Frosty Morning

 

I woke up to a very frosty and foggy morning today. Shortly after 10 am, when I set off for a walk into town for an appointment with my hairdresser, the fog had lifted; but trees and bushes were still covered with frost. With the sun shining, and no wind, it did not feel quite as cold as it looked, though. The photos above are from my walk into town, the ones below from my walk back.

Sculpture 'Vibrarion' by Xavier Veilhans (2014)

 

Mural by Mona Caron, Battling impatience, 2024.

Frost-covered bridge across the river between the city centre and the park.

 

At home, the tulips bought one a week ago (left) were definitely past their prime today (right), so on my way home I popped into the flower shop and bought a red begonia, which will hopefully last a little bit longer.

More Weekend Reflections

 

 

The glorious early autumn weather has continued over the weekend. On Saturday I avoided the town centre through, as I knew there would be a big running competition going on, and crowds of people was not really what I was in the mood for. Today, however, I counted on things being a lot calmer - and they were. Above is the swimming hall situated in the town park, reflected in the river.

 

In the comment section on my previous post, someone wondered if the decorated building above (and below) is a parking garage. No, it's not. It's an apartment building.

Part of the building in the photo below, however, is a parking garage:

 

Walking on along the river, at the entrance to a walkway under a bridge I discovered another mural that I can't remember having seen before. I'm not sure if it's an official or an unofficial one - I could not see any signature. Somehow it reminded me of the recent media reports from the SpaceX Spacewalk...! 

Under the same bridge, there is an older mural which is definitely at its best on a calm day like this, when the river is very still, acting as a mirror...

A bit further on, this summer's art installation of floating sculptures is still there. (I think until the end of this month?)

 

Photo from the other side of the river.

I have a few more photos from today's walk, but will save those for another post, and will instead finish this post with a couple of photos from home:

On Saturday afternoon, I sat for a while in the sun on my own balcony.
Most sunny afternoons during summer have been way too hot for that...

My harvest of (cherry) tomatoes (to the right) has not been overwhelmingly impressive; but I have been able to pick a few now and then, and I may get a few more before it's over.

My indoors autumn/fall decorations are subtle, compared to what I see on certain American blogs... Basically they just consist of a touch of orange in my vase of fake flowers, a couple of orange candles, and my two ceramic owls...

 (The larger of the owls is hollow and one can put a tealight inside it. Preferably a fake one.)

Meike asked after Barbie and Skipper, who willingly agreed to pose for another photo. At the moment, they're both in classic outfits rather suitable for nice sunny early autumn weather. Trousers/jeans and tops for both of them sewn by my mum back in the 1960s. And In the background, you see a trivet with an image painted by my water colour artist friend Lena. (Link to a post from last summer when I visited an exhibition of hers.)

 

Let's Play

 

In the main square, they have put up a giant chess game for the summer.

And there are also these rows of images of people. While there, I was not able to figure out the purpose of those; but later, I found hints online: It seems one can use them to play "twenty questions". I.e. one person chooses an image and the other person has to try and guess whom, by asking yes/no questions. So I guess also an exercise in describing people, fitting in rather nicely with the Art Biennial going on this summer.

Linking to Weekend Street/Reflections #179

Artists and Shadows at Work

 Looks like we're in for a week of sunny weather again. I phoned my hairdresser when she opened this morning and asked if she could fit me in for a haircut. She could, so an hour later I was there (in the town centre), and got that done. 

Afterwards, I went for a stroll looking for more new art, connected to this summer's Art Biennial. 

At the hotel near the newly renovated footbridge over the river, I found two artists at work on a new mural. 

I'm intrigued about all the blue dots and lines on the background. Hard to tell yet if they're just markers or will remain visible after the mural is finished. 

I was also fascinated by the shadows cast by the machines and artists at work.

 

Having watched these guys for a while, I walked on to make more discoveries; but I'll save those for another post. I will of course also be returning to this wall. (And hope to be able to add more details about the artist(s) when it's finished.)

An Artsy Saturday Afternoon

Besides today being Election Day in Sweden, it's also been Art Gallery Weekend in Borås. Alas all the art galleries open and buses running in a loop between them doesn't mean I've got the energy to visit them all... So I settled for a walk to the Textile Museum (and back), Saturday afternoon.

 
In the entrance hall, I noticed this new 'bench', shaped like a clothes peg. Rather clever!

One of the exhibitions upstairs, about a local wallpaper company, was the same as on my last visit back in March.

 

The new exhibition is entitled 'Pattern-Mania' (Swedish: 'Mönstermani') and is about 20th century Swedish Textile Design - especially printed patterns from the 1920s onward, through the 1990s.

 I arrived in the middle of a guided tour going on, and sort of kept on the outskirts of that - hearing some of it, but at the same time moving along at my own pace... All photos taken with my mobile, as I didn't have my other camera with me.

Many of the patterns were displayed in the home environments they were designed for - like kitchen, living room, bedroom etc.

Other displays focused on special holidays or time of the year:

 

This wall of clothes reminded me of how I loved to play with paper dolls as a child :-)

Speaking of childhood - did you wonder about those coloured balls in front of the building in the first photo? I had a closer look at that installation on my way back - and found it rather 'disturbing'...

 

They're made of castaway soft toys! A sign nearby says that the thought behind it is to make us think about what becomes of the things we throw away...

" TEDDY ORBS. - Do you know where your old teddy bear is? (Most people don't, so don't be ashamed!) This work of art consists of old teddy bears that have been deconstructed and reconstructed to a collection of colourful spheres. The purpose of this work of art is to provoke the viewer to think about where their old teddy bears are, and how they get rid of them. / Felicia Hansen, Instagram: @felicia_oh."

I'd recommend parents and grandparents with young children in tow to give this outdoors installation a wide berth if they don't want to end up in trouble, though... Back in my childhood, we were patiently persuaded to let worn-out cuddly toys be respectfully sent to retirement up in the attic, with lots of assurances that they'd be much happier there!

Across the road from the Textile Fashion Center is the University. They've recently had a new mural painted to replace an old one that had to be removed in connection with necessary repairs of the wall. The old mural (also an eagle) was so popular that they hired the same artist to do the new one, though. He made the new one similar but still a bit different. For comparison, if you like, have a look at the old mural here. (Post from 2015.)