Sketching on Crete

Comfortably residing in Malia on Crete for 9 days the local Excavations were the first to lure out my pens. 3rd largest minoan palace on the Island, many of the artifacts been shipped off to Heraklion Museum of Archaeology, but some huge storage-vases remained there. Needless to say I got very thirsty from sketching.

And then there was the palace of Knossos:

But not only ancient ruins drew my attention. There were some lovely sights in the old town of Mália worth darwing. Myth goes, the church below, built under turkish occupation has built without water to mix the mortar. One way of blocking building materials to prevent an unappreciated religion to create a place of worship. What did the clever Cretians do? Used milk instead!!!

At the best of times good motifs go hand in hand with creature comforts: As in this case the little chaple had a tavern attached to it. Amazing food and good service. Chapel on one night at wich the waiters of Odas Taverna jokingly suggested I´d do the whole tavern next. Well ... just my thing, isn´t it? So two more delicious meals, some sketching between the courses. Needless to say I did go there for a meal on my last night, as well. 

Sketching by the Pool

While on a lovely holiday on Crete a lot of ancient sights and exhibitions triggered my brains, so even when relaxing at the pool of Hotel Malia Mare pencils and watercolours were at work, designing and digesting what I had seen.

At first the refreshing water brought me back to one of the last exercises with my students: painting a monochromous underwater matte-painting.  Water surface IS NOT easier to do in watercolours.

Next up: The ancient minoan dare of leaping across bulls. Looks so easy on the murals, but I doubted very much any powerful beast would take something like this quietly, even though the sport seems a lot fairer than fighting a torrero.

But what about those Minoan Palaces? Evans did a nice job offering his interpretation, so why not interprete further and further? Amphoras / vessels in the right corner as seen in the exhibitions in the Museum in Heraklion. 

But then again, sometimes pen and brain wander of to entirely unrelated places and come up with some very furry stuff:

Out and about in Munich

As spring had a hard time chasing away the winter chill this year there were only few days to go out sketching for a while. Thankfully there is an abundance of exhibitions to go and see.

St.Max on a sunny day in spring from the banks of the river Isar. 

Same river, different spot: old public bathhouse Müllersche´s Volksbad.

Propylaeum at Königsplatz. plenty of museums in that area. One of them containing ... these ...

All plaster cast, so not real originals, but good for studies without bunches of muggle tourists obstructing the view or some grumpy attendant chasing artists away. Nice collection, friendly and FREE (so I also took my students in there). Classical training so to speak. Always good for a rainy day!

But eventually spring gave up on us and we went straight to summer. Pavillion at Hofgarten, the park of the old residence, just off Odeonsplatz. Always some musician in there!

And to cool off: 

... try and capture those folks on the artificial surf at the southern end of the english gardens, Eisbachwelle. Nice exercise, not just for my students.

Wroclaw - some roots

Easter trip to Wroclaw with the family, the town my father was born in. Weather was pretty dismal and of course poor aul me got dragged along by the other three and told to get a move on, sometimes, still: managed to do a fair bit of sketching there. Town is too packed with beautiful spots to draw all of them. Guess I´ll have to return some day. Mom didnß´t know about all the gnome skulptures hidden in the most unlikely spots and we all had a jolly good time, keeping our eyes open for their misschief left right and centre. Good food, good beer. What else would we be asking for?

Townhall 

Remembered this place from 2001. Centinary hall with gardens. Huge concrete dome, largest of it´s kind at the time.

Finding spots to draw just about everywhere ...

St. Elisabeth 

And a quick sketch inside a brewery pub during lunch...