Is it Fog ? Are they Clouds? Who cares !

The valley is covered by a heavy layer of fog.
Above the fog-line there is blue sky and sun shine.
These images should really be viewed in Large Format.

The setting sun gives the fog a pinkish hue.

Our two "house mountains":
The Petzen and the Hoch Obir

red and blue and white on white

or: the Deacon's overalls.

Karlskirche in Vienna

The "Karlskirche" was erected between 1716 and 1737
in accordance to plans by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach
and completed by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.
I visited this edifice in 2008 when it was in the throes of a major restauration.
Due to the scaffolding erected for the restauration of the ceiling pictures
I was able to come up close to these wonderful images.

A restaurer at work.

please view pictures below in the LARGE FORMAT

An Angel burns a book, obviously written by a non-believer.
Was this the first act of censorship? The first "book burning"?

The nourishing of the people:
left u/c: an angel offers a cup to a thirsting man.
A mother, guarded by angels suckles her child.
angels throw food into the outstreched hands of supplicants.
a woman feeds a sick person.
I have simnply described the happenings, and make no comment as to their
religious connotations.

Karlskirche in Vienna -2-

Angels carry the blood stained Cross of Christ
to Heaven.

The damnation of arch-angel Lucifer to Hell

The ascention of St. Charles

It is wonderful that these believes
gave such inspiration to the artist.

Steeples and Churches

The small "bone house" at the entrance to the church yard.

Praying must make you thirsty.
There is a "Gasthaus", a pub,
close to this church...almost part of it.

The little church at "Saager", dating from the 13th Century.

Line and lines and angles and angles.
Look at it in the enlarged style!!!

Giselbert HOKE

I was extremely fortunate to meet one of Austria's
foremost artists, to be invited to his home and studio
and to be permitted to photograph almost 100 of his paintings.
I will show here but 3 of his works. All of them are now
being worked into a PSG slide show with musical accompaninent
and if I obtain the artist's permission I will post them on my web-site
on photodex.

At one point in our four hour discussions he denied being an abstractionist.
and he said this:

"An artist working in the Abstract, must take an object and depict it in the Abstract.

For me, the Picture is the Object."

I am not easily enthused about "modern art". I must admit, however,

that the work of Giselbert Hoke impressed me profoundly.

I look forward to completing my PSG show, consisting in total of 104 images.

I hope I will obtain the artists permission to post it on my Photodex website.

Autumn in the Valley of the Roses - Herbst im Rosental

There is a particularly wonderful area in Lower Carinthia:
The "Rosental" (Valley of the Roses), which I visited each time
I came to Austria. Now I live there...I can be in the middle of
the Rosental within 20 Minutes. This is the first time, however,
that I have seen it in Fall. Its Rolling Hills,

covered with a variety of trees sporting "Fall Colours",
its villages nestled at the foot of the mountains or along the shores
of the river Drau, give the valley an almost somber look.

Eine besonders schoene Gegend in Unterkaernten
ist das Rosental, welches ich bei jeder meiner vielen Besuche
in Oesterreich immer gerne aufsuchte. Jetzt lebe ich da.
Innerhalb von 20 Minuten bin ich in der Mitte des Rosentales.
Heuer ist's das erste Mal, dass ich es im Herbst sehe.
Die rollenden Huegel, von verschiedenen Baumarten bewachsen,
die kleinen Ortschaften am Fusse der Berge, oder am Ufer des Drauflusses gelegen,
geben dem sonst froehlichen Tal ein ernstes Gesicht.