Paintingproject „One year – one island“ – week 8
Last week I was thinking about the possible motifs in often similar lighting conditions. So I decided to rework a photographed motif so that it showed an evening sky that wasn’t actually there.
I chose Gettlinge gravfält (Gettlinge graveyard) for this, where I stopped by last week. It is located on the main road 136 between Kastlösa and Södra Möckleby. There are about 50 such prehistoric burial grounds on Öland and this one is considered to be one of the largest and – if you can call it that – one of the most beautiful burial grounds on the island. At Gettlinge there are still about 200 graves, of which only 15 have been archaeologically examined so far. It was found that this prehistoric cemetery was used for about 2000 years, namely from about 1000 bc to 1050 ad. When I am on such a historical place and really become aware of such facts, I immediately feel small and insignificant. But also comforted in a good way, because my own deficiencies, my own sensitivities and the supposed catastrophes in my life shrink and it is clear that my own life is of no importance to this world. I try to imagine the people who came together right here, on this patch of earth, to attend a burial ceremony. With a lifetime expected of 50 years, that must have been almost 4000 generations – I find it impossible to imagine that number of families. And who knows whether a great and important person of that time is buried here. Perhaps he was powerful and perhaps everyone feared him and his will was an order for his peoples. Now he is just part of the hill on which I walk around and no one remembers his name or his great deeds. But surely there are also loved ones lying here, small children or tender mothers – how much human suffering has this place seen, how many tears have seeped into these hills?
To come back to my picture: before I painted the sky, I first had to practice the so-called „wash“. This is an absolute basic technic of watercolor painting and I am a little ashamed that I had to practice it first. Even the fact that I am using new watercolor paper (100% cotton) is not enough of a defense. I have mastered the wash with one color, but the difficulty is the transition from one color to the other. For example, with an evening sky from blue to yellow to red. You have to change the color without the blue and yellow mixing to form a green, while the yellow and red can mix to form orange, but the red should tend more towards pink if possible, i.e. a cool red, and that with yellow results in a rather dirty, dull orange. So it’s not as easy as it looks. Here are my exercises, where you can clearly see hard transitions and green shades:
Then you have to consider which blue you use. I wanted a smooth, even dark blue tone – that’s why the granulating ultramarine was out of the question. I then used Schmincke’s ”mountain blue” which is a light blue tone with white and yellow pigments without granulation. Oh sorry – now I’m getting very technical. Anyway… I then dared to try the sky in my picture. Because the blue turned out too light, I applied a second glaze and then a third glaze of the blue tone from top going down lighter, but creating horizontal streaks. In fact, I didn’t think that was so bad. It reminded me of thin veil clouds, even though I actually wanted to paint a cloudless sky. Sometimes such misstakes happen and you may think about how you want to deal with them. In any case, I then bravely provoked more clouds and finally formed them on purpose. I don’t know if this combination of clouds actually occurs in nature, but I like it. A painted picture doesn’t have to resemble a photo, otherwise I could have stuck with a photo, right? So here is the result – what do you think of my „invented“ sky? Should I incorporate such lighting conditions or will this undermine the purpose of my project? I would be happy to hear your opinion
But now I have to tell you about my weekly painting on site. This time I drove pretty directly to Degerhamn and ended up in the harbor looking for a motif. There is an old factory, consisting of various buildings with chimneys and silos (or similar cylinder-like building parts). I found that this cement factory in Degerhamn represents a motif that is different from the previous motifs (nature and wooden buildings) and at the same time is representative of one of the most important and long-standing industries on the island, open-cast mining.
There is evidence that the red and grey limestone has been mined on Öland since the Viking Age. The historic quarries are located right on the west coast and made it easy to transport by ship. For more than 1500 years, stonework was an important part of the livelihood of the people of Öland, combined with livestock farming and fishing. The limestone was quarried all over Öland and refined into lime mortar, building material and decorations such as baptismal fonts and portals. For example, I know that the floor in Köpenick Castle (Berlin) is made of Öland limestone – I saw the floor myself and learned about it during a guided tour some years ago. The export of Öland limestone has been known since the Middle Ages. Today there are still some active quarries on the island. Öland Cement AB in Degerhamn was founded in 1886 and had over 400 employees in 2011. I don’t want to bore you with the historical details of the company, just that the company was almost shut down in 2019, but then downsized significantly and concentrated on the production of so-called micro concrete and is now experiencing great demand for this product. Because I found these great old pictures while researching the history, I would like to share them:
I can’t say much about painting the picture itself, except that it was cold and I got pretty far with the picture before I gave up because of the risk of my toes freezing to become icecubes.
I enjoyed driving home – to start while it is still daylight, then while it is getting darker quite quickly and at least – the last 50 kilometer north om Borgholm – I´ve been passing houses and farms dressed in christmas lights. Here in Sweden a lot of yards have a flagpole on which you can put long lightchains so it would look like a big christmastree. And it is tradition to have lights in every window during the dark saison. So while I drove through darkness it was sparkling and glittering and twinkling all around me. Just wonderful!
Hope you will have a wonderful week with your own twinkling christmas lights… hope to see you next week here on Substack!
With a smile, Angelika