Artist Marie Brozova recalls her public drawing event in Jindrichuv Hradec.
Mostly sunny South Bohemia welcomed us with cold and damp Siberian weather this time, in spite of the calendar, which promised the beginning of summer. I started to make my drawing on a rainy day. The opening day of the exhibition at the 15th Meridian with the mayor Karel Matousek’s speech had to be transported into a café. Colored pencil cannot be dissolved in the rain, but when the paper gets wet, it is no good for drawing.
The public drawing in Jindrichuv Hradec was followed by bad news. The very first day I heard on the radio during breakfast at the pension, that a famous Czech actor, Boris Rösner, died. He was one of my favorite actors – archetypal pied piper of dreams and lovers.
Late in the evening, when I braided my hair, I saw by chance on TV a play about a baroque painter Petr Brandl with Boris Rösner playing the leading role. His performance was breathtaking, especially when Brandl came back home drunk and tried to help his younger fellow-artist Matyas Braun with a sketch for his first important order – the statue of St. Luitgarde, now decorating the Charles Bridge. These two outstanding artists met again after many years, Brandl ended up like a rumbustious alcoholic whereas Braun had a very profitable contract with count Spork and if he wanted to create all the sculptures ordered, he would have to live three human lives. He told Brandl: "I must be at my best even if I am not at my best, because my work must be done."
I feel both of them inside me, freedom-loving unstable Brandl, who despised the guild of painters, and only sometimes, between the pub-crawls, he created a genial piece of art; but also prolific Braun, who, like Michelangelo, knew that his life was too short to get all his work done. "Don’t knock on my door, wait for a while, my fate, there are so many drawings to be done…" like it is said in one of Jaromir Nohavica’s songs.
From the very beginning I was visited by people well known from last year’s public drawing in Jindrichuv Hradec. It was almost impossible to keep my weight, because local residents often brought their home made cookies and cakes, otherwise their favorite artist would surely starve to death.
I chose the mysterious White lady ghost, who is said to walk every night on the roofs in the old center, as the main subject of my new drawing, which was full of Middle Ages legends. You can see both, the day and night in the drawing, and the world of visions and the world of common people blending together. In Jindrichuv Hradec, legends are still very important, people nurture them as their treasures. I was told many of these sometimes gory legends from the distant past. I was lead to some places inhabited by ghosts, and I was introduced to two ghosts living in the stone well situated in the cellar pub at the 15th Meridian.
When I worked on my drawing, many people advised me, what ghosts and fairies I mustn’t forget to draw in particular places. I was also very lucky to visit the bottom of the famous well in the castle courtyard, I had a wonderful view from below through the ferns growing on its wet walls, and above I could see the colorful evening sky. As if I could enter one of my drawings titled "At the bottom of the well" that I drew years ago, and again I had the feeling of imagination blending with reality, so frequent in Jindrichuv Hradec.
Maybe it was because of the unexpectedly cold weather, but many people came complaining about things and the atmosphere of the project was a little bit gloomy. Then one of my regular visitors came, Miss Amaranth as she calls herself, a charming and enigmatic being, you cannot be sure if she is an ordinary mortal, or if she comes through the keyholes from the other dimensions. When I complained to her about all the people complaining, she smiled the way nobody else does, and told me a story.
There was a man, who came to a strange town, walked its streets and bumped into an old man resting by a fountain and asked him: "What are the people here like? In my hometown, there are thieves, cheaters, villains, you must be careful not to get hurt. All bad, I tell you." And the old man thought about it and then after a while he said: "Well, there are people like that in our town too." The time went on, and another stranger came to the fountain and met the old man. He also asked him about the people living in the town. "And what about people living here? In my hometown, there are nice folks, warmhearted, honest. They will help you, when you get in trouble." And the old man thought about it for a while and then he answered: "Well, there are people like that in our town too."
Every evening we followed the same ritual. After dinner we went for a coffee to a small cafe in the old-time fashion, decorated with old bicycles and velocipedes, we sat on the same wooden bench, and because we were the only customers, the waiter put on always the same record, and we were listening to Sinead O’Connor singing the Raglan Road in her heartbreaking voice. We watched the sun going down, casting a golden light on the cracked walls of the opposite houses, and finally we had an ice cream after a hot freshly ground coffee from Peru.
Then we went for a walk around the castle, along the Nezarka river, we stood for a while in the small island garden, a little bit neglected in the romantic way, by the Beer Sanatorium hidden in the narrow streets of the burg. Another stop was the bridge by the Nezarka Gate where I could compare the real image of the castle with my drawing growing bigger day by day. The last part of our walk led up the steep stony stairs to the old center around the church, where we lived at the 15th Meridian.
When it is possible, at least a little bit, I never miss the chance to step for the second time into the same river.
Usually I bring a book with me to every project. I like to read it in the evening and somewhat bridge this hectic course of days of my public drawing. This time I took the book Three Talents, old Chinese essays on painting, poetry and calligraphy. "Gaining fame barricades the free flow of our visions that are leading our heart and hand, brush and ink at the instant of creation." Petr Brandl knew it well, but Matyas Braun knew about his fate following hot on his heels, counted the days of his prolific life as wasted opportunities to make the full use of his potential.
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where you’ll find both the drawings created during public events and in the studio.
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