Ilha Grande



These are some sketches of Ilha grande, situated between Rio and São Paulo. We enjoyed some days at the beach, dining out and listening to an impromptu jam of forró musicians. But there is more to this island than beautiful beaches, because the island´s history is very dark.
Ilha Grande went from being a main trade center for displaced slaves in the early 18th century to a quarantine sick bay for european immigrants for fear they would bring cholera to Brazil. Then it became a leper colony before being turned into a prison island.


A fascinating place on the island is Dois Rios, a nowadays mostly deserted village surrounding former prison Colônia Penal Cândido Mendes. Access to the village is not particularly easy, as the only way to get there is to hike 4 hours back and forth. There is a bus from Dois Rios to Vila do Abraão, the island´s main town, but its use is restricted. No toursits allowed. Visitors entering town have to be signed in and out of a list, as noone but local residents are allowed to remain overnight.


The ghost town holds many remains of prison life. Plants were overgrowing this old digger, while its water filled shovel was used as a bird bath. The building in the background was missing most of its roof, but it was still filled with big and small tools, to heavy to move and rusting away, suggesting that heavy labour was prisoner´s everyday life.


Biebrich


These are drawings from the last sketch outing with our local group, it was nice to see many new faces. Although we met up at Schloß Biebrich, we decided we weren´t up for that baroque monstrosity yet. We went to the industrial area instead where we sat down in a parking lot to draw. The entrance to the Kalle building drew my attention, apparently a producer of sausage casings (!) Who knew?



Later on, a more picturesque motif. Mosburg, an artificial ruin in the Schloßpark



And more industrial loveliness on the way home, a concrete factory in Amöneburg.

Brazzeltag






The Technikmuseum Speyer houses a big collection of vintage cars, trains, planes, boats as well as music automatons and even a russian space shuttle. Once a year, car freaks gather in Speyer for "Brazzeltag" to show off their customised cars and salivate over some of the museum pieces.

Drawing these vehicles reminded my of uni, because recreating the shapes in my sketchbook is a bit like a reverse design process. You start out with a finished product and whilst drawing it, you start to comprehend the logical arrangement of shapes and surfaces created by the designer.

These drawings are a bit wonky, but that´s okay.

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.