Meeting Horst

Another week filled with lots of work, blossoms of spring and blossoms of new artworks. And a special encounter during a run. 

I don’t know what was more varied this week, the different jobs on my list or the weather. From rain, cool wind, gray days and those with sunshine and warm temperatures, everything was present. I really enjoyed it all, I just don’t like the wind so much when it keeps knocking over the flower pots on my balcony. On the other hand, I enjoy the rain and the noise it makes in the apartment when it falls on the dormer windows and the large skylight. There is nothing more soothing for me. But of course, at this time of year, the sun’s rays are the highlight. Being in a t-shirt again for the first time, having a coffee outside, eating something on the balcony. It is still mostly dormant, but the clematis is already growing up the trellis at an incredible speed and the dark red leaves of the elderberry are pushing out of the buds. Sometimes I completely forget that it’s still only March. It feels so much like April. And winter, New York, the cold and the darkness seem infinitely far away.

Spring everywhere

As a result, the photos that I took this week are once again characterized by blossoms and flowers and the light spring moods that are currently resonating in everything. Even at work.

One important task checked ☑️

This week I took a big step forward in terms of organizing my upcoming exhibition. There was so much to decide, to describe, to define. Things that are not necessarily one of my strengths, as I always have doubts, am too self-critical and want everything to be perfect. Though the whole process is also quite creative, which of course gives it definitely a joyful part, it feels all the better at the end of this week now that this milestone has been reached.

The story about Horst

Speaking of self-doubt: in my post of week 8, I wrote about how Julia Cameron deals with the critical voices that always interfere with your actions and judge everything from the negative side. She gave this inner critic a name and deals with it like a person you can disagree with. I tried it out for myself and I have to say that it really gives the whole thing a different emphasis. Julia calls her critic Nigel, I have named mine Horst. I know that many of my critical objections are based on thought patterns from my German upbringing and I associate the name Horst with a somewhat dry, harsh and grumpy person who looks at everything critically and sees the negative side first. Besides, I don’t know anyone called Horst in real life.  However, I don’t want to do anyone called Horst an injustice by accusing him of these characteristics. There are certainly a lot of likeable Horsts, but the familiar Horst in me is a grouch!

There he is

When I was jogging past the glass façade of the exhibition halls on Friday, I suddenly had my two me’s visible in front of me and had to laugh. There were actually two shadows running in front of me, one of me and one of Horst. The more obvious of the two shadows of course was definitely my positive self – after all, that part of me always wins! “Hello Horst,” I said to myself, “always keep a low profile, but it’s still nice that you are here!”.

Time for new art works

In addition to all the organizational, programming and housekeeping work I’ve been doing this week, I’ve been working on new Geometrix pieces. 

It’s always so exciting to see how the repetitive arrangement of the combinations of flowers and plant parts merge into a pattern and the individual components lose their significance. I can spend hours arranging, moving and repositioning the individual parts and then enjoy the effect on the final result. The most difficult part of this work is then to choose a version to continue working on as the final one.

Boots made for walkin’

All in all, it was a week that definitely brought me back to Basel. The longer days and warmer temperatures are creating a cheerful mood. I’m already breaking in my new hiking boots, which I bought in winter and with which I hope to be able to go on my first mountain tours in a few weeks’ time. In the meantime, I use them to walk around the city and enjoy the views.

See all Photos of this week