one painter has totally stolen my heart, his name is Franz Sedlacek. Born in Wroclaw (now Poland) in 1891, he disappeared (missing presumed dead) in Poland in 1945.

His style is cool, in some way very quantum physics-like and magical. With Salvador Dali you can see the perfection, the sophisticated imagination but also a kind of fake. With Franz Sedlacek you see the imperfection, but also the passion for his work. He is honest in his own magical world.

The Kunsthandel Widder gallery in Vienna has lots of his drawings and few of his paintings in its collection. If I had some spare amount of money I would be extremely tempted to buy one of his paintings.

According to the books and the art critics his paintings belong to the style Magic Realism and Neue Sachlichkeit. Often his style was also described as Poetic or Allegoric Realism.

The term Magic Realism (Magischen Realismus) was first used by the German art critic Franz Roh to describe the style of the paintings at the exhibition in Mannheim in 1924.

(See an article about magic realism in Wiki – In my view it is not totally correct and in many ways confusing, but I am an alien so who am I to quibble).

Franz Sedlacek

Lied in der Dammerung, Franz Sedlacek

Training Field, 1926

Sedlacek, Franz