Krakow 2014

Christmas and New Years in Poland after four years! And Krakow is just as beautiful as ever!

Poland

I was born in Krakow and try and return there every couple of years, to the apartment that I grew up in till I was 9 years old. The view from the 8th floor is west; over the old old city, lots of rooftops and amazing sunsets through Krakow’s haze.

My favorite time to go is at Christmas when I really feel like I am returning to my roots amongst the family that I still have in Poland. One of my favorite places to visit is the cemetery, very much a Polish tradition and part of everyday life.
Two of my grandparents are buried in Krakow and two in Bochnia, and part of the Christmas visit is to light candles and lay flowers on the family graves like ever other Pole.

England, Ireland and Wales

I Spent a year in England in 2005; mostly in London but I also travelled all over England with my highschool friend Jenny whom I reconnected with after almost 20 years.

What made the biggest impression on me during that unforgettable trip were Anthony Gormley’s sculptures. The steel, 20 meter (66ft) tall Angel of the North in Gateshead and equally as impressive, the 100 tidal cast-iron men installation titled “Another Place” on Crosby beach near Liverpool.

Later on, I travelled through Wales and Ireland, and it was the skyscapes that struck me the most.These led to a series of my first horizontal large scale paintings; in line with the expansive skies of the Isles.