At the Goethe Museum Düsseldorf: Part 2

Trying to get more drawings done for the Urban Sketching exhibition end of august.

Ilioneus statue at the Goethe Museum Düsseldorf

At the Goethe Museum Düsseldorf

For an exhibition at the Goethe Museum Düsseldorf end of august this year, our Urban Sketchers Group met last Sunday to get some more work done. I concentrated on a couple of busts, drawing with brown ink & wash on old sheets of paper, found in an old cupboard.

Schiller Bust - at Goethe Museum Düsseldorf

Goethe Bust - at Goethe Museum Düsseldorf

At the Rhein - Ruder Gesellschaft Benrath (Duesseldorf)

The sun today had sunburn quality, which I enjoyed very much! We were at a baptismal service with family and afterwards went to the 'Ruder Gesellschaft Benrath' to feast together. The break between dessert and coffee and cake we spent at the Rhein on a bench.

Fit to go wall?

One thing my wife keeps complaining about, is, that I paint and draw so tiny. Those little sketchbooks are okay, fine, you know. But can't hang'em on the wall! Alright, maybe it should be more of a focus. Not like, there is nothing to show off from my past ambitions. It has been a while, though, since my mind was set on framing. Good idea then, to stay comfy in my zone for now and use pen and ink and not mess with colors, thinner, medium, etc.

I remember, turning right on a shopping street in Ljubljana last year, going through that dark archway, 'cause I spotted a painting on an easel back there. Kind of wasn't ready for that slap-in-the-face backyard romantic!

Do you sometimes dream about homes? A new home? Like a really, really beautiful one, out of this world home, maybe even surreal? I do. A little bit more rent? Moving? Jep... plays into it, even then. What the hell! For this, I sacrifice. And waking up, carrying the beauty you found into reality. Lately, it is hard to spot. Got to really look for it! If it's a dream, well, fine. Actually seeing, experiencing, pushing your effort and idea out into the world, maybe as a drawing... it is all about dwelling, extending the fade out.

Missing the wedding ceremony can turn out in a painting

I had one job at our neighbours' wedding: 'Stay by the car and watch it. If necessary, drive away out of the non-parking-zone.' Which meant, I will miss the ceremony in the church,... but, ok. Usually, I take my drawing stuff wherever I go. Most of the time, I just feel good having it with me. At the wedding day, though, I got motivated to use it. While killing some time with a pencil sketch, the cute, little wedding car drew some attention with by-passers. Colouring and framing it wasn't the first idea. But hey, if it turns out ok, it could well be a nice after-present for the couple.

Gouache Painting 

The original Beauty

A discovery, we could not have hoped for!

Look at those fine, accurate lines. One letter, one word almost perfectly matching the other! Endlessly practicing. Do you see writing like this often? I think, we can agree on, that this is a skill, mastery of handwriting, calligraphy, art? Nope, no art. Those are pictures I took from 8th grade school books of my grandmother from 1922. My mother found them stored away in an old box which had not been opened for a long, long time. Surviving centuries of family history, moving around the country from place to place, collecting dust in dark basements.

 
So, it is 'just' school. And I hope, I am not alone here! I could not believe, and I cried out turning page after page, the precision and how beautiful the words are written. And she was not even gifted in the arts and drawing. Six or seven small books were stacked in an old, beautiful red binder. Mostly handwriting or calligraphy classes, which seemed to be an integral part throughout the years of school, a math book and a book from the art class. One day, then 15 years of age, my granny probably came home from her last day of school and threw her schoolbag in some corner. This might just be the state, in which that bag was in, when my mother found it in the box two months ago.

The back front of the red binder reveals part of the timetable. Also, two postcards slipped out. The darker one saying a 'Happy Birthday' and the other hinting at a lost 'Ladys Fan Talk' (Fächer-Sprache) with a quote 'What the Fan denies, fair Love yet desires'.

 

Of course, I took a look into the school bag. Could have been, that there are pens or other writing instruments to be found. Sadly, after opening the hardened leather lid, it was empty. But most likely, there is much more to discover going through those old school books. Whispers from a time gone by. For now, I and my family will saviour the lost and found and dwell in newly restored memory.

Details in the making - A visit to the National Gallery of Slovenia, Ljubljana (SLO)

It was interesting, even though I did not know any artists or their work, to experience a kind of familiarity. The walk through the National Gallery in Ljubljana is logically structured beginning from the 12th to 20th century. The story paintings tell are not that different from similar galleries in other cities and countries. And as always, I really started to get invested in paintings from the 18th century onward. Maybe because the images string more of a relation to my experiences, my way of thinking. Definitely, because the work gets looser. 

Studies in oil, unfinished work, sketches mostly drew my attention. Examples show the way the artist worked, how they started and structured the painting:

Jurij Subic, 1885
Sketches for the Ceiling of the Grand Staircase of the National Museum of Slovenia

Loved the work on the hair

Ferdo Vesel, 1897

Pre-Sketch in oil, establishing tone and color

Effective, how the building starts with a dark underpainting
 and the lighter tones were added on top

Examples of paintings dominated by their use of Lights and Darks. They will serve for own monochrome studies:

Federiko Benkovic, before 1750
The Liberation of St Peter

Study of Light and Darks, starting with a red pencil, watercolor wash
(which is probably not the greatest idea, since it takes too much effort to mix greys), getting detailed with charcoal

Ivana Kobilca, 1886
A Dutchwoman

Other paintings I liked for several reasons:

Matevz Langus
Self Portrait
(interesting lead holder)

Anton Karinger, 1869
Painter's Wife Roza Karinger

Detail from above
The color effect is just awesome  

Detail
So much facial color

Matej Sternen, 1902
A Redhead
(Looseness) 

Anton Azbe, 1888
Sitting Female Semi Nude
(Loved the work on the contours, striking sharp in the face
and loose and soft on the back and hair) 

MerkenMerken