As some of you may know, I've been traveling through Europe this summer. I started out in Darmstedt, Germany where my Hoffmann roots were from. I found out that this area was an important part of the Art Deco movement around 1880-1910 and even found a painter from my gene-line Heinrich Hoffmann. I then made my way over to Stuttgart where Melina and I met a fellow painter Alfonso and Tina Urbina. Alfonso had some great works in his studio and it's always nice to smell Linseed oil and Turpentine.

We then worked our way over to Sumiswald Switzerland where my gene-line traces back to the late 1600's under my mother's maiden name Schurch. We found the old family farm and best of all, found out my distant relative Schurch was imprisoned in the castle (ca 1703) where we found his name carved into the stone in his cell! Moving experience.

Then we moved down to Montpellier, France for a few days before making it to Barcelona Spain where we were able to catch a spectacular exhibit of Picasso's newly surfaced self-portraits in the Museu Picasso. What an inspiration to see and Barcelona is one of my new favorite cities.

Watercolor from original Schurch farm circa 1670