Sunday, July 27, 2014

The big russia trip















Here are sketches from the three week long Russia trip. The Indo- Russian friendship during the cold war introduced me to The USSR. The country with funny mirrored letters. We grew up reading books from MIR publication, from the detailed discription of Russian life and culture in  Maxim Gorky's "Childhood" , to the introductiuon to the Space programme through "Sputnik" Magazine. Apart from looking for some signs of the communist past and the love for Art from the Soviet era  I didn't have much of a plan and it was nice to let  it unfiold itself in the three weeks I spent there.

Kremlin and the Assumption cathedral





























The wait to see the onion shaped domes is over, they are all over the place, I sketched my first set at "the assumption cathedral" The kremlin has red walls with towers at regular intervals and houses several cathedrals, museums, towers, gardens and palaces. Welcome to moscow!

St. Basils Cathedral






















Nothing can prepare you for this bizzare mix of colours and forms, one has to see it in reality to believe how the principals of rhythm, harmony, contrast, balance can be simply thrown out of the window. I haven't picked up the courage to paint this .

Godzilla hostel moscow


The red Square


The visit to the red october chocolate factory complex


Anothe of Zurab Tseretelis ugly structures


Boat ride on Moskowa


by Zurab Tseretelis "Peter the great" sculpture


Moscow


Red square seen from the bridge on Moskowa


Regional train to Vladimer






























The surreal train ride from Mosciow to Vladimer. There were people selling stuff like on Indian trains but the difference was that they were equipped with headseats with  microphone, the icing on the cake was when this guy arrived with a proper microphone and a boombox and started singing, it was like a concert in the train, nobody except me was tryng hard not to laugh.

Suzdal















The pretty little town of Suzdal, a stream flows through the town and roughly 12000 people live here.

Nativity of the virgin Catedral















This UNESCO world heritage site is like an illustration from a fairytale book. The blue onion shaped domes with stars on them set on top of  white plastered walls

Wooden church, Suzdal


Babushka


Wine tasting















Probably the worst decision to go for local wine tasting, the stuff was like some sugar syrup and gave me a bad stocmach.

Cathedral of Transfiguration


The wooden bridge across the stream and the old church


View from the hostel window


the traditional band


Kideksha


Suzdal











The churches remind me of the childrens book from Mir publication which were 
so much a part of our childhood.

The monastry across the river


bicycle trip around Suzdal


Cultural centre, suzdal


the grandmothers at the bus stop















There was a three hour halt at a place called Ivanovo, I decided to sketch some of
the Babushkas(grandmothers) in their laud printed dresses waiting at the bustop.

The local touristic paradise, weekend street party
















Wodden church, Plyos


by the Volga


I want


Plyos


The ex cosmonaut













So far all the taxi rides have been with Consmonauts, the guy didn't speak any
English and kept elboying me if he wanted to say something and drove like a
madman.

Second sketchbook begins with a trip to Kargopol
















Bell tower


View from the river.















The old church and the bell tower seen from the river. The fishing rides in the
boat were a pleasant surprise.

The homestay in Kargopol


Vodka boys















Got invited to this party by teh river by some locals, fish soup, the legendary car "lada" and
vodka shots of course!People in this part of the world are simply wonderful.

The room in the fishermans hut


Lake Lakshmo, Kenzero National Park














Fishermans hut















This Cottage calle dthe Fishermans hut was right by the lake, with no other buildings or 
structures around. This indeed was special!

Evening in the fishermans hut


The old church


Excursion















The excursion was unlike anything that I'm used to, especially with the tour guide dressed
up like she was off to a shiopping mall. The boat ride was the highlight of the excursion with 
big guy Archie asking us to join him and his collegues on his boat.

By the lake


Tranquility















The evening at the tranquil Lake Lakshmo, this definately was a welcome 
change from the normal touristy places.

Sleep


Demons in the head