Trick or... Tree?

It is time for yet another 2 trees from my collection (I have only 3 left now... ;)). Today I have decided to go sort of more classic way - if one can call it classic of course. I just think the modern art movements I'm presenting today - and actually the trees themselves - are more conventional than those from the previous post. (Do let me know if you don't agree!)

Image by Olga

With the first tree I tried to portray a lot of movement, which is so characteristic of all the works of Futurism. One of the most interesting futuristic works I'd say is 'Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash' by Giacomo Balla. I think the work is very representative of the art movement itself.

Image by Google

As for the second one - I guess many of you have guessed straight away - yes, this is good old Impressionism with all its amazing history, hundreds of genious paintings, colourful strokes and - well - impressions!

Image by Olga

I could add so many pictures of impressionists works here right now - but I think I would just limit myself to posting one of my absolutely favourite works of Impressionism - The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh:

Image by Google

Image by Wikipedia

Naïve. Super

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This is one of the books I learned about from my friend who lives in Sweden, which captured my attention to such an extent that I really recommend it as a very positive, uncomplicated yet very deep work to read. Written by a Norwegian author Erlend Loe, Naïve. Super is deceptively simple - and could be described as a work of naivism.

"I have two friends. A good one and a bad one. And then there’s my brother. He might not be quite as friendly as I am, but he’s OK … My life has been strange lately. It came to a point where I lost interest in it all. It was my 25th birthday. A few weeks ago."

This book is pure emotion expressed in a very simple way - it is a direct portrayal of life of a 25-year old without making things look entertaining or complicated. The linguistic style of Naïve. Super is very interesting as well - for the most part it contains very short, sometimes elliptical and never ironic sentences. The narrator of this book is easily recognizable to those of us who are like him. I laughed at the main character and, more importantly, I recognized myself in him and was able to laugh at myself. That kind of self-reflection is rare and valuable in fiction, just as this book is a rare and valuable treat.

I found a review of the book that is just perfect and evokes the style of the book itself:

After reading the first couple of lines … I was hooked on to it and now I am in need of something similar to read.

This is definitely one of the best books I've ever read.

Because it made me re-believe.
In trees, and bikes and in people.
It's simple. Nothing too bad happens. Nothing too exciting.
It's real.
It's everything we're short of in today's society.

Le Refuge des Fondus

Image by Arek

This is one of those unusual travel tips: in Paris we accidentally came across this place, which is more than just a great fondue restaurant and for the novelty alone, this is a must-see. It’s an experience you won’t soon forget! A tiny, crowded Refuge des Fondues restaurant in Montmartre that serves a one-price menu that includes cheese and meat fondues, an aperitif, and wine.

Image by Olga

You'll be crammed on the benches, reaching over your neighbors to cook meat in hot bouillon and dip vegetables and bread in melted cheese. To sit by the wall I actually needed to climb over the table - but not without help from the waiter ;) But! This place so much fun - you immediately meet people sitting next to you - we got to know French and Spanish people and spent the rest of the evening chatting, taking pictures and laughing like crazy, we even ended up exchanging e-mails :)

Image by Google

The best part is that the wine is served in glass baby bottles! (the rumour has it - this is to avoid a tax on wine served in stemware). And when you finish your first - you will get the second one without asking! It’s a lot of fun, go with a sense of humor and enjoy the young, vibrant atmosphere!

Image by Google

The owner is eccentric and the waiters are notoriously rude and you know the deal when you get in the door and this is great you catch the spirit and you enjoy it in full! The food is amazing, the price absolutely reasonable, and the atmosphere one of a kind. Unfortunately there's no website, but the address is: 17 Rue des Trois Frères.

I'm Talking Quietly Not To Wake Myself Up...

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One of the coasters I mentioned in my previous post was inspired by a movie - most likely the best and the most visionary movie I have ever seen. The Science Of Sleep is filled with so much bright and vibrant imagery and eye-candy - it is difficult to take your eyes away!

Image by Google

The movie uses a lot of Spin Art and crafted objects (think back to the days of your school carnival). The scenes range from absurd (a spider type-writer, one second time machine), to the grand (an entire card board city) and the beautiful (a cloth horse back ride to the boat on a cellophane sea). The film develops its full potential where it arrives to such an incredible moment where we have little idea whether we are in a dream or in reality - it is seamless!

Image by Google

The dialogue is in French, English, and Spanish, each constantly interweaving with each other, much like the realities of the film do and then there comes a point in the film where you stop realizing the language of the film is constantly changing. Here is one of the many pieces I like from the film:

Video via You Tube

The movie has a great website - which is - as the movie itself - a great piece of art work. The site is like the main character's dream world - the paint layers upon itself and the colours stretch and mix together. As for the music - the soundtrack is on the website, just listen to this :):

Video via You Tube

Roll Your Coaster!

