A visit to the Windy City

It’s interesting how different the individual weeks can be. After the last two were rather monotonous, this week was packed with variety and new things.

At first though, it didn’t look like that at all. After feeling tired all day on Monday, I got a bad cold in the evening. It had me totally under control for the next two days. The nights in particular were very unpleasant, since my blocked nose made it difficult for me to sleep. As a result, I had to cancel a planned trip to Boston and spent the days working in the studio as usual, interspersed with a few short walks.

Days in the studio

A large part of my working time was spent organizing my upcoming exhibition. On the one hand I selected the pictures that I would like to exhibit and on the other hand I worked on new pictures that I would like to realize for the exhibition. In order to break up the work on the screen, I repeatedly took breaks to work on my collage, which I was then able to complete it at the end.

Inspiring advice from an old friend

I usually listen to music when I’m working, but this week I switched to podcasts after I happened to read in a newsletter from Chase Jarvis that he had done an interview with Julia Cameron about her new book “Living the artist’s way”. I owe so much to Julia Cameron and her book “The artist’s way”, which I came across by chance many years ago. It has not only positively influenced my artistic career, but has had an impact on my whole life. The morning pages have been a daily start to my days ever since and this non-judgmental reflection on myself continues to give me so much. Among other things, the podcast was about the critical voices that often come up in your head and make you feel bad or insecure. I found Julia’s way of dealing with these voices very inspiring:

I think we all have an inner critic… a harsh voice that says things like, ‘You must have discipline’,” Julia says. Even the creative maverick herself has one. She calls him Nigel.
“Nigel, uh, is always saying hurtful things to me. Nigel says, ‘Oh, Julia, you’re boring’, or ‘Oh, Julia, you’re repetitive’, or ‘Oh, Julia, fill in the blank’, and I have learned over the years that Nigel backs down if you confront him. What we [need to] do with this critical inner voice is we need to not believe it but to disbelieve it. To say to the inner voice ‘Thank you for sharing, but I’m going to keep right on writing as I have been writing’.

Julia Cameron

You can listen to the complete podcast on Jase Charvis’ website.

A weekend in Chicago

The week was quite a slow one due to the cold (I didn’t go jogging or do any workouts or yoga), but then picked up again on Friday when my cold subsided. We flew to Chicago for the weekend, where my partner is setting up a new showroom for his products. I was really looking forward to the trip as I hadn’t been out of New York for ages and didn’t know Chicago at all.

After a two-hour flight that took us over Lake Eire and Lake Michigan, a bit over Canada and Detroit, we arrived in the windy city. As usual, I was glued to the airplane window and was simply delighted to see all these places with my own eyes from high above.

I was so pleasantly surprised by Chicago. In contrast to New York, the city is so relaxed, clean and airy that I immediately felt very comfortable. However, it lived up to its nickname Windy City. It was freezing cold and after we landed in the sunshine in the afternoon, a real snowstorm hit in the evening.

Sightseeing

Saturday was sunny again and we were able to go on a short sightseeing tour of the city center. Unfortunately, the famous sculpture, Cloude Gate by Anish Kapoor was not fully accessible due to renovation work and we also had to enjoy the fountains without water. Nevertheless, Millennium Park is an inspiring place to take a walk. Because of the icy cold, we always had to warm up somewhere. So the Apple Store at the Chicago River Bank came in handy before we continued our tour on the Riverwalk along the Chicago River. A river like this running through all the skyscrapers makes the city special and I envied the joggers jogging along the banks towards the lake. 

Spectacular views

Our hotel, The Robey, was located in the only tall building in Bucktown, a district northwest of downtown. From the hotel’s rooftop bar, you have a breathtaking view of the city and skyline on one side and the endless plains of Illinois on the other. This view was perfected by the full moon rising out of Lake Michigan into the clear winter sky on Saturday evening, while we enjoyed a drink.

North-eastern landscapes

Then a smooth flight back to New York City on Sunday. From the rectangular gridded plains of the Midwest to the forested, hoarfrost-covered hills of New York State, which reminded me of an endless black forest, with the occasional fields and villages in the valleys and the wind turbines. Then the forest became fields and the towns became more and more and after a turn of the plane the towers of Manhattan appeared on the horizon. A perfect end to a great weekend.

See all Photos of this week