The World of Joyce Kamikura: 2013 Bohemia etc.

Artist's Statement

My Paintings represent my personal response to my environment. My ideas are not whole but fragments of what fascinate me and are seeds from which my works begin to develop. As a result, although my works undoubtedly have roots in my daily living, they may be a good deal removed from reality; some of them may be quite representational while others become abstracts.

By exaggerating vibrant colours, entertaining visual textures and other elements of design I take my painting mediums beyond their traditional execution; into mixed water media, acrylic, collage and oil. A subject leads to an idea. Then it becomes an immediate cause for me to paint, ultimately experiencing fun and struggle of permutations and possibilities deriving from that idea. It is not so much in the final product, but in the process and struggle to bring all elements together to function in harmonious presentation in a painting, that I derive so much satisfaction and pleasure as an artist. Visit my other site: http://joycekamikura.wordpress.com/

Friday, October 25, 2013

2013 Bohemia etc.

Bohemia

Having experienced a portion of Eastern Europe on our Baltic tour, we continued our journey into eastern and central Europe in 2013. We saw the Bohemia area of the old Hungarian Empire of the Habsburg dynasty. The tour started from Budapest to Prague, covering Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Czech Republic.

UNESCO Heriage site of Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic was a charming place steeped in the C13 to C17 history of Bohemia.

It was intriguing to see the transformation of many cities from communism to acceptance in the European union.

Of course, Vienna offered something different from all other cities we’ve visited....saw where Mozart lived, and took in his concert. This is also the home of Gustav Klimt. I was delighted to have visited Belvedere Gallery to see the biggest collection of his work including The Kiss.

Italy and France

After the Bohemian tour, we visited our daughter and her husband in Geneva. We were treated to an agritourism hotel in a countryside near Alba in Italy where we had an out of the ordinary array of savoring foods. There, we had truffles for the first time. The area also produces great barbera wine. We also visited Mont Blanc in France where our daughter and her husband has a chalet. It is a gorgeous place.