Hello Everyone!!!

Many artists today are incorporating Upcycling: the  ritual of  breathing beauty into rather mundane, and often unappealing,  discarded things.   Upcycling is a step above recycling.  According to those in the know, Upcycling ventures to please and delight.   

Joanna Vasconcleos, a Portuguese artist, who lives and works in Lisbon, is internationally acclaimed for her upcycled sculptures.    www.joanaVasconcelos.com    Her Cinderella slipper made of pot lids.

Then there is Margaux Lange who transforms Barbie dolls into jewelry.   Take a look at her interesting creations.www.margauxlange.com

Up-cycling became the modus operendi for Colina Flora, now an Eco-guesthouse.  We had dreams of acquiring a lovely antique ruin to renovate for our  planned B&B.  After months of searching,  with the realization that  antique houses were beyond our means,  we purchased a small, beautiful piece of land located in the heart of the wonderful Sintra Natural Park with an antique ruin of a windmill and great ocean views, and a very esthetically challenged 1970s country cottage.   The antique windmill is a future  project, but first we tackled the seriously design challenged house. We up-cycled fabric, tiles, ugly lamps, wooden walls, sinks slip-covered  and refashioned big bulky pieces of furniture.  Whew! and after 6 months of intense labor -we still have a ways to go- our Eco-guesthouse is smiling, small, yet lovely and open for business

Variations on the shades of boring brown ( I like great deep browns – lots of wonderful browns out there).  We opened up the space, painted with clay paint ( a terracotta color was aimed  for,  but my mixing   ended up with peach.  With guests booked, the peach went on the walls.)  Amazing what a bit of paint achieves. 

 I removed heavy, dusty and very outdated lamps and created replacements out of  a torn wool blanket and,  with the help of a blacksmith, reworked the metal of the old lamps to form bases for the new lamps. www.colinaflora.com for pictures and information. 

Eduardo Souto de Mouro, a Portuguese architect form Porto, has been awarded the worldwide highest honor for an architect: the Pritzker Architecture Prize.  We have been admiring his creation of the Paula Rego Museum in Cascais.  This is the second time a Portuguese architect has won this coveted award. In 1992 it was Alvaro Siza.  On Sunday mornings most museums in Portugal are free to the public.  We grasp this opportunity and really appreciate the fascinating exhibits.  If you visit Sintra before the beginning of July consider visiting the Sintra Museum of Contemporary Art.  We just viewed the annual World Press Cartoon Exhibit there.  Great!!.

Colina Flora eco-guesthouse is a great place to use as your vacation base for visiting  historic Sintra and Cascais.

Check out our website for more details www.colinaflora.com

Hello Everyone!!!   We love Lisbon´s  swinging art scene.  Lots of museums to explore, cool galleries often tucked into unobtrusive side streets, and some very creative artists such as Joao Louro.  He  found his inspiration in Dadaism and has evolved to being a sculptor of words and ideas.  He creates for his audience,rather than the collector or himself.  Key themes pop up repeatedly in his exhibits, reshaped to challenge his audience : image, text, vertigo and frame.  Check out his next exhibit: “In God We Trust” May 2011 At the Bes Art Gallery, Bes Bank,  in Pombal Square, Lisbon.  www.joaolouro.com

Hello Everyone!
Earth Day 2011 is tomorrow.  Earth Day could really be everyday if we just all could get atuned to doing simple,  random acts of greeness.  www.50waystohelp.com sites lots of easy, little tasks.  If everyone were doing them would make a huge difference.  

The Earth Day Organization and Facebook are requesting  people to pledge an act of greeness.  So consider joining folks around the world by pleding your daily act of greeness which can be as quick  as turning off unneeded lights or the computer www.abillionactsofchange.com

My pledge is to pick up garbage on the beaches.  Portugal´s beaches are kept very clean and pristine.  But after a storm there is always quite a bit of stuff that has washed ashore.  I often wonder what the fish are thinking about all the litter floating about their habitat.  I have read gruesome tales of the effects of fish swallowing bits of plastic bags etc.  

Stay well, be green and go slower!!  aasta

Hello Everyone!
Walking is healthy – no buts or ifs about that. Walking vacations go up a notch, since they unite the well-being factor with enjoying a slow moving break from daily craziness, thus experiencing and really seeing whats underfoot. Extra bonus: its the most sustainable way to travel.  Go to www.worldwalks.com  a great site listing walking trips everywhere.

