Hang On

There’s been so much going on this past week that I’ve really had no time (or energy) left to catch up with blogging. Street art festival in town; more belated birthday celebrations, including a major technical home makeover this weekend (new TV and audio system and on top of that a new printer/scanner); and in the midst of it all (on Thursday) a friend’s funeral. (Add to that the chaos in the World that unavoidably comes streaming over us with every newscast; and sorting out one’s own thoughts and feelings about Everything gets even harder.)

For now, I’ll just post this, following up on a promise made in my previous post: The finished street painting that I got to watch David Zinn sketch last Wednesday – and the fountain nearby that inspired it.

I suppose it’s possible that the challenge of painting street art in very moody and rainy weather may have had something to do with it as well, though –

“just clench your teeth and get on with it”, perhaps??

Linking to: Mosaic Monday & Through My Lens

I Spy… (Outdoor Wednesday)

In case anyone has been wondering: No, I have not disappeared off the face of the earth.  I’ve just been having (and am still having) a busy week, with birthday celebrations, friends visiting, sneak peeks at the upcoming street art festival and whatnot.

The artist whose work I’ve been looking forward the most to getting to see here in my home town this year is David Zinn. I’ve seen his work around on the internet and also one or two postcards. So after last year’s street art festival, and when I heard there was to be another one this year… I was actually thinking what fun it would be if they could get him. And as it turned out (without any involvment from me) - his name was acatually among the very first to be confirmed for the 2015 NoLimit street art festival.

Following the official facebook page, I knew that David Zinn had started his work early on in the week; so when going into town this morning I went in search of two of his pieces that I knew to be finished.

I had to walk serveral turns around and across this ‘haymarket’ square to find this little knitting cutie – even though I knew what to look for.

The photo below might help you understand why it’s not all easy to spot the image from a distance:

I also knew there was to be one image somewhere by the steps leading down to the river (at another open place). Hmm… Can you see it?

Look closer…

Closer…

Little mouse feeding breadcrumbs to the birds in the river (as people often do in this spot) – how cute is that?! (The hole and the cracks in the stone surface, buy the way, are part of the painting.)

Having found these two, and just having missed the next bus back home, I decided to go back to the main square, where I knew that Zinn was also supposed to do something. Could hardly believe my luck when I did find him actually at work there.

He usually works with charcoal and chalk, which means his images do not last long. But here in Borås (known as one of the rainiest cities in Sweden…), he has been using more durable paint to finish the images, so hopefully they will last a bit longer.

He was surrounded by a group of art students when I arrived; and then he was interviewed by someone for a website, and I stayed on in the background to listen. After the interviewer had left I actually got to exchange a few words with him myself. When I said I had had a postcard of his work sent to me from the US, he told me that there will be postcards of his for sale at a local gallery over the weekend; so I shall certainly try and get hold of some.

I hope to be able to go into town again on Friday to see a bit more of what’s going on. Tomorrow I have other things to attend to, and on Saturday I might be too busy as well. But getting to see this artist at work up close like this and even talk to him certainly “made my day” today!

PS. If you’re wondering how that charcoal scetch turned out, you can get a sneak peek here (from the NoLimit FB page). I’ll try to get my own photo of it later - and also what I know inspired it.

Linking to Outdoor Wednesday.

Along the Canal – Trollhättan (7)

The sky cleared up again in the evening of our rainy day in Trollhättan, and we were able to go for a leisurely stroll along the canal at sunset.

That white thing you see sticking up on the other side of the canal we had seen up close earlier in the day. Some kind of water gate:

Linking to: Outdoor Wednesday

Engines & Automobiles – Trollhättan (6)

After our visit to the Falls, we decided to also pay our respects to the Saab Car Museum – located at the Innovatum Science Center, on premises that back in my youth used to house another of Trollhättan’s historic heavy industries – Nohab, manufacturer of things like turbines for power plants, railway locomotives, and also aircraft and ship engines.

If we hadn’t had a car, we could have used the new cableway (400 m long, 32 m above ground) that nowadays connects this area with the tourist attractions on the other side of the canal (power plants, falls and locks).  

I was glad we did have the car, though – and not just because of the rain! Have to confess I’m not keen on dangling in a little cable cabin up in the air myself… Even if I suppose it really is a rather clever solution in a town where they can only have a minimum of bridges because of the boat traffic in the canal.

As tribute to all the locomotives once produced at Nohab, there is still one standing outside to be admired.

I’m afraid my photos from the Saab Museum are rather random. Apart from never having been very good at telling one car apart from another, I was very tired by the time we got there. I just strolled around a bit and pointed the camera at a few things that caught my eye; and then I sat down and waited for Per, who probably had a better idea of what he was looking at. He told me afterwards, for example, that some of the cars were prototypes that never actually got out on the market. Whether that includes any of those I happed to snap with my camera, I dare not say…

Linking to:
Our World Tuesday
Ruby Tuesday Too 

The Waterfalls - Trollhättan (5)

The waterfalls at Trollhättan have a total height of 32 metres, making up a large part of the 44 metres total fall of the river Göta älv from Lake Vänern to the west coast. Before the hydroelectric powerplants were built, the discharge of the falls was 900 m³/s, and the lower part of the fall was known as the "Hell” falls.
 
The name Trollhättan, by the way, may be translated troll’s hat, or could also refer to a troll’s mountain. With a bit of imagination it’s easy enough to see strange figures both in the steep cliffs and in the waterfalls.
 
These days the river is only allowed through its original course on special occasions, to regulate the waterlevels of Lake Vänern, or as tourist attraction. The discharge is then 300 m³/s. There is a special waterfall festival celebrated every year on the third weekend in July; but the falls are also let on for a few minutes every afternoon in July and August (the main tourist season).
 
So on our day in Trollhättan, at 3 pm we were waiting with all the other tourists on the bridge with the best view of the show. Even with heavy rain falling from the sky as well, it is a sight worth seeing...

Waiting...

 

Still waiting...

See that bit of white in the middle? Here it comes...

No mistake now!

LOTS of water

This is what we've been waiting for!

Time to rush over to the other side and see what's happening there.

The Bold and the Fast run down the stairs to the lower levels to get closer.

Others like me stay on the bridge and just zoom in...

By now, people are running to and fro across the bridge to see Everything at once.
You have to watch out for traffic as well, though, as cars are allowed on the narrow bridge too...

  

Still full flow

Can you see the trolls?

"The Trolls of Trollhättan" - by Ingegerd Lindbom
(a postcard I've had for not-sure-how-long)

Now they're shutting off the water... Troll shower time over!

Linking to: 

Through My Lens