germany

Heidelberg



A day trip to Heidelberg to meet some local sketchers. We explored the Karzer, a prison for misbehaving university students, which existed till the beginning of the 19th century. During its last days, students actually wanted to be imprisoned there- mostly to paint their names, portraits and stories on the walls. Favorite quote: 
Weil wir als ehrliche Leute 5 auf der Strasse gefundene Bausteine auf der Polyzei ablieferten, indem wir sie mit der Bezeichnung Fundobjekt in die Wachstube warfen, sitzen wir hier als Märtyrer unserer Ehrlichkeit!
As honest people who´d found 5 bricks on the street, what else could we do but deliver them as found property to the police by throwing them in the guard room?  So we sit here as martyrs of our honesty!


We continued the day with  frozen fingers on the old bridge, then thawing them in the old university lecture hall. Finished it all off with some mulled wine on the christmas market.

USk Treffen Darmstadt






This year i had to cancel my participation to the Symposium in Singapore due to work commitments.
I had Simos Ischia Workshop to look forward to, but that´s October, and a summer without some sort of big Sketching event taking place-impossible. So Birgit and me got together and sarted planning our own event.

A month ago, the first big meeting of Urban Sketchers in Germany took place in Darmstadt, a town just 30 min from Frankfurt/Main. Sixty sketchers came together to draw in the  beautiful art déco quarter of Mathildenhöhe, and some of them traveled quite far- from northern Germany, the Netherlands and even Paris- to be with us. The program included workshops by Urban Sketching veterans such as Omar Jaramillo, Arno Hartmann, Birgit Dreesen and me. We also hat demos by Daniel Nies and Catalina Somolinos  and activities like a Portrait Party (inspired by Paraty) and Drink&Draw just like at the Symposium and lots of sketchbook browsing! After a beautiful and intense weekend, we had a little exhibition of sketchbooks.



end of the year


November sketches on a sunny weekend, the woods in suburb of Mainz and its most important landmark, the Dom as seen from its cloister.


In December, i met up with Birgit to sketch the christmas market, but that failed. Escaped the rain to a café. Then rummaged through Birgits pens and drew the early evening reflections on the cobbles.

After Christmas, Kurze Straße in Göttingen seen from a corner café.

Ambre de Birmanie


It´s too cold for watercolours already so until i fill my waterbrush with vodka, it´s a wash of ink before and after the drawing. This is Würzburg, where they sell mulled wine on the old Bridge over the river main. There are great views towards the Dom and the christmas market as well as the castle in the first sketch.

Wilhelmshöhe


Wilhelmshöhe is a baroque landscape monument in Kassel, Germany. It´s the only thing i ever visit when i´m in Kassel, a city which is not particularly known for being pretty. Is Wilhelmshöhe pretty? It is one of those monumental, slightly ridiculous, neverending projects that european rulers of the 18th century liked to develop in their freetime. In this case, Karl von Hessen- Kassel, and most of his succesors. It is huge, and one can easily spend the entire day walking about, finding cascades, fountains, hidden alcoves, chinese gazebos and artificial ruins.




Landpartie


Starting early for my hike in Dahn, i draw these timberframe houses from a spot in front of the bakery, and some villagers buying their breakfast stop to take a look at what i´m doing.


Barely half an hour later is my first stop: Castles of Dahn. Castle ruins like these are quite common in southwestern Palatinate.They are made of and built on red sandstone and they seem to grow straight out of the ground.


Along the way, some strange breed of cows soak up the sun like it´s spring already.


And the way home.

Fassenacht

 
 

Fastnacht/Carnival in Mainz, everything is decorated in blue, red, yellow and white. Even the statue of Johannes Gutenberg couldn´t escape the notorious cap. The floats are shown before the parade, usually commenting on the current political and social situation in Germany and abroad. This one shows the three wise monkeys, sitting on a EU flag as they watch a refugee ship sink.