Storming the Castles

In which an adventure begins to fill a new sketchbook

Above is a photo of the lush yard in the rear of the small museum of architecture and crafts where we stayed. It was a sort of hobbit-hole apartment and this yard backed onto a mill-race separating the lower town from an island in the Vltava River. This town is a magical place: Český Krumlov.

It’s a town where the castle grounds and courtyards are open well after dark, so we hiked back up after dinner for a bird's eye view of the town with its lights twinkling in the rain. We met for a third time a castle cat, whom we’d encountered that afternoon. He was chatty and followed us around, clearly convinced we were in possession of a key to let him indoors.

Three towns, three castles. Back in May I was abroad for a couple weeks— to Prague, Český Krumlov, and Budapest. I've noticed that I feel interested in and drawn to small towns more than to big cities, and this trip has rather cemented it. In part, it’s wonderful to have much of the ‘option paralysis’ of a city removed. There are fewer decisions to make—a town that can be walked on foot, its roads and alleyways learned in a day or so, is a joy. After that, you can kind of settle in and feel at ease.

This affection for small towns may also be connected to the fact that I've lived in New York City for decades— enjoying a change of scale / intensity makes an awful lot of sense, really.

A few spreads from my book. It must be the most un-social-media-friendly format in the world, this wide panorama! (Perhaps that's what drew me to it? haha) It's a brilliant size and shape for traveling, though—it fitted easily in my bag along with my watercolor box. The photos are little 2"x3" polaroids from my pocket-printer, which I also brought on the trip. I like pasting loads of things into my travel books. They are always my best and favorite souvenirs from any trip.

In other news, all four of the small ink paintings which I donated to Rochester Contemporary Art Center sold on the first day! That's a nice feeling, and I hope the folks who bought them are pleased. I also have four prints that were accepted into Mini Print Internacional de Cadaqués— they are in a traveling road show, like an art circus. Nice!

More news of shows and other things to come— including an End of Summer sale on my Etsy, so stay tuned! I hope you’ve been having a wonderful summer.

Thanks for reading, and until next time—

xx Liz