Gaudi

Another of my favourite architects- Gaudi's first commission in Comillas,complete with extensive ceramic sunflower tiling and lots of nice corbelled arches.Look at that bench set into the balcony railing- genius!
Shabbat Shalom. I shall try to write some more pottery-related blogs soon [not a lot of ceramic action in N.Spain] which involves getting back to work in the studio,which is an "after the holidays" activity [mid-end Oct.]

Spain

A cold and cloudy glacial lake up in the Picos-
Carved stone creatures-
The amazing aqueduct in Segovia- look,no cement!

Spain

The Spanish like to pour things from great heights,and even construct elaborate devices to help them- here,the local [excellent,cloudy,not fizzy] cider.
I took a lot of pictures of balconies,of which there are an infinite variety- also these intriguing raised store-houses,whose use we didn't establish,and which seemed indigenous only to two or three villages in the mountainous Picos D'Europa region.

Back from Spain

Here we are agin,so glad to be home after 10 great days in San Sebastian,Bilbao,Comillas and Segovia. I've wanted to see Gehry's museum in Bilbao for a few years- an incredible structure,partly inspired [he says] by his grandmother's habit of keeping carp [for Shabbat] in the bath when he was a child...a few pictures to follow...[the sculpture is Jeff Koons]

Big Man in Pink Car

Netanya also yielded this mirror-tile encrusted VW,and,later in my travels,I spotted this pink concoction in Pardes Hana.I appreciated the guy's choice of t-shirt - he could have clashed horribly.
As you can see,nothing much is happening in the studio at the moment- waiting,among other things,for the new kiln.

A Trip to Netanya

A busy day gadding about the country: picked up some clay for Sydney at Minerco in Netanya,and was strangely attracted to this intriguing tip round the side of their warehouse.Next time I'll bring rubber gloves.

Jazz from Eilat

We all had a great time at this year's Eilat Jazz Festival- 3 days of ridiculously late nights,dozing off to the sounds of the all-night jam by the hotel pool. I had some trouble trying to upload videos,so am posting them on Youtube,whither a swift click on the title above should whisk you. You can see all the videos by clicking 'flatauer'- a snippet of Edmar Castaneda ,who stole the show [for me] with his Columbian harp, Itai Kriss whom I have had the honour to know since he was an infant in Tsfat and the amazing Richard Bona winding up his bass with Randy Brecker's band,and also playing with Mike Stern.

Nanobrewery

Smaller than a microbrewery,smaller even than a boutique brewery- this is the total output of Chateau Flateau this year- a meagre 15 litres,or about 12 ltrs of wine,allowing for sediment. Last year's crop was also small [but not this small]: I wonder whether it was because I pruned the vine too early [i.e. when I picked,last August] to avoid leaving it unpruned through Shmita [fallow] year. We'll find out,I suppose,next year.