Catherine Stock's Blog, page 26

Better get the paintbrushes cracking

Got quite a few emails from concerned friends that I hadn't posted since that last rather alarming St Petersburg post, but I am home safe and sound. Just was really sick for a week or so, recuperating from the stress of so much work-related travel in the spring.

Anyway, the paneaux are up! The official signs directing people to my Studio-Art Gallery went up a few days ago, so yesterday I moved my CV2, the lawn mower, wheelbarrow and summer furniture and stash out of the erstwhile garage/winter

Inauspicious arrival

I arrive in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and yet, could this really be my hotel? If it had been 8pm instead of 8am I think I would have fled. I gingerly entered the "lobby" which wasn't much of an improvement: crumbling plaster, rutted and broken stone floor, electric wires looped loosely on the walls . But the B&B on the third floor itself was quite charming.

St Petersburg is BEAUTIFUL and well deserved of it's reputation as the "Venice of the North".

I started the day by walki

My day at the International School of Moscow

I spent the day working with groups broken into different age levels. After introducing and reading one my books set in Haiti to the children in the first and second grades, excitement mounted as the children divided into their school teams to see who could paint the most beautiful Tap-Tap, the decorated trucks that serve as buses on the rutted island roads. The children at this school, like me, have grown up all over the world. It's very reassuring and inspiring to witness this kind of enthus

Back to winter

Made it to Moscow! On my first day, I was shown around by a teacher from the International School. First stop of course was Red Square. The Kremlin was predictably unpredictably shut, so was Lenin's tomb, but we did get to visit St Basil's and the Kremlin Museum. Ivan the Terrible built St Basil's to commemorate the defeat of the Tatars, and the story has it that the builders and engineers did such a magnificent job that they were put to death for their efforts to ensure that no other basilica

Not an international conspiracy...

I know we all have days like this. Everything seems to be conspiring against one. The Russian Consulate in Paris insists that I apply for my visa in person. Air France won't let me fly out of Paris to Moscow without first flying up from Toulouse, the hotel in Paris won't let me cancel a booking made half an hour earlier without a 100% cancellation fee, the French railways are going on strike on Thursday all resulting in a huge and exasperating waste of time and money. So I made a cup of tea a

Really RED tape

Next Friday I hope to fly to Moscow. One of the nice things about my "job" is visiting schools, especially International Schools. A few years ago I was invited to the International School in Kenya. Apparently a lot of author/illustrators are wary of traveling to distant countries to speak to school children, but I love it.

Many years ago, my flight to London from Tokyo stopped in Moscow to refuel. It took a whole day to fly over the Soviet Union, and from the air it looked like a beautiful co

Jammin'

Home in France. I was pleased to find that the drawing group had met in my absence. Clare organised a great evening in her village, Gorse, on Monday night, inviting musician friends to play for us as we attempted to capture the spirit of the music. Not easy, as the jigs were so fabulous that we had to practically sit on our feet to control our wildly tapping toes. The group calls themselves Les Fausses Celtics, and you can find out more about them and listen to them play here: www.myspace.co

Milwaukee-Rignac Reunion

I came up to Milwaukee from Chicago for a reunion with past Wisconsin watercolor stagieres- art teachers and librarians who came to Rignac for my painting class. No painting today, but plenty of eating, very much in keeping with southwest French tradition. Wisconsin style brunch chez Jeanine consists of fresh orange juice and champagne Mimosas, fluffy spinach/egg omelette, potato au gratin, chopped fresh fruit, and French pressed coffee. Yum.

To read Carol Surges's account of the watercolor cla

Sweatin' Bullets

Ten portraits in Chicago in five days... Nearly cracked under the pressure but I pulled it off. The worst thing is that, to the uninitiated eye, these portraits probably look effortless. These photos were taken with my digital camera, so the quality is pretty ropey. Click on individual portraits to see larger images.


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The Bean

When I first saw British sculptor Anish Kapoor's sculpture Cloud Gate in Chicago, I wondered why locals referred to it as The Bean. It looked more like an egg to me. But as I moved around and closer to it, I discovered the beaniness of the sculpture. When I walked under it and looked up into its navel, the sculpture became even more mystical and magical... I first saw the Bean here on this video.



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