Capstone - three works

 

This painting vacation I wanted to explore the spiritual aspect of some ancient sites. Dolmens are burial grounds and can thus be considered holy ground. Sometimes I can feel that, especially when there are no other people around.

The first reference I have used is a picture of the unbroken capstone of the Ahlhorner Kellersteine II that I made about four years ago. I have not used that reference before.

Our teacher and coach Ad van Aart advised me to start with a pencil drawing to 'explore' the structure of the stone, its shadows and light spots. That pencil drawing is the third picture from above.

I continued with dark charcoal, now exploring that spiritual energy of the site and ended with a light within the stone. Another light is above the stone in the clouded sky, as if the sun shines through very dark clouds.

The third work is a watercolour where I was challenged to let the light radiate from the stone. 

The stone was simplified more and more in each step.

The information about the materials I used for each work, their sizes and availabilities and - if you are interested in my original artwork - my contact information can all be found in my Flickr account.

Ahlhorner Kellersteine II - a charcoal drawing

 

A few months ago we (my husband and me) were for a short vacation in the North of Germany, where we visited the beautiful landscape but also went to see the dolmens in that area. We followed the guidelines of the 'Strasse der Megalithkultur' and we did see a lot of these beautiful sites.

One of the sites we visited was the site of the Ahlhorner Kellersteine and of the two dolmens at that site I have painted only one. So today I have made the second one the subject of my work.

As it was already afternoon I did not have time to stretch and dry a piece of watercolour paper so I decided to make a charcoal drawing instead. There were two reference pictures, one from the side and one directly from the front, looking down into the inner chamber of the dolmen with the broken cover stone in a nice angle in front of the chamber. 

For the drawing I have only used my charcoal, so no watercolour under painting, no added colour using pencils, just the black and white of charcoal and paper. Of course I would have added some pencil work if the drawing needed it, but it is good as it is now and I am happy with the result.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this drawing and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog.