Monday, October 24, 2011

Not your average 'Turrets and Domes' tour of Europe

 Incinerator and turbines
Watercolour, crayon and marker
©2011 Charlene Brown

The orderly (and beautifully painted) series of turrets and domes I had envisioned from our river cruise in Europe went off on a tangent in Vienna. I became fascinated with the work of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, a fabulous painter whose work covers several buildings around Vienna, such as the garbage incinerator/district heating plant, Fernwärmewerk Spittelau, I’ve painted here.  In case you’re wondering, it was only when he was promised that the plant would be equipped with the most modern emission-purification technology and that 60,000 apartments would be heated, thus making Vienna's air cleaner, that Hundertwasser, an ardent environmentalist, agreed to do the design. I’ve added some wind turbines, seen on the way out of town on a side-trip to Bratislava, Slovakia, to complete the picture.