Complete Change

Fairy Hill. A place in which there is a different time continuity.

Oils for a Change

"Fragments in Mutual Support", watercolors, double letter format

"Under the Ground Plan", oils over paper relief

After having painted with watercolors for years, I came back to painting in oils. I restricted my art on smaller formats and paper, mostly because I just don't have enough room to store larger paintings any more, since I moved into one flat with my husband 10 years ago. And there were years when my health issues kept me from starting larger projects, I wasn't feeling strong enough to do so. Now I do, and I have put my easel in place with a feeling of joy. Sorry to say that sewing and quilting at the moment is not quite my cup of tea. Something has changed, and I guess it's me.The painting I am working on has a story. Often I started my projects with preparing a painting board by applying some surface structure.

"Under the Ground Plan",
oils over paper relief, flash photo

In this case, I cut out stripes of heavy card material and glued then onto the board, shaping something like a ground plan, securing it by glueing more paper strips over the structure. Then I make an acrylic base layer and start painting.

This one has been standing there for years because I lost the plot. Time went by, and I made some undecided attempt to continue, but did not like it and painted it over.

"Under the Ground Plan",
oils over paper relief, detail

Now, I found a way to integrate the structure into my "Boulder" series. The boulders will probably become darker by being washed with more transparent layers, as soon as the paint allows them. The size of the painting is 27x12", the material is way too heavy.

Still Messing with the Menhirs

"Golden Mountains", water color, appr. letter format

"Columns", ink drawing, approx. letter format

Stone circles, menhirs and other rock formations which were put deliberately into a place have something haunting, something mysterious. So many have been placed somewhere else; but what if the stone doesn't matter, but the place does? If man in a few thousand years cannot read our sign posts and put them somewhere else, we know it doesn't make sense. But maybe this is what we do.

"You wanted it like this", water colors, approx. letter format

"Erratic Boulders", water colors,
double letter format

Last summer, I painted this water color. It is about the contrast between brillant hues and subdued large areas. But somehow, my choice of colors has become a lot brighter. I had the feeling that the colors demanded me to use them like this, hence the title.

New Paint Box

On the left, there is a new paint box with fresh white palettes. The one on the right side is history; I bought it as a student of Fine Arts, early in the seventies. The palettes had rusty patches which I repaired with white acrylic paint, so they are really used and don't support my work as I need it. Yet, they will contain alternative hues and widen the spectrum.

 

My latest watercolor painting: "Measuring the Dolmen", approx. double letter format.

 And now I'm going back to my working table, while this is my view:

 

It is snowing again incessantly. The forecast is 4" of snow and, during the coming week, temperatures going down 9 below freezing point at night.

Spring Showing Up

We have had the darkest winter since 1970. Just 96 hours of sunshine all through the season. People are fed up with the cold and dark time. Since last weekend, the sun has been showing generously, and people are out in the streets.

That's why I took my camera and tried to catch the things I see in a little park in the center of my hometown. Met the first bumble-bee -- you see it scanning the blossoms near the upper edge of the photo on the left.

Some people are longing for spring so hard that they lie down on the lawn ... oops! This morning still was frosty!

There is a sunny terrace high above the park with a lovely view over the lake where people go during their noon breaks to catch some sun. It will be crowded soon. But the forecast for the coming week is a return of winter with frost and snow.