Week 50 & 51 of my artproject „One Year – One Island“
Right from the start of this art project, I considered various locations as potential subjects, without knowing if they would actually be suitable. I ended up not painting most of them, while others practically presented themselves because the location and date aligned so perfectly (like Midsummer in Böda). The reason I was particularly interested in the bus stop in Glömminge was that I still remember my amazement when I saw the old barn the very first time many years ago. It was primarily the year 1782, visible in the gable, that made me crane my neck. I’m fascinated by old buildings, antique objects, and traditional crafts, and I therefore enjoy visiting open-air museums and historical sites. I also love going to antique markets. Öland has a lot of old things, but I’m still astonished that history is simply “lying around” here. Parts of the Parish courtyard in Glömminge are some of Öland’s oldest and best-preserved buildings, but it’s neither a museum nor a place for guided tours. Nor is it fenced off to protect it from curious tourists. And so it stands there, right in the middle of the village, just a few meters from the main road – and has done so for almost 250 years! What stories these walls must have witnessed! On digitalmuseum.se, I found an old photograph showing that the meadow between the limestone barn and the bus shelter used to be an orchard. Today, a retired Swedish couple lives in the Parish house (which isn’t visible from the road).
I chose the old barn building behind the modern bus stop as my perspective on purpose as I find it fascinating that – especially on Öland – history and the modern world exist side by side in such a small spot. The old wooden bus shelters were replaced with glass ones just a year or two ago. Every day, many commuters and students stand or sit here waiting for the bus to Kalmar, while the barn behind them were built at a time when the automobile engine had not yet been invented. In 1782, King Gustav III of Sweden reigned, the American Revolutionary War was raging and the French Revolution was still seven years away. Friedrich Schiller and Wolfgang von Goethe still hasn´t met, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart married his Constanze exactly this year. And here we are today, sitting with our backs to a 250-year-old barn, waiting for the bus. We stare at our phones, watching short videos from the other side of the world to pass the time. I find these bridges across time simply fascinating!
For one of my last paintings, I wanted a scene with the Öland Bridge in the background. After all, the Öland Bridge is also visible in the background of my first painting, in Färjestaden harbor. So, after those last two scenes, I looked for a place that would offer an unobstructed view of the Kalmarsund. This wasn’t as easy as I had expected: either the bridge was clearly visible, but the location itself was simply boring, or I had already painted a similar scene (e.g., a campsite), or the view of the bridge was obstructed by trees or buildings. While studying the map, I noticed a large green area directly on the western shore, and I realized it was the Saxnäs Golf Club. And – hooray – I hadn’t yet used one of the many golf courses on Öland as a subject. I went to the Club’s website to see if it was still open and what the opening hours were. Since my mother and brother play golf, I know that non-golfers shouldn’t just wander around the course. I wanted to make sure I’d be allowed to sit and paint there. On the website, I found a photo of a golf flag with a view of the Öland Bridge – so that should work.Because I was behind schedule with my project, I went to paint twice that week and that day I had to run some errands in Kalmar before heading to the golf course. That’s why I was late when I finally arrived at the clubhouse. There were hardly any cars left in the parking lot, and the reception was already unmanned. But I ran into someone mowing the lawn and eventually got permission and some directions to find the view I was looking for. But watch out for the golf balls – they’re flying everywhere, he shouted after me. I grabbed all my equipment and set off. An 18-hole golf course like that is truly enormous, and halfway through, I asked a young player for directions. His hand signals were more helpful than his answer, because I don’t speak golf: why does he talk about tea? And which kind of green does he mean? But I found it: Hole 14, where the little flag is stuck in the hole (and I always thought they were mounted next to it) there, through a clearing in the trees, I could see the Öland Bridge! I unpacked everything and got to work. By the time I’d finished the sky and the first coat of green watercolor for the lawn and trees, the sun had disappeared and I was frozen solid. So I packed up and headed back.
At Hole 9 I passed two golfers with a cockerspaniel, and one of the men immediately struck up a conversation with me. When I asked if I could take his picture, he agreed. So, at home, I included the friendly golfer in my painting because it was really quite boring without any people around. Perhaps this is a little bit of cheating, but it’s a more interesting motif, isn’t it?
Oh wow: there is only ONE last painting. And I have a surprise that directly affects the project – I’ll save that for the next and last post!
