da Vinci’s portraits of women; understated elegance.
The original painting, Virgin of the Rocks (1483–1486, Oil on panel (transferred to canvas), 199 cm × 122 cm), is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci
* April 15, 1452, Vinci, Italy
† May 2, 1519, Amboise, France
Rembrandt is famous for his self-portraits. I could not resist drawing one them.
The original painting by Rembrandt is titled Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar (1659, oil on canvas, 84.4 cm × 66 cm). The painting was gifted to the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC, USA) in 1937 by the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
* July 15, 1606, Leiden, Netherlands
† October 4, 1669, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Something new for the coming new year… portraits.
The original L’Émeraude, created by Alfons Mucha, was a poster in the series titled The Precious Stones (1900, lithograph, 67.2x30cm). His paintings and illustrations were first called the Mucha Style, but soon became to be associated with the Art Nouveau style; a style that emphasized flowing, natural forms.
Alfons Mucha
* 24 July 1860 Ivančice, Moravia (now Czech Republic)
† 14 July 1939 Praha (Prague), Czech Republic
St. Sebastian Church in Rockenhausen, Germany. It’s about 30km north of Kaiserslautern. The church is imposing on the outside and impressive on the inside, very well kept, and the pastel hues of the sun coming through the square glass window panes is amazing.
Watercolor and Ink, 7x5in (18x13cm)
I was about to complain that my day job is interfering with my painting schedule. It’s pretty hectic this week. But then I thought … Hey, wait a minute, my day job enables me to live in Germany, travel around Europe, and paint in great locations. It’s better than many alternatives, so I am happy. ((insert smiley face here))
So I sketched St Sebastian church yesterday. I was going to watercolor it on the spot, but had an ice cream emergency. I was going to paint it today, but just couldn’t get to it. My sketch is below, still in my watercolor sketchbook. I’ll finish it tomorrow. ((insert rolling eyes face here))
A day in the life…
Watercolors today. A painting friend and I set out today to “paint outside”, flowers. The day was a mix of sun, heavy clouds, and wind. Not conducive to painting outdoors. I’m not a fan of painting in the wind. First stop however, was to photograph a view of the city of Leithof. I am thinking about doing a “building” series. I might have been persuaded to paint, but the wind …
On to flowers. We stopped and photographed some roadside wildflowers, but my friend knew of a farmer who has a small plot of ground planted with sunflowers and gladiolas. The sunflowers were wonderful. You can pick what you want and put money in a little lock box. We just wanted to paint, but the sunflowers were pointing the wrong way; no where to comfortably paint, and I wasn’t insipred to paint gladiolas, in the wind. Then we went to a cemetery in the country, hoping to find wildflowers along the stone fence. Nothing. Then we went to the town of Rockenhausen. We didn’t find flowers, but we found this wonderful church (see pic below). My friend sighed. It was impressive, but it wasn’t a flower. We drew the church, and then finally, in a moment of artistic satisfaction, we had ice cream.
St Sebastian Church, Rockenhausen (built 1915)
Me holding a white piece of paper and a pencil
Too many castles, so little time. Falkenstein was a fair-sized castle in it’s day. I caught it as the late afternoon sun was coming through the big windows.
This castle is in the German State of Rhineland-Palatinate and should not be confused with the other seven Falkenstein Castles in Germany, nor the other six Falkenstein Castles in surrounding countries! It doesn’t even make the Wikipedia list of Falkenstein Castles. Either those old-time Falkensteins got around, or they weren’t very adept at thinking up new names.
Regardless, it’s a cool place to visit because it’s free, has great views of the surrounding valley, you can drive to it, and there is a restaurant right next door (weekends only).