Colina Flora has great week long guided and self-guided walking vacations. Come walk any week of the year.  The mild Mediterranean climate boasts wonderful walking climate all year round. There are flora and fauna unique to every season and the birds serenade it all.
We have composed a week long hiking/walking adventure:
Day 1. Arrive with our airport shuttle service, predinner drinks, candle light dinner, 2 hour night walk
Day 2. Walk to Peninha Chapel, once a popular pilgramage site, from Colina Flora. Moderate 3 hour walk to this 17th century baroque site dedicated to Saint Saturin, set on a summit, the second highest point in the Sintra hills (486 meters). The views are amazing. Picnick lunch.
Day 3. Coastal walk along the craggy cliffs, rolling hillside and pristine beaches,  through lovely, quaint villages. Lunch in Almocageme. Candlelight dinner at Colina Flora.
Day 4. Walk to Conventos dos Capuchos, a Capuchin monastary from the 16th century. One of our favorite places in the Sintra hills with its amazing warren of hobbit like cells, chapels and rooms.  Thought provoking contrast to the opulance of the Sintra Palaces. Picnick lunch.
Day 5. Free Day. Candlelight dinner and night hike.
Day 6. Shuttle to the incredible Pena Palace and Park which inspired Walt Disney´s Disneyland castles. Explore the fairy tale palace, then walk in the park created by King Ferdinand, the artist king in the 19th century. Continue to the Castelo dos Mouros dating back to the 9th century. Picnick lunch.
Day 7. Historic Sintra walking tour of several of Sintra´s wonderful palaces. Lunch in Sintra. Afternoon in Monserrat Park, a rambling and romantic 30 HA of woodlands, gardens and moorish style mansion first created in the 18th century by a wealthy English merchant.
Day 8. Farewells and shuttle to airport.   For more information www.colinaflora.com

Hello Everyone!!
Pablo Picasso and the German conceptual artist, Joseph Beuys, both believed that every person is an artist. The problem for most of us is retaining our creativity as adults. Consciously bringing creativity back into our lives, be it visual arts, music, cooking, gardening, writing, etc, often helps dealing with the negative issues of daily life. Creativity encourages the joy factor, the wow factor, the fun factor and is known to help release stress. Classes and retreats are great ways to reconnect with the inner artist. Check out www.theretreatcompany.com  for a great listing of retreats worldwide.

Colina Flora´s Creative Fulfillment Retreats are special since they take a holistic approach, coaching not only the revival of creative energy with hands on artistic adventures, but also pampering body and soul with delicious organic vegetarian meals (we do serve fish to diehard carnivores) and great smoothies, yoga sessions, massages, the benefits of hanging out in a beautiful country and being able to tune out/chill out/unplug yourself.
Colina Flora will be offering its Creative Fullfillment Retreats on the following dates are:
June 5 to June 12, 2011
July 16 to July 23, 2011
August 23 to September 4, 2011
October 2 to October 9, 2011
These retreats run for 7 days and include 7 nights with breakfast, 6 lunches, 4 candlelight dinners, airport and beach shuttle, 6 morning hands on art classes in simple bookbinding with introduction to art journaling, felting, collage/papier mache, and meditative knitting, 2 massages, morning yoga classes, 2 night hikes, sightseeing in Sintra, fresh air, wonderful rural setting with ocean views, amazing sunsets……..relaxing in paradise!!! The Creative Fulfillment Retreats are taught by experienced artists/artisans who enjoy sharing their creative experiences/know how.

A sample day during the Creative Fulfillment Retreat:
8 to 8:45 yoga class
8:30 to 10 breakfast
10 to 1 hands on art class
1 to 2 lunch
2 to 4 free time to be at the beach, pool, in the studio or at a cafe
4 to 5:30 studio time
5:30 to 7.30 relax with predinner drinks
7.30 to 9:30 candlelight dinner or dinner out in the town
10 to midnight night hike

Check out our website www.colinaflora.com  for more information and prices or send an email to thecolinaflora@hotmail.com for more information
Minimum of 2 maximum of 8.

Renew Retreats will also be running a retreat at Colina Flora from June 15 to June 19, 2011.
Take your whole life to the next level by signing up for the Renew Retreat. Four days packed with interactive hands-on seminars for you to learn to make the changes you desire in life. Learn to re-connect with your inner self, clean up your eating lifestyle, remove obstacles to healing, and rediscover your dreams. Two expert coaches will be with you even after the retreat to help encourage and guide you for the following six months of this journey. Come Renew with us! More information on the Renew Retreat Facebook page.