Dear You,
with blogging it is as with other things: if you don't find time for it waiting makes it difficult to start anew. So much has happened in the meantime, where to start?
When I was a child and had learned to swim I still hesitated to jump from a small jetty into the Klopeiner See in Austria. I stood and stared into the water.
First my father tried bribery: "You'll get an ice cream when you jump!"
But what is an ice cream (which at those times we didn't get very often) against dear little life?
Eventually he lost patience. While I still stared he came behind me - and suddenly he gave me a push into the back - I remember that very well - though "well" is not the right word...
Yes, I had a hard childhood 😁- but also the audacity to ask for my ice cream when I arose.
So: now I'll plunge into blogging - without a push.
The picture above is from the wonderful exhibition:
"Clouds and Light. Impressionism in the Netherlands"
in the beautiful museum Barberini in Potsdam, which the Flying Dutchman and I visited during our stay in Berlin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQwUuTzfKuY
It was such a treat!
Next time I'll tell you about our holiday on the isle of Sylt.
Yours Truly, Britta
The Dutch artist who captured your anxiety about jumping into the water did a wonderful job. The painting is very sensitive.
ReplyDeleteOh, dear Hals, you made me aware of a real blunder: I confused two museum visits: the one in Barberini (where you could find scenes at the water too, of course, and some same authors) and a visit in the Staatliche Museum zu Berlin, where I fell in love with Max Schlichting: Strandvergnügen, 1899, part of a very stunning exhibition "Secessionen. Klimt, Stuck, Liebermann" in Berlin (where I had to buy a time-slot to enter the overcrowded museum). So sorry for the mixing-up!
ReplyDeleteBut, as you said: it is a very sensitive painting and so beautiful!
Not "authors" but "painters" of course
ReplyDeleteTaking the plunge, yes, it's like that sometimes when there has been some water under the bridge - if you don't mind the mixing of aquatic metaphors!
ReplyDeleteYour startling story brought up my own long-forgotten memory of being thrown into the water by a grandfather. I don't know how he managed as I was sure to have been clinging like a limpet, haha. Or maybe it was just a game, shall we call it Sink or Swim, the memory doesn't serve me well as, unlike your sharp recall, mine's just a snapshot. Would there have been ice cream after, I can only wonder.
Your painting is wonderful, and I looked at the treats on offer at the link to the Barberini. So lovely!
Dear Pip, as always you make me laugh so much - I enjoy mixed metaphors, especially well mingled aquatic ones!
DeleteIsn't it striking that most often men are shoving us into the water? Of course with spreading future benefit in mind - ours (or sometimes theirs :-)
Yes, the exhibition was a real treat!
I really like the painting, the color blue - ocean, sky - being predominant. The girl is facing away from the incoming waves and makes me think she is nervous of going deeper into the water. As she's fully dressed she is really not prepared for a swim. I believe she was just there for a paddle at the shoreline.........always a perfect spot to be, especially in hot weather as we all seem to be experiencing here in the northern hemisphere.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your visit - I was at an art gallery a couple of weeks ago - it had been a while and I so enjoyed it. Then went for tasty ice cream and enjoyed it by the lake, but no swimming permitted!
Happy week Britta - stay well and safe.
Mary x
Dear Mary, thank you for your perceptive and emphatic description of the painting! I love the hesitant yet indulging way the girl enjoys the water - even while only walking with bare feet in water it is such a treat! (First I wanted to use the painting for a post on Sylt, where we had surprisingly hot weather, but the water of the Northern Sea was so cold that only a few very brave ones dared to swim in it)
DeleteArt exhibitions are wonderful - Berlin is showering us with them.
I wish you a beautiful time too, dear Mary! x
It is a beautiful painting. I can almost taste the salt from the water.
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear Emma. As you say: the salt in the air is always such a treat!
DeleteYou may now have another ice cream.
ReplyDeleteDear Tasker, an imagined treat for an imagined plunge - but no, good idea: the weather is still unusually fine and I will snatch my car to drive over to Cadolzburg where a real ice cream master is doing it - of course an Italian.
DeleteI have a lovely painting of my first granddaughter facing her first waves. She, too, was very tentative.
ReplyDeleteDear Joanne, I think that it is quite sensible to be tentative with water.
DeleteTo own a painting of your first granddaughter is lovely!
The triplets when in Berlin didn't want to be transported in a boat: "We will do that when we can swim!" Ha. Sensible. Their mother was part of a well-known North German swim cadres and will teach them soon.