I enjoy remaking things - I often have ideas related to changing the original state of objects and adding to them some personal touches. Whenever I have things which seem to be of no use anymore I like to look for their new purpose and give them a second life. I don't look to buy old and vintage things I would further remake - it would be a hard thing to find around here.. I try to pick from objects within reach, which look dull and boring and also from those, which are difficult to spoil ;) An example would be the lamp I made of a wine bottle from this post). I tried to give a bit of a makeover to some old coasters I had at home (here is how they looked before), so I cut some movie ads of some of the films I like so much - and which looked appealing - and glued them to the coaster surface. I also added some round black'n'white elements to make the coasters look a little more special and covered the coasters with acrylic lacquer to make them heat resistant. So here is the final result - I think it is quite easy to guess which movies these are:

Images by Olga

A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect (Egyptian proverb)

Image by Arek

Today I'm in a very travel mood because of my friend TI from Viagens pelo Mundo blog - thank you, TI, for all the excitement :) I'm posting a couple of more pictures from our recent stay in Egypt from this February. Although the greatest part of the country itself is a desert and most wild life is found under the water of the Red Sea, there are many colourful scenes and objects you can spot when traveling around, so I'm adding some of them in my today's post.

Image by Arek

Tree Time

The time has come for another two trees from my collection! This time I tried to have them more connected to each other by topic - or rather art movement, which they represent. Both of the movements I am presenting today were originated in Russia at the beginning of XX century. First of all let's look at Suprematism - the first movement of pure geometrical abstraction in painting, originated by Kazimir Malevich in about 1913. I enjoyed creating this tree in the similar style as suprematists developed for their paintings.

Image by Olga

Malevich explained that in Suprematism “the appropriate means of representation is always the one which gives fullest possible expression to feeling as such and which ignores the familiar appearance of objects.” I'm pretty sure everyone remembers his 'Black Square' painting.

Another art form is probably a bit less known, but still very interesting - it is Constructivism, which denied 'art for art's sake' concept presented previously by my Dada Tree in favour of art as a practice directed towards social purposes. I'm very curious about your immediate thoughts and reactions on this one:

Image by Olga

Colour Me Pastel

There is a cork board I hung in the hall of my home, where I pin up random things I come across pretty much anywhere because I find them beatiful-funny-weird-old or worth looking at for the second time. One could call it an inspiration board or a mood board. You can see more of them here and here. This one was inspired by my trip to Venice and by pastel colours, which seem to be everywhere this spring!

Image by Olga

Colour Theory aside - there are amazingly many beautiful words and expressions for color in English (blush pink, see green, sky blue, canary yellow...) - and I'm very sure this would apply to any other language.. I like them so much I even made a small list of 'color words' and I want to keep 'collecting' them. How do you like dove gray, emerald green, poppy red and peacock blue? Other color words (and colors!) I'm fascinated with at the moment are powder blue and mustard yellow... I think I also came across 'vintagey peach' the other day.. What words for color come to your mind when you read this? Maybe some really great names haven't been even invented yet :)

Gdańsk, Mariacka

I wanted to start my today's post with saying a big thank you to all of you who have been reading this blog and leaving all those friendly comments. I didn't realize blogging could be so much fun and it is with your support I came to understand how to make it even more so :)

Gdańsk, Mariacka. Image by Arek

Some of you mentioned you were interested in the city where I live... I've already posted about a couple of nice places around here (Jozef K & Indygo)... but not about Tricity itself, which definitely also deserves my full attention. Tricity consists of Gdańsk (which is the city I live in), Gdynia (the city where I work) and Sopot (a great place to go out and party :P). Gdańsk has a lovely old town and Mariacka is definitely my absolutely favourite street here:

Image by Pshulka

This street is the most magic and special one for me of many other streets of Gdańsk old town. Although only 185m long - it is full of small art galleries, amber shops and of course wonderful vintage cafes, one of which I'm going to write about very soon ;) Of course there is so much more to see in the city, but could this street alone be a good reason for you to come and visit Gdańsk? Judge by yourself...

Images by Google

I also want to share my excitement because today was my lucky day to win all these gorgeous treasures from Roc, Troc and Recup blog. Thank you very much, Floss, for the give away fun! I really recommend her blog, where Floss writes about her interest in vintage and second hand stuff, about making things, her own little projects and everyday excitements... and she adds great pictures of all of this! (Also check out the 'lovely blog award' she gave me to the right :))

Image by Floss

Sweets For My Sweet..

