St. Gallen, 6

More City

On this….

…was this.

Windows are fun. 

I really liked this vase.

 I have no idea why I took this picture…..

Note the figure on the fountain…

…she is Wiborada, first female saint, says the sign. She lives on this tiny Platz….

… with this tinier Gasse leading down to a lower street.

From the other side.

The weighing house, originally for horses and loaded wagons, thus the doors.

St.Gallen, 5

More City

On this nice little street…..

Was this forbidding window. It’s hard to distinguish with the reflection, but the head goes in the loop, and that triangular thing above is what you think it is. 

We did see on another sign, that executions were also by drowning. Not nice.

The local beer, which one of us enjoyed later.

And another “Saint.” Notice: all in barrels.

St. Gallen, 4

In Town

Old and new

Note Lady Helvetia below Mr. Washington’s name.

And all over the city are these little Saint plaques, the city joke. Sankt means “Saint.” 

St. Gallen, 3

In the Town

The water tower of the old engine house, now an artsy place. 

The roundabout for the engines, now an outdoor theater. The numbers for the engine stalls are still there. 

Local flora

The Post Office. All over Europe big cities have these huge stone post offices. It used to require herds of people to do the hand labor. 

One of the sets of doors to the post office. 

A little corner park. 

More St. Gallen, 2

Old Town

St.Gallen was founded in the 600’s by an Irish Monk, whose story involves a thorn. He built his hermitage on that site, acquired followers, died, and was commemorated with a monastery which is still there. It grew in the Middle Ages, and was embellished in Baroque times, and expanded a bit more in the Enlightenment age, then declined in power in the Industrial Age to modern times. But it is still there and still impressive, as is the city thst grew up around it.

The abbey church. 

One entrance to the Abbey. The monastery used to be entirely walled off from the town, but most of the walls eventually came down. 

Note the various masons marks on the stones.

The other side of the passage. This was the bishop’s gate.

Detail of gate. 

There and Back Again

 

Just some random oddball notes from my recent trip:

 

the colors never show up correctly in my photos, but the sky was really pretty coming into my layover in Utah on the way back from my trip

some weird infestation or something? on a tree at a rest stop on the border of Iowa and Minnesota

 

 I drew a bit while away, but just messy doodle things. I also got almost halfway through The Silmarillion (I never know if I'm pronouncing it correctly tho, haha) during my flights in both directions. I have enjoyed it thus far. :)

Also I taught my five-year-old niece how to use Control Z when she was drawing on the kids' learning computers at the library. She's such a creative little thing already. XD

 

St. Gallen Stroll

Birthday Excursion 

Better Half and I decided to visit our “big city” finally. We found it lovely, friendly, and enjoyable. And the weather defied the forecast and was pleasant all day for us. 

We parked by the old cavalry stables and riding hall. Somebody was just arriving with vaulting horses, enormously tall ones. 

A very large medallion inside

Most of us could not see over the backs of these critters. TALL. 

New roof on very old building. Most cities have these military riding halls, and nearly all are turned into shopping centers or artsy places. Nice to see one still used for horses. 

A dashing fellow from Appenzell in the glass lobby. The bear indicates his home. 

The outside indicating the inside. There were a whole series of these on the exterior. 

To be continued…..

Painting, Steps Six and Seven

No photo on the next step.

I added dot stenciling over the squares, to lighten the overall tone, but add additional texture. 

Then I added some more brushwork, rubbing, value adjustments. 

The next step was more work on the figure, specifically the boots, and dark tones. 

Swiss Hay Day

All in One

Hay was cut this morning, dried a half day, raked into windrows, a little more drying, then baled in mesh, then picked up and collected by the automatic wrapping machine, to be stored as silage for winter.