This weekend the bravest from magiceuropeanshores team went about 200 km out of Riga to join snow sculpture making workshops in a small Latvian city : Līvāni. We joined with another students’ group from Riga.
All our friends, colleagues and parents say we were crazy! Weather forecast predicted it would be -26° C !!!
Anyway, we decided to go … and we won 
The weather was really cold, but everything there was prepared so that we only felt the warmth – people were so kind : all the time near the sculpture place – warm room with hot tea, coffee, pies, …
We were absolutely new in snow sculpture making -T here we learned a lot of sculpture making secrets 
Latgale Art and Craft Centre
Our team – Madara, Liene, Kristiana, Zanda. At first we chose the snow pile – especially prepared to make sculpture.
Our team near the chosen snow pile
From time to time going inside to warm up, to drink hot tea, to eat lots of tasty things …
Throughout the day: hot tea, coffee, apples, ... a warm place and warm people
And of course – traditionally winter fun games – children from Daugavpils shared with us their snow mattress
winter joy
Winter joy
Winter landscape
beautiful lanscape
Over the frozen river Daugava : typical Latvian lonely house. People traditionally don’t live in villages, they live in secluded family houses more or less far away from other houses – in forests, on river banks, on field edges, ..
Latvian typical landscape with country house
People continued working on sculptures till late evening
Lithuanian masters work professionally
We too work professionally 
Andrejs from the other Riga team help Madara
Work didn't stop till darkness
Next day – the last polishing works
vegetable grater is the best to finish works !
Last polishing with water
Friendly Riga group photo with our finished team Frog princess !
Teacher Vija and Andrejs with snow cat
We are cat lovers
Would you like see what others did?
Snow mole
Snow duck
Big Head
Boys from Rezekne (Latgale city) make that amazing Ice Age personage !
Lithuanians make Egle - girl from a beautiful famous Lithuanian legend
And much more …
All good things sometimes come to an end … came the time to go home …
Next year we will return
Train to Riga
Map – how to reach Līvāni (East Latvia – Latgale):
My, my! -26°C! I agree with your parents and friends! I think I would have died! You are crazy
BUT … What a lot of fun and great activity! I don’t know whose sculpture I like best! The cat maybe!! Strange for a cat lover, isn’t it?
You are very brave and I admire your fighting spirit! Your struggle against the frozen weather is just “out of this world”, outstanding!
HAT IN HAND, guys!
I cannot believe it!!!
A great “BRAVO” to all of you!!!
We have also low degrees these days…but not -26!!!
How long can you stay out?
I think that it is worst if there is strong wind too!!!
Best wishes from Greece!!!
Unbelievable! I got frozen just seeing the pictures.
Congratulations Tanja to you , the teachers and the kids, for the freezing
activity and the beautiful results. It looks so unusual for us living in the
Mediterranean area. Was it a competition? Did you get any prize?
Wow Latvians! Your really brave latvian soul gave us a very strong example showing what man can do despite all difficulties! Thanks a lot for the beautiful pics you sent us to enjoy from our warm room! As Margherita says, for us Northerns, being there looks like a death sentence!
Enjoy your freezing winter with smile and creativity!
Was it a competition?
The most impressive post on this blog?
And the winner is…
LATVIAN TEAM!!!
In French, our pupils would call your week-end… “un truc de ouf”= an activity for “nuts”
Marie-France…
in “un truc de ouf” there is an idea of admiration, or respect, that misses in “an activity for nuts”… Eh oui… Lucas proposes: “an outstanding stuff”… Experts go on discussing…!!!
“Outstanding stuff” doesn’t give the crazy dimension of going out when the temperature is – 26°C!
Why not write Tanja’s kids activity is an outstanding one for nuts! May I reming you that “ouf” in French has its roots in the word “fou” (crazy) , just change place to the letter f and you have “ouf”!
Interesting debate on one word qualifying Tanja’s day out with her kids!
Waouw! La seule vision de ces images donnent froid des pieds à la tête! J’admire le courage et la détermination des ces jeunes filles qui ont osé braver le froid et aller jusqu’au bout de leur aventure.
Bravo !
Wow! Just looking at these photos freezes me from head to foot! I admire the young ladies’ bravery and determination who were daring enough to get out in the sharp cold and get on with their activity.
Bravo!
Gabriel
Bravo!! I find that you are very brave to make these sculptures when it is -26 °C… My favourite is the charcter of the age of ice!! And thank you for having included it in the photos… It is funny to look at!!
What a lot of snow! Brrr!
j’adore le lit moi sortir par ce froid -26°C! Je ne le ferais pas car
il faut du courage pour sortir par ce temp si froid en hiver. Vraiment bravo à tous!
I love my bed when it is freezing. I don’t go out when it is freezing so hard ( never in Brittany). You must be brave to get out in such cold weather. Bravo!
Quel courage d’aller dehors où la température n’atteint que -26° !
Vos sculptures sont vraiment très belles, je ne pense pas que je pourrais mieux faire ! Bravo.
Et je dis : Vive la neige !
Hw brave you are to go outside when the temperature is blow -26°C!
Your sculptures are really very beautiful, I don’t think that I can’t make them !Bravo.
And I say : Long live the snow !
It is enormous, there is really a lot of snow, and it seems to be freezing cold too! The ice statue representing the Lithuanian legend is very beautiful, I think.
wwwhaa!! These sculptures are beautiful.I like the snow duck.But… Just a question: Did you really go out and outside when the temperature was -26°C? It’s very cold!!!
Quelle créativité ! Les sculptures sont magnifiques comme on dit en France “chapeau!”J’adore la sculpture de Scrat dans l’Age de Glace très réussi
You are very imaginative! Your sculptyres are fantastic and as we say in France ” Hat in hand”. I Love the sculpture representing Srat in the film “The Age of Ice”
- 26 °! Vous avez du courage de sortir dehors dans de telles conditions!
- 26°C! You are brave to go out in such conditions!
Bon travail et merci de nous avoir fait partager vos belles sculptures.
Very good job and thanks for sharing with us
Wow!! What nice sculptures !! You are really very daring considering the temperature!! it ‘s very nice to share with us your experience and your smashing photos!! Bravo ,once again !!:)
Wow ! There is a lot of snow in your country and it is very attractive! It’s a pity that it is not the same in Brest ! I love Scrat in The age of Ice .
WOOOW !
So many nice comments !!!! Thank you a lot
Yeees! it was great experience …
No No – it was not a competition – just for fun ! Everybody can take part in it. We were all together: children, students, parents, professional artists and craftsmen. Very nice possibilities to talk, to introduce ourselves, to learn from each other. No competition, no stress, just positive emotions
About -26°C
Not so bad after all!
- First, Livani is situated far from the sea, because here isa continental climate. When we got to Riga, it was -10°C and felt the cold more than Livani -26°C
- Then, all the time , every moment when felt discomfortable, we went inside to eat something tasty and drink hot tea
- A third element was , not to be cold, we moved all the time (not fast, because we didn’t want cold air to get inside our body) just don’t stay still, move all time
- A fourth element , we used warm natural clothes (synthetic clothes would have killed us!)
- Finally , people around were sincere – it made us feel warm
I understand very well what you mean by “positive emotions – it made us feel warm”. It can be seen on your photos: big, big smiles on each face! XD
A “technical” question though: what do you wear as “warm natural clothes”? Hand-made woolen pullovers and gloves? What kind of wool? I’m very curious because I love knitting!!!
Exactly ! Positive emotions made us Warm
I love knitting too! Especially things with ornaments – gloves, stockings, pullovers … but I have not time for it now …
Natural I mean sheep wool and cotton are the best. No acrilyc, no elastan etc…. Today is not easy find pure natural things.
very warm and natural !
Cotton and flannel underwear and sheep wool pullovers, gloves and stockings.
Strange that people change good natural things to imitative
All that modern expensive special wear are very nice and elegant, but they don’t breathe normally (anyway it is wriitten they must breathe!)
The best are grandparents’clothes
By the way – last night in all Latvia was between -25 and -30 C
It is not normal. Normal is from -5°C to -10° C
This is a very long and cold winter in Latvia.
Hello Tanja,
It is said, and I can well believe it, that our winters are going to be colder and colder because of climate change and the slowing down of the Gulf Stream!
anyway … I hope something will change and it will not happen … Climate change will change the cold !!!!
THANK YOUU for soo nice words to us!!!!!!!!
