Sennen Cove, Cornwall

Hino Contessa

Another »England«-sketch: Hino Contessa 1300, a french-italian-japanese co-production of the 1960's... The London Science Museum has a lot more to offer, of course, not to mention the nearby Natural History Museum. A sketcher‘s paradise. I didn´t get more than this very sketch, but the good news is, both museums will be there for quite a while...

Science Museum London

St. Ives, High Tide and the Old Lighthouse

It was low tide, when I began sketching this boat in the huge harbor of St. Ives. I positioned my stool and stuff and was almost done with the drawing, when suddenly I felt the need to turn my head. A tidal wave moved gentle but steadily towards me. I had 5 seconds to grab everything and move away quite a bit with the hope to be able to turn back to my place, but obviously the water had no intentions to disappear. So I decided to face the facts and I moved on to the lighthouse on the Pier, high and dry. After a few minutes, the boat was surrounded by water, the high tide had reconquered the inner harbour again. Therefor I had to colour it later, in a more comfortable place...

Port Isaac

On the way back from Tintagel Castle we stopped at Port Isaac – both on the cornish north coast.

St. Michael’s Mount, Cornwall

Had a great trip to Cornwall – one of the literally thousand places to visit was St. Michael’s Mount. It is located on a small island and can be reached by foot – as long as it´s low tide (similar to his french twin). At high tide you have to take one of the taxi-boats to get there dry. Although we had strong winds on that very day, we dared the passage...

Marazion is a cute little town – it´s the »bridge« to St. Michael’s Mount, worth to visit as well. We sat in the Chapel Rock Café with warm drinks and a superb cake - as a reward for the shaky boat trip to St. Michael’s Mount before.

Photos: Philip

Rectory of the ROC

As I’ve mentioned in the last post, the Russian-Orthodox Church in Wiesbaden is very detailed, so I’ll have another go with a longer session sometime. But the rectory nearby seemed to be a good »target« for one hour on a fresh but sunny sunday afternoon. And a good pastime till the election results for the german Bundestag came up...

Russian-Orthodox Church, Wiesbaden

Built between 1847 and 1855, this church is one of Wiesbaden´s landmarks. For many months I resolved to sketch it. Finally I managed to go there on purpose, willing to draw it... After a few moments I realised, that I was totally lost in the mass of details of the building. So I decided to take a back seat and draw a quick sketch and just some of the details and to enjoy the athmosphere of this beautiful late summer saturday. I´ll be back.

Sommertage auf Rügen

Old typical thatched house on the Island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea. The House is decayed at the moment, but will be reconstructed in the next months or years. The reconstructed houses next to it are cute, of course, but I can´t help it, for sketching I prefer this state...

This very small church dates back to 1360, it´s situated in the village Groß Zicker on the island of Rügen. Half way through the sketch it became clear that I´ve miscalculated the format (lack of practice? natural incapacity?...). So I decided to distort it to get the nice wooden top in my picture.

Quick sketches. Pencil and watercolour.

Eisenbahn- und Technikmuseum Rügen

Once visiting the Island of Rügen in the german northeast, friends of vintage cars, trucks and railroad vehicles should visit the tiny Railroad- and Technic-Museum between Prora and Binz.

Some of the exhibited cars are in good shape, some seem to be parked there rightaway from the street – rusty and bruised. What may seem to be a downside for aestheticians, is, in fact, a way to show the character of some »workhorse-cars« as a big russian Wolga, the chekoslovakian Tatra or some east german firebrigade-trucks. But you´ll find some shiny american and west-german cars as well.

I´ve visited the museum twice, I would have spent two more days, if only there were not the sun and the sea calling for me...

Tatra T2-603, Modell 69 – the chekoslovakian version of the Phantomas car. Fineliner and watercolour.

Barkas B1000

Old Tram vehicle, used in the city of Plauen. Beause of strong backlight I had to guess much of the details of the carriage...

On the doors of this Trabant were signs, saying »Einsatzleiter«. I guess, the ladder on the roof is meant to be a joke (in fact, it´s quite useless, only approx. 1.20 meters long). But I´m not so sure about that. (Sorry – only german speaking persons will get the twist...)

While sketching this little fellow, a woman approached me and commemorated weekend trips with her family back in the 1960s (2 adults and 2 children in this tiny, tiny vehicle!!). At the end she had tears in her eyes. Is it just us germans, who have such strong emotions towards cars? Or is it because cars companion us through our lifes and thus memories are tied to them?

Hidden Naples – 2nd Urban Sketchers Workshop a Napoli

From May 30 to June 2 I participated at the 2nd Urban Sketchers Workshop in Naples, Italy. Our 4 instructors were Simo Capecchi, Lapin, Caroline Peyron and Laura Scarpa. You can find a brief review and a slideshow on Simo’s Blog to get a nice impression. Our hosts led us to unique and fascinating places, mostly hard to find as a stranger. We met so many dedicated Neapolitans and got a glimpse of the innumerable stories of this contradictory and yet so fascinating city. An unforgettable experience thanks to Simo, Lapin, Caroline and Laura - and the whole sketchers-group there.

Left: Pavillon in the Garden of LADU – Laboratorio di Degustazione Urbana; right: a pond inside the garden of RIOT Studio where group meetings, tech demos, and of course the portrait party took place.

Sunday morning excercise with Lapin

Afternoon session with Simo Capecchi, who illuminated the story of »Palazzo Donn´Anna« and stories connected to it, before going into drawing. For me, this drawing will always recall those stories and the atmosphere directly.

Session in the Museo Paleontologico with Lapin, who told us about balancing details and visual »short cuts«, about distortion and the pure fun of sketching...

Lapin, Simo, Caroline in the shades, Laura

Waiting at the Garage

Yesterday, for the first time I felt that changing car tires (or at least having them changed) is a nice thing. While waiting at the garage, I had the chance to sketch some of the nice cars parked there (in fact, the garage-owner itself is an vintage car specialist and takes part in all kinds of vintage car races). The icing on the cake was a short trip with the Jaguar E-Type (as co-driver)...

Mercedes Benz 170 (W136)

Wiesbaden

Different views on houses in Wiesbaden. Ballpen or Pencil with watercolour.

Little Monsters

Selfmade cloth-monsters.

Citroen

Sketch of a little plastic model – that´s why there are nearly no details. Coloured pencil with watercolour on sketchboard.

Ella

To sketch dogs is very difficult. Once they fell asleep, chances increase. Pencil sketch

Shipyard

Small shipyard in Wiesbaden Biebrich, at the Rhine River

Salzburg 2012

Pencil sketch

Heiterwang, Austria | 2011

Barn in Haiterwang

»Burgenwelt Ehrenberg«, Tirol – Very nice Museum