Dresden

I recently was in Dresden for a few 'partly sunny' September days. It seems that means 5-10 minutes of sun breaking through moody shrouded skies. Maybe I'm overstating things a little bit. One day did have an hour of sun. Maybe this was all appropriate, though. Dresden has a rich history, known for many years as the "jewel box" along the Elbe, rich in cultural and economic life, adorned with rococo joy underneath heavy wide skies. More recently, it's known for the Allied bombing in the final part of WW2 that destroyed the city and its mostly civilian inhabitants in a firestorm of destruction. Most Americans became familiar with it through Kurt Vonnegut's book 'Slaughterhouse Five'. After the war, this city became part of Eastern Germany, and had its old town reconstructed to look mostly like it was before. So, what's old is new, and what's new is old. Often one old block next to a new one, upon dirt that includes the incinerated bones of former inhabitants. So, for them to say a brooding day is 'partly sunny' is quite optimistic of Dresden. That Germany is now again the strongest economy in Europe also helps the sun shine on this quiet city.
Here are some drawings I did while there. To see more, please visit my Viewbook album. http://nathanielmiller.viewbook.com/album/dresden

Dresden Frauenkirche and its hushed open plaza.

Dresden Frauenkirche, from the other side. The sky always felt like it had a gravity, pressing against the darkened stone.

But then go inside the church, and this is what you see. A joyful rococo celebration!

See that light patch in the sky? That's called 'partly sunny'.

The memory of the past, and it's inclusion into every day life is cemented into the structures, where old dark blocks are pressed against new, lighter ones. 

But then go back out, and you are reminded of the past. Here, in what was a Jewish part of town, they record the past before reconstructing a new building in the old style.

Beer. Small dogs. Rectangular glasses. Outdoor festivals. Welcome to Germany.

Dalmacija

Dalmacija, called "Dalmatia" to those who speak English, is at the Southern extent of Croatia, and is filled with sun bleached islands and rocky beaches that line the salty Adriatic Sea. When my wife and I were spending time with her family there this summer, we wandered for a few days to the town of Komiza on the distant island of Vis. Each day we spent hours swimming in the calm salty waters. At night, while most people promenaded through the small town, we returned to the beach and swam at night, when all colors saturated into each other and the waves sound deeper as they rolled up and down the smooth rocky beach.

A Spanish tourist and her playful companion

A woman has a very gestural method of rinsing the salt from her body.

The mid-day sun bleaches a couple.

And later, they worship the suns pigment.

The Hajduk football team symbol is never far when traveling in Dalmacija.

Night on a Komiza beach, when all is moonlight abstraction.

A family dissolves into the salty night sea.