Last week we had our autumnal short vacation and this time we went to a small vacation home in Reifferscheid (Eiffel, Germany) that is part of the old castle complex.
The vacation home was as modern as we wanted it to be but the setting is great.
In a few minutes we could walk up to the ruins of the old castle and the views there were great! The first day we walked there at the time of sunset and the fading light gave the views something special. We made a lot of pictures there.
This painting is made using two reference pictures I have taken of the view to the east, the setting sun in my back.
The hills in the distance cannot be seen very well in the fading light and the evening mist and the ruins of the old castle are also looking like one big mass of stones in which the different structures are not told apart easily.
The watercolour painting was made in our vacation home and I usually do not take all my art materials with me, only those that can be packed and moved in one or two bags.
That is why I have painted on cellulose paper, not my first choice, but I am learning to use it my way. This painting had some 'this will never work' moments but in the end I am happy with the result.
I have tried to paint the atmosphere of an evening in autumn in the fading light after sunset and I think I got what I wanted.
More information about this painting (materials used, size, availability, contact information, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
Almost two years ago my husband and me had a short vacation in The Black Forest in Germany and we visited the ruins of Allerheiligen. We made some pictures and I made watercolour paintings. The first watercolour I made had the colours as they were, and the yellow tree did look great in reality, in the reference picture and not so great in the watercolour painting. The painting was laid aside and I tried again with another palette. That second painting pleased me more.
Last summer, during my painting vacation I was introduced to 'painting over' and made some nice personal versions of pages from an atlas.
We also did 'metamorphosis' paintings, with a simple painting to start from and adding new elements each next version.
For this painting I have combined these two ideas. I took the watercolour painting and started drawing using my Conté Sketching Crayons, adding some dark areas to the ruins and changing the shape and quantity of the surrounding bushes and trees.
In this way I have made the yellow tree a part of the background instead of something that did not belong in that place.
The added plants and bushes make this place look more abandoned.
This version pleases me much more than the original painting (which does not exist any more) and now I have come closer to the atmosphere I wanted for this scene.
More information about this painting can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
The ruins of the monastery of Allerheiligen, Germany are situated very nicely besides the brook and the waterfalls. As it is a touristic site, it also is very well - kept, clean and accessible. I gave some information about the history of the site before.
I painted this scene before and used the colours of reality; green for the fir trees and yellow and orange for the other trees and the bushes below. I also tried to reproduce the foggy weather of the day we were visiting the site.
But I was not finished with this scene, I wanted to paint the scene again and this time I wanted to do a fantasy in autumn colours.
For this painting I also changed my crop a bit, now I did not want to draw attention to the contrast between the green and the yellow/orange trees but I wanted to accent the ruins themselves. This time I have been depicting the difference in the structures of the walls that are still standing. Some are in natural stones, others are made of nice rectangular blocks of limestone. And all of it is striped with moist and dirt.
The trees and bushes are bare this time, as if the foliage has already been shed and the leaves have been cleaned up by the caretakers of the site.
The background still suggests a forest in autumn colours - not all the trees shed their leaves at the same time.
More information about this watercolour painting (size, colours and paper used) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
At 'Allerheiligen' waterfalls was also a monastery, now in ruins. During our trip to the falls we also visited the ruins and the small museum and took some pictures.
The next bit of information was found - amidst a lot more information - on a wikipedia page
According to the tradition, the foundation date was 1192, and the site of the building, at 620 metres above sea level in the upper valley of the Lierbach near Oppenau, was determined by a donkey which threw off a sack of money at this remote and inaccessible spot. In the same year a wooden chapel was built, which was gradually extended to be a Premonstratensian monastery.
Large fires, in 1470 and 1555, had already destroyed parts of the premises. In 1804, a last fire, started when a bolt of lightning struck the church tower, finished the job.
Not until the end of the 19th century, when tourism finally reached the Lierbach valley and its waterfalls, were any steps taken to secure what was left of the ruins, which were then put into the condition they are in today.
Also now on the site are a cafe and a small museum. Below the ruins are the All Saints'waterfalls.
Those ruins are really great for a painting! We only have a few pictures (camera battery low) but I intend to use them as good as possible.
On the slopes of the mountains are mostly fir trees but closer to the buildings was a group in bright autumn colours - just behind the ruins. So this painting is about the autumn colours and the contrast with the ruined building.
Because of all the dirt and mold the structure of the ruins was hardly visible, especially the tower is hard to see clearly.
The tree trunks were dark because of the moist, and as a lot of leaves had fallen already they were standing out nicely against the bright coloured foliage.
I have tried to paint the decay of the ruins standing out against the life in the trees. To show some of the details I have also used some of my Graphitint pencils, they have colours that fit right into this atmosphere.
More information (paper, pencils, colours used, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
