A mural created to raise awareness of the importance of sustainable energy has been created in Turin. From Barcelona based Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. It is a piece which, according to the artist, “alludes to the importance of acting now to assure a positive outcome.” Called ‘Promise’ it features the image of a young girl. She is…
via Mural by Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada in Turin raises awareness of Sustainable Energy — Inspiring City
A new eco-hotel in Finland is set to charge its guests based on the carbon footprint of their stay.
Arctic Blue Resort, which opens in the small city of Kontiolahti in 2022, will be the world’s first resort where the price is emission-based – meaning the smaller the guest’s environmental impact, the less they pay.
Visitors of the resort can influence the cost for example by consuming less energy, attending ecological activities and making sustainable dietary choices.
From the same people behind the Arctic Brands Group, who make high-quality artisan spirits from ingredients found in Finnish nature, the Group believe that companies are obligated to find new solutions to fight climate change.
Mikko Spoof, the Vice President and founder of Arctic Brands Group, said: “We want to offer people a world-class eco-vacation and encourage them to make sustainable choices by having emission-based pricing for their stay. We want the resort to be a place of true tranquility and thus encourage our guests to be more present in the moment and embrace digital detox.
“With Arctic Blue resort we want to lead an example by putting emphasis on environmental responsibility and by creating solutions to minimise the negative impact of tourism.”
Arctic Blue Resort is designed to be as sustainable as possible – built with natural materials, powered by renewable energy
sources, and with its own water treatment system, the eco-hotel will be self-sustaining. Keeping in line with the natural surroundings, guests will also be able to choose from rooms where they can sleep under a starry night sky or enjoy a 360-degree view of the forest.
In addition to a restaurant serving locally sourced food, Arctic Blue Resort will also offer guests nature-inspired activities and excursions – including ice-swimming and snowshoeing in winter, and berry-picking and rowing in the summer.
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about lifestyles including sustainable and green living. She also offers content services to businesses and individuals at Rosamedea.com
Butler, a formally trained African American artist of Ghanaian heritage, broaches the dividing line between creating with paints on canvas and creating with fiber by fashioning magnificent quilts and elevating a medium hitherto designated as craft into one that is clearly high art. While quilts have historically been isolated in the history of art as the products of working women, Butler’s work not only acknowledges this tradition, but also reinvents it. Continuing with an aesthetic set in motion by artists such as Romare Bearden and Faith Ringgold, Butler forges an individual and expressive signature style that draws upon her own cultural background and experiences.
Her emergence as a quilt artist began humbly when, as a result of a fiber arts class taken at Howard University, she constructed a quilt for her dying grandmother mainly as a means of comfort. As a child Butler had often spent time poring over black and white photographs with her grandmother, who told her stories about the people in each one. This experience of creating narrative and identity informs her quilts. The vibrant portraits of African American life and the tales the quilts tell are largely based on photographs from which Butler takes inspiration. She creates a story around each image, and, in her choice of fabrics, she uses texture, color and the cultural origin of the cloth as part of a personal iconography that makes statements about society and identity. African painted cotton and mud cloth tells the story of her ancestral homeland, vintage lace and aged satin might demonstrate the delicacy and refinement of times past while multi-colored organza and layered netting can convey a story of someone colorful and multifaceted.The constructed nature of the work with its reliance on piecing and stitching acknowledges the traditions of needlework normally associated with women and domesticity. Butler subverts this notion through her choice of motifs, embellishments, patterning and scale, all drawn from African textiles.What results are stunning works that transform family memories and cultural practices into works of social statement.
The wisdom of a warrior is a good starting point for anyone who has chosen to work on themselves, and follow the path of their true self. The legendary Miyamoto Musashi, heralded as Japan’s greatest swordsman and samurai warrior, was also a celebrated writer and artist too, penning key writings on Japanese samurai tactics and philosophy – Go Rin No Sho (The Book of Five Rings), and Dokkōdō (The Way of Walking Alone).
Born in the Japanese province of Mimasaka in 1584, Miyamoto Musashi trained himself in the art of sword fighting at an early age and at the age of 13, he went on to win his first duel – one of many. He invented the Ni-Ten Ichi Ryu style of fighting with two swords, which is the most instantly recognisable visual features of the samurai.
Dokkōdō, a short text outlining self-discipline, was written the week before Miyamoto Musashi died in 1645 of natural causes. Consisting of 21 precepts, it expresses a way of living that is aligned with one’s self or true self.
Here is the 21 precepts of Dokkōdō:
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about lifestyles including sustainable and green living. She also offers content services to businesses and individuals at Rosamedea.com
Sustainable cabins in secret locations, otherwise known as Slow Cabins, are popping up outside the city of Belgium in a bid to help people connect with nature.
Each cabin, built using eco-friendly materials with wooden interiors, is off-grid and self-sufficient through the use of solar panels, a filtered rainwater system and ecological dry-toilet. There are cabins of two kinds to suit individuals, couples and families.