Yes, it was very cold but not for our artist spirits in theese beautiful winter days!! That was cool and a little bit extreme too! 
)
It is great that you like these pictures, and our teacher is a great photographer!!
We had a really good time in Livani!!
Thanks to our best teacher- TANJA!!
Hi Liene,
Yes, you have done a fantastic job and your artist spirit beat against the cold!
These ice and snow sculptures are wonderful!
My favourite is the frog princess
But all of them are well-done!
Ces sculptures de neige et de glace sont magnifiques !
Ma favorite est la sculpture avec une princesse grenouille
Mais elles sont toutes bien réussites !
Impressionnnt, vraiment très impressionant. Ces sculptures sont énormes et bien réalisées.
Impressive, very impressive. These scupltures are enormous and well done.
A big cheer for the artists and their icy creatures!!!!!!!
It’s beautiful when it’s snowy
You are lucky to have snow, we only had 2 days.
In what I understand they sell snow sculptures, don’t they ?
You’re crazy to go outside with a temperature as low but I saw that it was really worth it ( the photos are great) Bravo c’est magnifique!
Vous êtes fous d’aller dehors avec une température aussi basse mais vu ce que vous avez fait, ça valait vraiment le coup. Bravo c’est magnifique!
Vous êtes chanceux d’avoir de la neige, nous n’en avons eu que pendant 2 jours . D’après ce que j’ai compris, ils vendent les sculptures de glace n’est-ce pas?
No Edin No ! Nothing is purchased and nothing is sold here ! No marketing, no ads, no material interest.
Just for fun
That is what I like here.
Sculptures will stay near Craft center till Spring. People from Livani and Livani guests will come here and enjoy them for free
Thanks for so many and so sincere comments
Vive la neige !!! Les paysage et les sculptures sont fantastiques. Vous êtes des GRANdS artistes . Couvrez-vous bien pour ne pas attraper un rhume.
Long live the snow !!!! Sculptures and landscapes are fantastic. You are GREAT artists. Put on a big sweaert if you don’t want to catch a cold.
Brrrr! -26° C !!! But from your beautiful pictures snow seems soft and warm! What fun with snow mattress! I wanted to be with you!
Very beautiful your Frog princess, Latvian team!
You seem to have a lot of fun in all that snow!
The sculptures are very impressive, congratulations!
Vous avez l’air de bien vous amuser dans toute cette neige !!
Les sculptures sont très impressionnantes,félicitations !
WoW! You’ve a lot of snow compared to us here!
It was very cold! But I’m sure it was fun!
Oh, la la! Vous avez eu beaucoup de neige par rapport à nous ici !
Il devait faire froid ! Mais ça devait aussi être très amusant !
Un seul mot ! ENORME !!!!!!!!!!!! J’ai trop envie de faire des sculptures de neige moi aussi !
Franchement bravo !!
One word! HUGE !!!!!!!!!!!! I want to make snow sculptures too!
Frankly bravo!
Ces sculptures sont sublimes !Vous avez eu de la chance d’avoir beaucoup de neige l’hiver …
These sculptures are sublime! You’ve been lucky to have lots of snow in winter …
Sorry Tanja but I had a problem with the meaning of the word “workshop”
and once again the snow scupltures are great and nice!
ah … I mean “workshop” it is when people work in a common place, with a common spirit, they work on creative objects.
I like name our animation film studio “animation workshop” – because people work creative, everybody realize personal film, by working exchange ideas, helping each other ….
mmmmm …
I would like to see you all in that snow sculptures workshop !!!!
Really ! The cold is not as terrible as it looks
yes, I must agree – pictures are amazing! I could have also gone but I was afraid of such temperatures. Plus days ago it got colder :p but probably next time when there will be something similar I will join as well!
our team is really great and it’s always lots of fun with them! No matter where we go together 
Your snow sculptures are very well made and I think it must have taken you take time to sculpt them. We don’t have enough snow in Brest to make as big and beautiful sculptures!
I love these sculptures ! They’re very beautiful even if they are very cold !
You are graet, guys! I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it! But next time, right?
Oh, que c’est bien fait, à -26° moi je préfère rester dans mon lit bien au chaud….!
Good job but when it is – 26°C , I prefer to be in bed…