Lost, Stolen or Strayed

After being in denial for months, I have to accept that this wonderful postcard from Albrecht has gone missing, having been posted last year (December, or November?) Aren't they just beautiful sketches of tits on his balcony - at this time still in the middle of winter in the Rhine Valley. I hope they've all survived the cold into the coming Spring!
Albrecht sent me an email saying,

"If my tits on the postcard would have been live birds, they would have had arrived in a few days.

8.619 km, that's nothing for them.

Obviously Lufthansa's crane is a lame bird in comparison...

Next time I will use trained pigeons for delivering my cards.

But that's the wonderful thing about our postcard project.

We are testing our post offices. Who knows how long they will go on existing in times of internet, emails, facebook, twitter..."

 

Who knows indeed. Our post office has been on strike so I haven't sent or received mail for weeks - and I was behind on my postcards even before that! Perhaps once they get back to work and clear the backlog, Albrecht's card will emerge from under a pile of neglected mail and they'll find their way here yet...I can live in hope...

 

Acqua Alta in Venice



Albrecht Rissler
Ink on paper

Albrecht's postcard is done from the window from his room because it was raining. I feel like I could have been there watching him over his shoulder while he drew this card. I can feel the rain and wind from the pen strokes. Very special! I also included the reverse side with his wonderful hand written words. I thought you would like the chance to read someone else’s mail.

 I always do.

 

Check out the boots. They make me smile.

Cat and Mouse

Albrecht's cat, Tricocone, brought him a mouse and ate it right in front of his studio door.  'I heard the bones crack. Grrr.........' says Albrecht.

A tragedy for the little mouse but this is a moment of cruel beauty in graphite.  I'm going to treasure it Albrecht. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to know what 'Tricocone' means, apart from Bone Crusher!

My card from Albrecht

I'm once again so happy to be the owner of this card from Albrecht. His use of pencil to capture a scene is a joy. You can almost see the pencil dancing across the card - adding here and there a little detail, hatching to achieve the darker tones and leaving the white to show the flash of sunlight.

Turner's painting of the Castle

He's siting on the famous Goethe Marianne Bench at Heidlberg Castle and when I  researched to find out more  I've realised what an important historical place it is and I've added an illustration of a painting by Turner to show it's significance.

Albrecht has also drawn a carving on the limestone bench of Ginko leaves and a Hoopoe. Thankyou Albrecht.

Four students from Albrecht's drawing course at the Swabian Alps.

I am a big admirer of Albrecht's drawings. Looking at his postcards, you will understand why: No fanfare and funny tricks, but good solid knowledge of technique and with a talent to add just the necessary creativity and expression to bring it to life. Not many artists have all these skills in balanced amounts.


If you look closely at his postcard, you will see that one can take away any of the elements and the artwork will still be able to stand tall. I see many sketches which rely on the addition of a second or even third medium to turn it into good art. It is an aspect I strive fro in my own art: the ability to draw a single line so that it draws on all elements of good art making to be able to stand on its own. Which brings me back to my firm belief: to do good art, one has to have a knowledge of drawing. Technique and the basic principles of drawing DO have a solid place in art. Albrecht's postcard is testament to my belief.
Have a look at the close-up to below see the lovely lost and found edges, a technique which seduces the eye of the viewer to "continue the lines and complete the drawing", a great way to get the viewer involved in a painting/drawing/sketch.

This sketch was done by Albrecht during his last drawing course of the year and it is four of his students busy working under the beech tree that he captured. the course took place at the Swabian Alps, "which was about 50 million years ago the borderline of a warm Jurassic ocean". Albrecht and his students were fortunate to find many fossils during this course...something else I love...digging for fossils!

Read more of this course and his other work here.

Thank you for my beautiful postcard Albrecht.

Teaching to Observe - Albrecht in Bavaria

Derwent Graphitint

Last month Albrecht was busy teaching in Majorca .  This month he's been teaching in Bavaria.  I'm the lucky recipient of a card he drew when he and his students were at lake near Bad Reichenhall, not far from the Austrian border and the city of Salzburg.  It's one of his students in the shade overlooking the lake  -  clearly engrossed in his own sketching!

You can see more images from this course on Albrecht's blog  here  Some great photos of his students drawing mountains and various other studies.  There's a very impressive standard of draughtsmanship amongst them.  It's definitely inspiring to see the kind of detailed observational drawing Albrecht teaches. 

Albrecht has a book coming out later in the year.  I am hoping we will be able to obtain copies over here in England! 

A card from Albrecht in Majorca

A postcard from Albrecht in Majorca

This lovely free sketch arrived from Albrecht, teaching a course in Majorca.  It's of one of his favourite places.

