Tankar

Thursday Thoughts – Standen House

/ Leya / 22 kommentarer

Standen is an Arts and Crafts house located in West Sussex, England. The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest in the British Isles and the movement flourished in Europe and North America between about 1880 and 1920.

The movement was a reaction against the perceived impoverishment of the decorative arts and the conditions in which they were produced. Between 1891 and 1894 architect Philip Webb, who was a friend of William Morris, designed the house, which is constructed in the Wealden vernacular style with sandstone quarried from the estate and locally made bricks and tiles. From the start the house had electric power, and it still has its original electric light fittings.

In 1972 Standen House passed by bequest to the National Trust.

The interior is decorated with Morris carpets, fabrics and wallpapers, with furnishings also by Morris, and of course, the garden is in total harmony with the beauty of the house.

Time well spent going there – peaceful and quiet. Beauty. I think I could live at Standen…but I don’t play pool.

Lens-Artists Challenge #309 – Balconies

/ Leya / 33 kommentarer

PR of Flights of the Soul is our next lovely guest host, and she is inviting us to find Balconies – please visit her beautiful site for interesting facts and more inspiration!

PR talks about the many ways of using a balcony, and – some cities seem to have no balconies at all, while others have them in every building. In many countries I have seen a dog sitting or walking on the balcony of a house. Hopefully the door in is not closed!

So, we are looking for balconies… A good advise is going to Georgia (not in the US…) and Old Town Tblisi. In the header though, is a Bhutanese balcony for monks only.

For well kept, beautiful architecture and balconies, an impressive place to visit is Prague. This balcony is surely not intended only for a quiet, nice cup of coffee.

The second gallery is from around Europe – we do have some interesting balconies too!

These are from Denmark, Madrid, Barcelona, Bulgaria and Sweden. The ants at Wanås Castle is a work by Colombian Rafael Gómezbarros. And, of course you will recognise Gaudi’s spectacular architecture. PR, the last one is for you – an inside view of the largest balcony of Casa Battló.

Do you have a balcony of your own or are you thinking of some that impressed you? Do remember to use the Lens-Artists tag, and connect to PR’s original post.

Last week, we saw great responses to the challenge Perfect Pairs – a joy! Next week the Lens-Artists team will be back, with Patti starting off the challenge on her Pilotfish blog. Until then- stay nice, enjoy your vacation if you have one, travels if you do and above all – Life. A big Thank You to PR and all guest hosts!

Thursday Thoughts – Romantic Scotney Castle

/ Leya / 28 kommentarer

A week in England now and then, is a thing for everyone, according to me. The beauty of the English countryside, with its lush gardens and many castles make for a relaxing holiday and reloaded batteries.

Please come along and enjoy some of my memories!

Scotney old castle was built in the 14th century, and from the opener you can see it seems taken right out of a fairy tale. The new house, in the above image, was built when the old castle became too run down. The last owners, the Hussey family, bequethed the property to the National Trust in 1970. Today there was exhibitions inside, and the surroundings lovely kept.

The collections in the new house are largely from the 19th and 20th century. Of course a bit of English humour is a must…

The old castle, the quarry and the walled garden made this visit a joy, despite the rain. In fact, this was our first day in England, and this was the only rain we got for a week! Incredible. On one of our travels to Good Ol’ England we had rain for three weeks, and I caught the worst cold ever from it. (Fortunately only when we came back home again!)

Lastly, if you scroll back to the beautiful lady in the painting, she is sitting on the balcony, overlooking this dreamy place – Scotney Castle.

Lens-Artists Challenge #308 – Perfect Pairs

/ Leya / 38 kommentarer

This week Elizabeth of Albatz Travels is our guest host – and she has got an exciting task for us! Please visit her site for excellent guiding to diptychs:

A diptych is two images placed in proximity to one another, forming a pair. To make a successful pairing there should be several things in common, and something very different, contrasting.

How about using mirrors?

My natural(!) choice is flowers and trees. And flowers from English gardens this time.

And throughout the paths of flowery fireworks, there were Castles interspersed…

So, we will move over to totally manmade art, where wonderful wallpapers in the castles created indoor gardens as well, and a different dimension through mirrors.

Artworks are interesting, for pairings too. In Japan our visit to the teamLabs exhibition with mirroring ”eggs” was fascinating.

And finally, people. The Golden Week in Japan gives you endless opportunities to enjoy beautiful people and clothes. This lovely young couple is not the same as the couple in the carriage – but their outfits go so well together. In my eyes, they make the perfect pair – and pairs.

Thank you, Elizabeth for a great learning challenge!

Last week, Leanne lead us through wonderful and different “Tourist Attractions”, capturing the essence of a place.  Next week, PR will explore “Balconies,” so be sure to visit Flights of the Soul next Saturday. 

Lens-Artists Challenge #307- Tourist Attractions

/ Leya / 21 kommentarer

Leanne Cole is our fantastic host this week, and she invites us to show what the normal tourist wants to see – but in another way. ”You might go to the same place, but you are after something different.”

So her challenge is to look for those photos that are of tourist attractions, but where we have tried to get the untypical image of it. They can be near or far away in other countries.

I have just returned from a trip to England, so I am a bit late, but here we go…with Japan! Japan was a delightful country to visit this spring, and the first gallery shows some famous attractions – my way:

The superfast Shinkansen train, Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto (Inari is the god of rice and sake and the messenger is a fox), Kawachi Fujien (The world famous wisteria garden in Kitakyushu), the Shibuya crossing in rain (- the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world with about 2300 crossings every 3,3 minute) and lastly, Tokyo Sky Tree.

From Sweden then, not that many:

Stockholm in double exposure (City Hall and Central Station). The Doll Museum was closed, but my shot was taken through the window.

Thank you to Tina for her beautiful and thought provoking challenge on Habitats two weeks ago, and I hope you all had a lovely week off too! Thank you again to Leanne Cole for leading us this week – please visit her site for always amazing photography.

I hope you want to join in next week when our next guest host, Elizabeth of Albatz Travel Adventures, challenges us to share Pairs.