Someone is in for a real treat today :). Don't you find this candy lovely and utterly delicious? At some point I started to regret I couldn't try these colourful little things... because they look amazingly real!



Through time and across continents, stories of sweets and their inventors intrigue and entertain us. These ones are made of coloured glass, in the best traditions of Murano glass makers. I came across this little 'candy shop' while exploring the picturesque island of Burano, where also every house has a different colour. I find these little sweets incredible - it seems they could be any imaginable colour!

Images by Olga

4 Shadows of Indigo

I love weekends (and who doesn't?:D)... While it is still not warm enough outside to stay out long - it is a great chance to catch up with friends, go out and enjoy good coffee in some place nice or just stay at home and do whatever it feels like. We spent the evening going through recent photos at Indygo Cafe ('indygo' is Polish for 'indigo'), which apart from offering good coffee and tea prepared according to their special recipe, charms you with its 'indigo interior'. I really like how deep and complex the color is and how it interacts with lights and shadows, giving a feeling of cosiness and pleasure.

Images by Olga

Art Nouveau Triumphs!

As promised I'm adding more images of my trees today. As previously mentioned I drew each of them trying to reflect and represent one particular style of modern art. Today's first tree is actually my favourite one :), because it is an Art Nouveau tree, and for me Art Nouveau is something really outstanding and exquisite.

Image by Olga

I found this beautiful collage of Art Nouveau posters and couldn't help adding it to this post:

Image via Google

And here are some images of Art Nouveau decor and furniture, there is a whole section devoted to this in Musée d'Orsay in Paris, so if you like it - this is definitely something for you:

Images by Olga

My second tree for today is a Dada tree.

Image by Olga

Dada - although slightly less known in comparison to previously mentioned Cubism, Abstract Art and Art Nouveau - is a very important movement, because it gave birth or rather developed into Collage and Photomontage. 'Dada Triumphs' is a classic dadaist work by Raoul Hausmann:

Image via Google

More trees to come next week, stay tuned! ;)

Your Whimsical Bookshop

In Paris, opposite Notre Dame, there is a bookshop that really stands out for its history and the approach to selling books. Over the past 50 years (it originally opened in 1919), Shakespeare & Company has provided both inspiration and accommodation for more than 30,000 writers. In exchange for a night's rest on one of the beds crammed between the towering shelves, all the owner asks for is that you make your bed in the morning, help out in the shop, and read a book a day.

Image by Arek

Back in 1922 the shop was the first one and also the only one at the time to publish Joyce's Ulysses. Now the shop has two parts with separate entrances - one is selling rare first editions and the second one has a mixture of books on all possible subjects to offer - both old and modern. This shop is really a charming and magical place - you would find yourself in another world when you enter..



When I found this shop in my guide book - i put it on my 'must see in Paris' list and I didn't regret it! It is definitely worth to visit Shakespeare & Co's website, which is quite brief and to the point, but offers a lot of history, many interesting events and more surprises..

Ah, each book you buy there comes with an official stamp (and there are always copies of Ulysses on sale ;))

Images by Olga

Just Relax...

It has really been a looong day, so I have to be quite concise with my today's post. Here is another great picture from Bangalore, India. Isn't it just lovely? I think the forms, colours and surroundings really make a perfect combination..

Image by Arek

Out Of My Tree

A while ago I engaged myself into a project in order to come to understand better and learn more about contemporary and avant-garde art movements. I chose a number of different art styles and tried to use their main techniques and characteristics in order to draw a simple tree. Today I am posting two of 11 works I have in total - the first tree is based on Cubism principles and the second one represents Abstract Art movement.

Images by Olga

I also couldn't stop myself from adding these colourful mosaics - the first inspired by cubism and the second by abstract art. I especially like the paintings-elements by Braque and Łempicka on the first one. By the way, Łempicka is one of my favourite artists - I will be posting more about her soon!



And from the second one - of course the great works of Kandinsky and Joan Miro!

Images via IWantMyOilPainting

Ex Libris

I can't stop coming back to the things I saw and discovered in Venice - for example how the city is famous for its paper. I came across a number of old paper shops founded in the 19th century, which are still using traditional methods to create their paper and hand print it. Legatoria Piazzesi was founded in 1851 and was the first to invent the new art of covering objects of everyday use with refined hand printed decors. As the founders claim they try to keep their unique atmosphere, full of history, culture, elegance, simplicity, refinement and authenticity.. Here is how things wrapped in this this paper look like:

Image via Legatoria Piazzesi

And some more paper designs from Venice:

Images by Olga