The nature-based locations of the Slow Cabins are only revealed to guests after they’ve booked a cabin. Slow Cabins are mobile and frequently rotate locations, making for new sights and experiences for those looking to book a second trip.
The interiors of the Slow Cabins are natural and minimalist with its raw-look wooden floors and walls, and wooden furniture. Insulated glass windows frame views of surrounding fields and woodland, and there’s a wood-burning stove to cosy up in front of – and a small deck. The double beds consist of eco-textiles layered on a natural latex mattress, with large windows for gazing out into the surroundings.
The insulated cabins are kept toasty in the winter with wood-burning stoves, while the kitchen contains a pair of cooking plates alongside a sink, small fridge and a food preparation area. In the bathroom you’ll find a shower, wash basin and eco-friendly dry toilet. A fireplace and ceramic BBQ offer warmth and cooking options outside.
A stay also comes with a basket of locally-sourced produce and spring water.
The Slow Cabins experience is as much about making guests aware of their environmental impact. Slow Cabins say: “Each of our cabins comes equipped with a smart display that shares your energy and water use with you. By actively seeing your energy usage throughout your stay you become aware of your impact on the environment and what a positive and ecological footprint might look like.”
The Time For Two couple’s retreat costs from €175 per night, while the Time For Family cabin, which sleeps 3-5 people, costs from €185 per night.
Slow Cabins is expanding its off-the-grid concept across Europe and looking for partners.
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about lifestyles including sustainable and green living. She also offers content services to businesses and individuals at Rosamedea.com
Nicolas Poussin (June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, Mythology style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome.
Poussin Technique
Poussin was deeply interested in the classical era of art, architecture, history, and philosophy and sought to include aspects of these in his work. His style morphed from sexy, richly-coloured mythological scenes to strong lines and darker-coloured religious images.
Poussin’s style became more and more classical over his career, and he became known as the leader of classicism. The subjects were clear, without distracting back or foreground, colour was toned down and subjects looked to be posed like heroic statues.
Poussin always researched his subjects thoroughly. He would read the entire story from which they were featured, whether from ancient Greece, Rome, or the Bible. His paintings told so much of a story in one scene, that Poussin became known as “the great storyteller.”
He had a very methodical approach to painting. Before he started painting, he would:
And THEN he would finally start painting. It was a very long process! As he said himself, when asked what the key to his success was, “I tried to neglect nothing.”
Later in his career, landscape became a subject he often painted. From 1660-1664, he painted the series The Four Seasons depicting changes in seasons, changes in time of day, age, and the evolution of the spiritual history of humanity.
For centuries thereafter, the work of Nicolas Poussin was used as a standard in the teaching of art in France.
Link: https://www.pariscultureguide.com/nicolas-poussin.html
Moving into a new room or even updating an old room can be quiet a daunting task. Creating a space where you feel comfortable and safe is key to turning any place into an actual home. 22 more words
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Tyres are finding new life as life-sized sculptures of animals courtesy of Blake McFarland’s visions.
The former baseball player and mixed-materials artist has created an animal kingdom of artworks which include a cougar that stands around 4 ft tall and 7 ft long; a tiger made from 4,000 shreds of Goodyear tyres; and pandas created using black and white recycled tyres.
Each sculpture uses strategically placed tyres which are woven and secured. The grooves in the tyres give a muscle-like definition to the animal sculpture, while the different treads and widths of the tyre material also provide texture to emulate the animals’ fur. An average sculpture uses around 100-400 tyres and takes up to a month to complete.
Blake McFarland’s most recent work and one of his finest is of a lion’s head, which makes use of hundreds of pieces of basketball leather to achieve the big cat’s mane.
The San Jose-born artist loves being able to be eco-friendly by using mostly recycled materials to make his distinctive art. Working with different materials including recycled ethernet cables and wires as well as tyres means that Blake McFarland gets to explore creative ways of using everyday items that would otherwise go to landfill.
Blake McFarland began his art career painting ocean scenery and landscaped with acrylics. While he was a pro ball player for the Blue Jays, he would paint during the off-season. And it was in 2012, that he found the medium that he was truly meant to master and work with.
In an interview with The Hardball Times, Blake McFarland said: “In 2012 during the off-season, my wife [Jessica] and I were in St. Louis and we drove by this playground where there were a bunch of tractor tires stacked up in a dragon-snake-serpent design. It sparked my interest. Tyres were not being used anywhere – you see them on the side of the road all over the place – and maybe it’s something to work with. From there, I had to teach myself that entire thing, too, which took some time.”
The former baseball player retired from the game last year following a shoulder injury, and is now a full-time artist.
Images Source: Blake McFarland Facebook page
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about lifestyles including sustainable and green living. She also offers content services to businesses and individuals at Rosamedea.com
Sculptor and Artist Bruno Torfs’ garden, part of the luscious sub-alpine forests of Australia’s Marysville, is home to a wonderful array of magickal and mystical beings that he himself carved from wood and made using earthenware.
