I wanted to visit Castle Vondern in Oberhausen, Germany, for a while again for a plein-air-session. Motivated from our plein-air meeting on Saturday at Zeche Zollverein here in Essen I decided to go there late Sunday afternoon after I have been spending the first half of the day painting watercolors at home. The castle Vondern is situated between an industrial railway-area and a highway,, located in an idyllic park with beautiful old trees. There were only a few people walking in the park and so I had the whole thing just for me and could spread out my painting stuff and the easel however I liked to. I found a beautiful place in the shade of an old birch-tree, viewing towards a small pond in front of the castle-walls and the towers of the castles entrance. Of course I wanted to paint on the wonderful Fabriano artistico paper again and got really excited again how easy the brush is sliding over the paper and how beautiful the colors flow into each other on the surface. I am not really satisfied with my result because it became a little bit flat and is lacking atmosphere. I was not bold enough with brush and the use of colors. But anyway: painting there was really fun and painting plein-air is always a good practice.
Ich wollte schon seit einiger der Burg Vondern in Oberhausen noch einmal einen Besuch zum Malen vor Ort abstatten. Am vergangenen Wochenende hat dies endlich geklappt. Ich war noch motiviert von unserem Plein-Air-Treffen auf Zeche Zollverein am Tag zuvor und so entschloss ich mich, nachdem ich mich den Tag über schon zuhause mit Aquarell beschäftigt hatte, mich am späten Nachmittag auf den Weg zu machen. Die Burg Vondern liegt etwas abgelegen zwischen einem Rangierbahnhof und der Autobahn in einem idyllischen Park im Stadtteil Osterfeld. Es waren nur ein paar wenige Spaziergänger unterwegs und so hatte ich den ganzen Park fast für mich alleine und konnte mich mit meiner Staffelei und meinem Mal-Zeug nach Belieben ausbreiten. Zum Malen habe ich mir ein schattiges Plätzchen unter einer Birke ausgesucht, mit einem Blick auf die Reste des alten Wassergrabens und der Mauer und die Türme des Burgeingangs. Ich wollte natürlich wieder auf dem herrlichen Fabriano Artistico Papier malen und war erneut begeistert, wie schön der Pinsel darüber gleitet und die Farben darauf ineinander fließen. Nun ja, mit meinem Ergebnis bin ich letztlich nicht zufrieden, denn es ist mir etwas flach geraten und hat etwas wenig Atmosphäre. Ich war außerdem viel zu vorsichtig mit dem Pinsel. Trotzdem: das Malen dort vor Ort hat großen Spaß gemacht und letztlich war es eine gute Übung.
brushpark-watercolors 
What an idyllic spot to paint at…..you have a good start and perhaps if you painted on a smaller size paper you can get it more to a finish that satisfies you? I have found that I have been taking my paintings home and then build it up those that need it that is. I am so glad that you are liking Fabriano paper and plein air….so fun isn’t it? Your castle and colors are fresh and lively and that is what I always want in a plein air even though it doesn’t always happen….it worked for you here.
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Thanks so much, Margaret! I thought about smaller size paper for the plein-airs, but I would prefer a bigger brush. I am not too happy with most of my larger formats anyway – and I probably just need more practice and a bigger brush for it. The brushes I have are big enough to create a certain density on smaller formats but I love the large format and so I will look out for a larger brush. 🙂
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there you go…..that big brush will cover so much paper space and get the job done 🙂
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I’m just amazed that you can paint a castle! Not a lot of castles around here. We’re a non-castle country, alas!
Bigger brush. Got for it. The way to learn to deal with bigger is to paint that size again and again. Expect some to flop, but just keep at it until you succeed. And you will. I feel certain that the freedom you get from the smaller pictures is available with this larger size too.
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Thanks so much, Aletha!!! 🙂 Yeah, it is one of the benefits living in Europe .- we have a lot of castles here – even here in this more post-industrial area. I am not too worried about the larger format. Practicing with it and using a bigger brush will for sure help – I can already see this with the one I started today.
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Sorry, that should read “go for it.”
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Got it. 🙂
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