A new art project for which I blame Ben Woodhams.
In June I have been on the danish island of Bornholm and met an english watercolor artist named Ben Woodhams. He lives on Bornholm with his family and he is highly valued in Denmark for his beautiful and expressive paintings. At a workshop, where I was helping him, we got chatting and he told me about a project he had carried out on Bornholm in 2018 that resulted in a book called „Kyst“ („Coast“) – and now also in a follow-up book called „Land“. Ben had rounded Bornholm within a year and painted PlainAir. He had set himself the following parameters, which he stuck to consistently: every Friday from sunrise to sunset he walked along the coastline and painted water, beaches, waves, stones and seabirds in quick brushstrokes. In winter, the watercolour froze on the paper, forming frost flowers, so he experimented with alcohol in the water. While a nordic winter day could only last 6 hours, in summer the sun dictated a working day for Ben of up to 16 hours. He kept a meticulous diary of the challenges posed by the changing weather conditions and noted the route and the exact coordinates of the place where he painted. In his book he also shows his equipment, which he improved over the year. I was immediately enthusiastic when it occurred to me that I could adapt this project to Öland. Of course I asked Ben if that would be OK with him and he thought it was a great idea and of course I may….
And here I am, having spent many weeks fiddling with this spontaneous idea, pushing it back and forth, modifying and testing it, putting it away and digging it out of my head again. And finally decided: I’ll do it!
Of course there are differences between Bornholm and Öland, as well as between Ben Woodhams and me, which I have to consider in my own project:
Most important, Bornholm’s coastline is only 158 km compared to my island, which has a coastline of at least 300 km. The island Bornholm is quite round when seen from above, so the longest route across the island is no more than 40 km. Öland is more like a bulbous needle, and from the northern lighthouse to the southern lighthouse it is 137 km. Why is this important? Because Ben´s wife took him (before sunrise) by car to the places where she had picked him up (after sunset) a week earlier. No matter where exactly on Bornholm Ben´s family lives, they drove a maximum of half an hour one way. We live very far up in the north of Öland and if I had to rely on my husband to drive me, he would be on the road for a good two and a half hours at worst – with drop-off and pick-up, that would be 10 hours driving a day. Of course that’s not possible. I considered whether I should cover the most southern part – the place that is furthest away for me – within one or two weeks of vacation on site so that I can avoid driving, but then I would not be able to capture the changes through the seasons, that would be noticeable in the pictures. As I have a double stretch of coast, I also would have to walk twice as much per day than Ben did so I can gomake it around Öland in 52 weeks. But if I walk that much, then I have significantly less time to paint and I am sure, on top of that, I paint much slower than Ben Woodhams. For those who want to know more about Ben Woodhams, his homepage is benwoodhams.com
Another problem that stuck me is that I am not an early bird (at least not before sunrise), I am more of a night owl. Also, since I stand behind the counter in our café all summer, I am not prepared to spend my only day off completely on my feet walking for 16 hours.
I’m not particularly good at implementing something consistently – no matter how enthusiastic I was at first – if I put too many obstacles in my way. Above all, it should be fun to carry out a project like this. If I’m not having fun, the pictures turn out bad.
So I’ve set my own – somewhat broader – parameters:
I’m going to travel around Öland within a year while painting in a different place every week.
I will start south of the bridge (by which Öland is connected to the mainland) and will follow the coast counterclockwise.
I’m not restricting the motifs, but rather want to capture the typical Öland. That could be a rocky beach, a windmill, a flock of sheep or a harbor.
I’ve bought a bike rack for my car and will drive to the locations myself. I’ll park my car there and explore the area by bike, looking for suitable motifs. I can cover longer distances by bike than on foot and still take the small paths abroad the bigger roads.
I expect a trip to be about 5-8 hours, maybe less in winter.
I also decided that it doesn´t have to be the same day of the week – as long as I make it ones a week.
I will also mark the routes and places and keep a short dairy about the weather conditions, my experiences and any special occurrences.
For those who would like to follow me during this project I will write weekly on Substack about the project’s progress along with photos:
Working title: One year – one island. A journey with brush & pencil
I will keep a free Substack subscribtion – no costs!
Have a great day, Angelika