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Having fun at Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest!!!

I took a holiday, not to Munich, but to the little town of Mount Angel, Oregon. It’s their 51st year of celebrating Oktoberfest. They are really into it: 3 beer halls with entertainment and lots of good food that benefits local schools, churches, etc. I didn’t eat all day so what does every artist do? I ate dessert first! Then, of course, was beer. Back to making art tomorrow.

On the way to Mount Angel…

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The first order of business…. then on to see how much Oompah music I can listen to. Note to self: Don’t try to drink the fox’s beer. She will bite.

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Having fun.
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Back home. All partied out on way too much Oompah music.
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An impressive church hidden in a small community

St. Sebastian Church in Rockenhausen, Germany. It’s about 30km north of Kaiserslautern. The church is imposing on the outside and impressive on the inside, very well kept, and the pastel hues of the sun coming through the square glass window panes is amazing.

 

Michael Liebhaber; St. Sebastian Church, Rockenhausen, Germany; Watercolor and Ink; 7x5in (18x13cm)
Michael Liebhaber, St. Sebastian Church, Rockenhausen, Germany, 2014,
Watercolor and Ink, 7x5in (18x13cm)


 

 

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Reframing a day job

I was about to complain that my day job is interfering with my painting schedule. It’s pretty hectic this week. But then I thought … Hey, wait a minute, my day job enables me to live in Germany, travel around Europe, and paint in great locations. It’s better than many alternatives, so I am happy. ((insert smiley face here))

So I sketched St Sebastian church yesterday. I was going to watercolor it on the spot, but had an ice cream emergency. I was going to paint it today, but just couldn’t get to it. My sketch is below, still in my watercolor sketchbook. I’ll finish it tomorrow. ((insert rolling eyes face here))

StSebastian450

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How artist’s decide what to paint

A day in the life…
Watercolors today. A painting friend and I set out today to “paint outside”, flowers. The day was a mix of sun, heavy clouds, and wind. Not conducive to painting outdoors. I’m not a fan of painting in the wind. First stop however, was to photograph a view of the city of Leithof. I am thinking about doing a “building” series. I might have been persuaded to paint, but the wind …

On to flowers. We stopped and photographed some roadside wildflowers, but my friend knew of a farmer who has a small plot of ground planted with sunflowers and gladiolas. The sunflowers were wonderful. You can pick what you want and put money in a little lock box. We just wanted to paint, but the sunflowers were pointing the wrong way; no where to comfortably paint, and I wasn’t insipred to paint gladiolas, in the wind. Then we went to a cemetery in the country, hoping to find wildflowers along the stone fence. Nothing. Then we went to the town of Rockenhausen. We didn’t find flowers, but we found this wonderful church (see pic below). My friend sighed. It was impressive, but it wasn’t a flower. We drew the church, and then finally, in a moment of artistic satisfaction, we had ice cream.

St Sebastian Church, Rockenhausen (built 1915)
stsebastian1-450

Me holding a white piece of paper and a pencil
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Charming old chapel torn in half.

This little church in Landstuhl, Germany has seen better days, at least architecturally. I’ve walked around it before, trying to get a good angle. Around and around. This is the best view. The problem is that the nave of the church was torn down because it was in unrepairable shambles. But the church is so small that the nave was about half of the church. It is still pretty from this angle and it’s interior is charming.

The “renovation” was done relatively recently, some time in the 1800s. That’s recent considering the church was built about 1300 and that there are records of graves in the church yard, from a previous wooden church, at least a couple of hundred years before that!

Alten Kapelle
Alten Kapelle, 5×7″, ink and pencil on paper.