Bruno’s Art & Sculpture Garden, located in Melbourne’s Yarra Valley, has long been a haven for those with a connection to nature and its magickal inhabitants. Among the garden’s residents are a bearded wizard, various fae, a lion, Mowgli, native women, a witch, and Sherlock Holmes and Watson characters.
Bruno Torfs incorporates the natural landscape into his art, using tree branches and leaves as a part of his subjects’ hair or body. After carving, they remain unpainted and blend in with their surroundings.
The South American-born artist’s collection of wooden and terracotta life size sculptures were extensive until the Marysville bushfires of 2009, which tore through much of his garden.
Since the bushfires, Bruno Torfs has rebuilt his home and gallery. The garden has blossomed into a new stage of life, most of his terracotta life size sculptures have been restored and visitors can see his surviving paintings as well as new works in the unique new gallery space.
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about lifestyles including sustainable and green living. She also offers content services to businesses and individuals at Rosamedea.com
The permanent bio-active functional fabrics by DELIUS offer freshness and hygienic cleanliness. Silver ions which are firmly embedded in the fibre stop the growth of bacteria both within and outside the fibre. They thus protect against infections like MRSA in hospitals. DELICARE fabrics also reduce the formation of odours caused by microbes.
Frequent washing does not reduce the function unlike with normal finishes. This is typical for DELIUS: the function is contained in the yarn and is not subsequently imposed by a finishing process; this also holds true for the flame retardancy.
“Painting takes me to another world where I am as free as a bird,” says Judhaiya Baiga. She says this is her way of putting her village on the global map and keeping her traditions alive.
Judhaiya Bai Baiga’s painting recently travelled all the way to a Milan exhibition in Italy and was sold instantly. This was not the first time Baiga’s painting was displayed in an exhibition along with paintings of other talented artists.
A resident of Lorha village in Madhya Pradesh, 80-year-old Baiga who belongs to a tribal community, has the distinction of seeing her art travelling to several art galleries in India and abroad.
“Age or fame has nothing to do with the errors. Perfecting any art is a myth as there is always scope for improvement,” Baiga repeats the sentence from the other end of the phone in case the message was not heard.
Despite being a Diwali week, Baiga is kind enough to oblige for an interview. The excitement to share tales of her village and paintings is clearly evident in her voice.
When asked how she feels about getting international recognition, she says, “It has not changed my life as such. But yes, a change can be seen as more and more women, including my daughter-in-law are taking an interest in painting. Some of these women always wanted to paint but did not have avenues back then.”
How Age Worked In Baiga’s Favour
Baiga belongs to a tribal community heavily dependent on forest resources for their livelihood and some engage in menial jobs. Education, roads and employment are still to reach the interiors of the region.
She lost her husband when she turned 40 and now lives with her two sons. Her only daughter is now married.
Baiga decided to start her second innings with a colourful attitude, literally.
Happy in their world, her community loves to dress in the brightest and most colourful clothes and lead life with the belief that there is no substitute to hard work.
This is probably the reason why Baiga took up painting at 70, an age when most people retire and indulge in rest. But Baiga, who worked in the fields for most of her life, finds relaxation in painting.
“Painting takes me to another world where I am as free as a bird. When I learnt about a teacher who is willing to teach for free in our village, I decided to give painting a try, something I was never interested in. Yet, on the very first day, I found my passion,” says Baiga.
She joined Ashish Swami, a well-known art teacher and an alumnus of Shantiniketan, West Bengal. He runs his studio ‘Jangan Tasweerkhana’ in several tribal belts of Madhya Pradesh to prevent local cultures and traditions from becoming extinct.
“We have such rich cultures across India that are on the verge of dying. Painting is an effective means to save them. By articulating the local practices or customs in paintings, we can also tell other people about local traditions,” Swami tells TBI.
Almost a decade ago, Swami opened a studio in a small room of Baiga’s village. He teaches painting for free and also helps them get fair monetary value through art dealings. Close to 15 local women have been a part of Swami’s classes for the past ten years.
Swami, particularly enjoys teaching people from Lorha village because of their peculiar imagination that colours the canvas.
“Even if they draw something as basic as a tree, their outlook is so different from the rest. They manage to capture innocence in wild animals and serenity in clouds. Their definition of a perfect nature lies in the harmony or co-existence between trees, birds, animals, water bodies and humans,” he explains.
Initially, Baiga and Swami would be happy with whatever amount the painting would be sold at. But soon, they realised the value of the paintings and stood firm on their quotations.
“Paintings are sold on craft and not on how creative they are. We are trying to change that and promote creativity by taking the painters to exhibitions that take place across India. Currently, paintings by Baiga are valued anything between Rs 300 to Rs 8,000,” he says.
While Baiga is content with the money her paintings are making, it is not the motivating factor behind her passion. For Baiga, its her way of putting her village on the global map and keeping traditions alive.
People like Baiga prove that there is no age to learning, and even nature can educate, one only has to be receptive.
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