Isn't it great?  Such lovely free scribbly marks that evoke the vegetation and scene so well :>)

Thank you Albrecht :>)

196 Cards from A Postcard from my walk - a tribute to Earth Day

Our project has come to an end. With many stories to tell about lost cards and some destroyed by rain and some never received and some resent...it was exciting, kept us on our toes and we were constantly challenged to come up with interesting and original subjects. But here we are...a little over a year later and very appropriate for earth day 2012, we look back on our cards and a great satisfaction and contentment bring a smile to our faces. It was a year well spent around the pencil and brush.

 

Click on each image to see the bigger version.

Cards sent by:

Albrecht Richter - Germany

Alison Staite - England

Bridget Hunter - Scotland

Cathy Gatland - South Africa

Charlene Brown - Canada

Desirée Dianne Habicht - USA

Felicity Grace - Switzerland

Katherine Tyrrell - England

Liz Steel - Australia

Martin Stankewitz - Germany

Pat Reece - USA

Robyn Sinclair - Italy

Ronelle van Wyk

Vivien Blackburn - England

Thank you to everybody who shared this trip with us around the world, whether it was by regular visits or leaving comments or simply just stopping by. The more the company, the merrier the spirit!

Thank you!

Winter Trees and Warm Wishes From Heidelberg

This is my card from Albrecht in Germany.  It really shouts of stark cold winter.  Albrecht is a true master draughtsman and it is such a privilege to receive something like this. On the reverse he has taken time to show step by step, how he builds up the composition to it's final stage.  I have learnt so much by looking at it, such as how the pencil should move and twist to produce the twigs.

Winter can sometimes seem a gloomy time of year for artists, but it's a great time to draw trees. The bare branches have so much character. Thank you so much Albrecht, it's a wonderful final card!

Growth and Transcience in Nature

A truly stunning card from Albrecht. I would be delighted to receive just one of Albrecht's pencil sketches but now I have two and both are equally beautiful! On the front is coloured pencil drawing with the words 'Growth and transcience in nature. On the way to Holy Mountain (Heiligenberg)'.

On the back, another very delicate sketch from Heidelberg. I'm at a loss to describe how lovely this card is but I think you'll agree it speaks for itself! Thank you so much Albrecht!

Albrecht's Postcard from his Walk

Albrecht Rissler 2011
Graphite on paper 25cm x 15cm

I received Albrecht’s postcard on a day that was especially long and difficult.  After unloading all the stuff from my arms, schlepping everything from the car to the house, greeting and feeding all my furry animal family members waiting their turn to be given attention, I went over to the mail box and among all the bills I found this wonderful piece of Albrecht’s life.   There in my hand was a beautifully rendered sketch of what Albrecht sees out of his window.

Thank you, Albrecht, for this wonderful gift.

An Indian Summer from Heidelberg

A glorious sun-dappled pathway up the Heiligenberg is my eagerly awaited card from Albrecht this month. I can clearly sense the delight of walking here in this bonus bit of summer, bringing with it a range of colours never seen here before - of which Albrecht thoughtfully drew up a chart for me to 'fill in' his drawing with!! But Albrecht, you forgot to put the numbers where each colour should go... ;-) Besides, the line drawing is quite descriptive enough. On the other side, a sparkling sketch of plane trees in front of his window give me a good idea of the colour version - what a beautiful postcard, I love the touch of the sketchbook perforations down the side.

A Vineyard in Watercolour

Albrecht is busy working on a commission to design various wine labels for a traditional winemaker family. I think the enviable side of this work is having to visit their vineyards and I wonder if tasting the wines is a necessary part of his project!! He describes this particular vineyard as "orbiting an old castle of that family west of the Black Forest overlooking the wide Rhine valley with a fantastic view of the Cathedral of Strasbourg and the Vosges Mountains in France."

I've never been to this part of Europe so find it very interesting to view it through Albrecht's eyes. 

If this lovely, fresh delicate watercolour is a reflection of the area it seems to be well worth a visit. The composition and drawing on the card shows Albrecht's skills as do the beautiful subtle colours found in the shadows. Click on the image to see the cool mauves - beautiful.

And thank you too for this wonderful cat study.

A Great-looking Canadian in Germany

 Isn’t he/she (it’s hard to tell with Canada Geese) a beautiful bird!  This one looks especially striking painted by Albrecht Rissler in gouache on (IMHO) the perfect shade of softly grey-toned card.

