»Elbaufwärts«
Pastell, 2011, 20×98 cm, © Astrid Volquardsen,
1450 Euro ( inkludes frame and museumsglas)
It was one of the last summer days on the river Elbe and the water was very calm. It can be quite different on this river, which leads straight to the North Sea. Most of the colors are very dull, but if one of those container ships comes close, all is very bright.
»Endless sky« (Triptychon)
pastel, 2011, je 97×35 cm, Astrid Volquardsen
From time to time it is good to move on to new ground. In this case it’s not so much about what I paint, but on what I paint. I discovered a paper from Uart which is also available in larger sizes. As much as I love the Sennelier card, I find its size sometimes very limiting.With a new paper and format I had to face new challenges. First of all it takes some kind of physical effort to rub in the first layer of pigments. To keep an kind of overview I painted with an outstretched arm most of the time. The pastel strokes appear different in a smaller format. With a size like this, I could keep it more loose and coarse.
For the upper parts of the painting it sometimes was easier to use the small ladder.
Kehrwieder
Etching from Friedrich Gocht, app. 1920
This etching from the German artist Friedrich Gochts was done in the 1920 and shows a tug boat of that time. In the back you can see the so called emperor store house. On top of the storehouse was installed a time ball. Every day at noon the ball was dropped down and crews were able to adjust their chronometers on the ships. To know the exact time was essential for the longitude determination on sea.
Most of this area was destroyed in the second world war and a new storehouse was built in the sixties to replace the old one. On this very base there are currently building the new concert house of Hamburg, the Elbphilharmonie.
Red Tug (II), 13×13cm, Pastel
© Astrid Volquardsen, 2011
This is a second pastel of the red tug. The work of the skippers always fascinates me: One controlling error and the RoRo ship would hit the big pier with all the tourists.
Red Tug, 13×13cm, Pastel
© Astrid Volquardsen, 2011
I love doing these little pastels and this tug will probably make it into a bigger painting. When have I ever used the color combination of red and yellow?
Dock 10, 25×78cm, Pastel
© Astrid Volquardsen, 2011
Everybody who lives in Hamburg knows this view: the dockyard of Blohm & Voss. When I come down to the harbor I ask myself what kind of ship I might see in dock 10.
The colors in this painting are a bit unusual for me, but this was an unusual evening as well. I returned from a trip on the river Elbe and when the ferry had left the pier the skipper almost stopped the ship so everybody could take in this glorious light. I have never experienced that the skippers have done something like this. Close before the terminus pier the captain said: » Because every beautiful journey has to end, please disembark at the next pier….. and the last one helps cleaning up.«
Fender, 13×13cm, Pastel
© Astrid Volquardsen, 2011
This is an impression from my last sailing trip on the river Elbe. When I see fenders I recall a most loved sailing trip in the Danish South Sea a couple of years ago. Every time we docked in a harbour the »fender girls« got ready in position. One day one of us sang a tune of Elvis with slightly different lyrics, which became our hymn: »Love me fender, love me sweet, never let me go…«