I’d have to say, however, that the appearance of Canada Geese is just about their only redeeming feature.  Albrecht was nice enough not to refer to them as an invasive scourge, but the Americans are not so forgiving… I’ve heard they regularly bag a few hundred Canada Geese and feed them to the homeless, and I wish somebody would do the same here in Victoria!  Our defenses have been limited to barking dogs – quite effective, on golf courses for example, where they employ Labs and Alsatians.  But the geese do not respond well to condominium-sized dogs, whom they out-weigh and ignore.

Apple trees and sunlight from Albrecht

An apple tree on his balcony by Albrecht

This beautiful study of sunlight filtering through the leaves of an apple tree on Albrecht's balcony arrived today.  I found it quite hard to scan because of the lovely subtlety in the tones and colours in the leaves and the glow of those slightly rosy/russet apples.   If you have a better photo Albrecht, I'll substitute it.  

And on the reverse one of his great pen studies of a tree boll

 

Another gem :>)  from someone who really understands trees and draws/paints them so beautifully.

Thank you, I love it.

A willow tree at the river Neckar

Late, but not too late hopefully, I post this wonderful postcard with line drawings by Albrecht Rissler. On the front there is a stunning drawing of a willow tree at the river Neckar, on the backside you can see views of Heidelberg. I guess Albrecht did the drawings with his Tombow pen.
Once I had the pleasure to see how Albrecht's hand would move over the paper like a human high speed plotter knitting a landscape in a most varied line grid.

Thank you very much Albrecht for this generous gift!

A Winter Postcard from Germany for winter in Sydney

I received my June card from Albrecht a little early....but I put it away till it was June. Now Albrecht’s beautiful actually relates better to what we are experiencing here in Sydney..although we have blue skies and sun, (no snow!) and a fresh 15C (that is cold for us!!). I can feel the longing for spring in the black and white pen sketch with the colours below....just one touch of of spring green on the right hand end! Because we only have a few deciduous trees (introduced species – all native gum trees are evergreen) we always have plenty of green around.

I really love both the front and the back of the card- more lovely sketches and some great stamps too! - thanks Albrecht for a truly beautiful card

Gallery-May postcards

The round-up of our May postcards.

From a Mail Art Master

I have received my postcard from a mail art master - Albrecht Rissler in Heidelberg, Germany. The scans don't do this wonderful gift justice. 24 x 15 cms right out of Albrecht's sketchbook and packed with beauty on both sides. Can you sense that I am delighted?

Albrecht says 'Willows won't win a beauty competition, but for me they are a pleasure to draw.' Well they are a pleasure to study, over and over again, Albrecht. He went on to say 'These sketches were made near the Rhine River where I love going for a walk.'

The card still has a hint of the hairspray Albrecht apologises for using in order to fix the graphite. :) There is so much for a fan to discover on this card - the fact that the artist used a Tombow Roller Ball pen and Karisma Graphite Aquarelle pencil and a drawing of both, plus a tiny value chart. The stamps are an added bonus - just beautiful.

Spring and a new view from a Handschusheimer garden

Garden in Handschusheimer - finally Spring!

Albrecht has sent me a splash of Spring with this vibrant yellow plant growing in a garden in Handschusheimer - just north of Heidelburg.  It looks very much like forsythia to me and is a real tonic for the eyes.

On the reverse is another sketch and a little map which I found to be absolutely fascinating as I unpicked it but by bit.  This is what Albrecht says (I've added in the links to the places!)

The view from the garden overleaf (over the campus of the university of Heidelburg)

This is a historic moment!  One of the cooling towers of the Nuclear Power Plant at Philipsburg doesn't smoke anymore!  Yesterday one unit has beeen shut down in response to the nuclear problems in Japan.  Finally!  From where we live the distance is only 35km!(21 miles)

Then he has annotated the little map in the bottom left to highlight:

• the Romanesque cathedral Dom Speyer (Speyer Cathedral) 1025-1106 by the River Rhine.  I looked it up and it's been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Speyer Cathedral, a basilica with four towers and two domes, was founded by Conrad II in 1030 and remodelled at the end of the 11th century. It is one of the most important Romanesque monuments from the time of the Holy Roman Empire. The cathedral was the burial place of the German emperors for almost 300 years.
UNESCO

• a place where there are lots of hanging willow trees in a reserve (on what looks like an ox-bow lake) - and we already know how much Albrecht likes willows!
• an area where there are many natural reserves (nature reserves?) - so I guess these are places Albrecht likes to go to sketch.

Lots of information about Heidelburg

I looked up all the places on Google Maps - like I always do - and was amazed to see the shape of the snaking River Rhine and all the old oxbow lakes it created prior to being channelled. These are so very evident from the satellite view and reminds us of the power of inland waterways to change the landscape over time.