Lord of Glauberg

From Wikipedia:

The Glauberg is a Celtic oppidum in Hesse, Germany, consisting of a fortified settlement and several burial mounds, "a princely seat of the late Hallstatt and early La Tène periods."Archaeological discoveries in the 1990s place the site among the most important early Celtic centres in Europe. It provides unprecedented evidence on Celtic burial, sculpture and monumental architecture.

Much international attention was attracted especially by the discovery of an extremely rare find, a life-sized sandstone statue or stele, dating from the 5th century BC, which was found just outside the larger tumulus. The stele, fully preserved except for its feet, depicts an armed male warrior. It is made from a type of sandstone available within a few kilometres of Glauberg. Much detail is clearly visible: his trousers, composite armour tunic, wooden shield and a typical La Tène sword hanging from his right side. The moustachioed man wears a torc with three pendants, remarkably similar to the one from the chamber in mound 1, several rings on both arms and one on the right hand. On his head, he wears a hood-like headdress crowned by two protrusions, resembling the shape of a mistletoe leaf. Such headdresses are also known from a handful of contemporary sculptures. As mistletoe is believed to have held a magical or religious significance to the Celts, it could indicate that the warrior depicted also played the role of a priest.

During an exploratory overflight in 1988, local antiquarians recognised the traces of a large tumulus in a field 300 m south of the oppidum. Between 1994 and 1997, the State Archaeological Service of Hesse excavated it. The mound originally had a diameter of nearly 50 m and a height of 6 m. It was surrounded by a circular ditch 10 m wide. At the time, it must have been a visually extremely striking monument.

Museum "Keltenwelt am Glauberg" (German)

Awkward Family

Time for another sketch. This time I tackled the subject of a group portrait from www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com with watersoluble pencils. That website is a great place for procrastination and weirdness. The sketch may not resemble the photo very much but that was not the point.

Did you know the difference between Caran d'Ache Supracolor I pencils and Caran d'Ache Supracolor II pencils? I wish I did before I bought a set of the Supracolor I pencils. 

The Supracolor II pencils are waaay better! Switzerland does not only make great chocolate, but also great pencils ☺ 

Force of Habit

I cleaned my palettes and took the brush for a spin today.

I have read so many blog posts recently that keep affirming this simple thing: If I want to get anywhere with art, I need to make painting and drawing a daily habit, incorporate it into a routine. I am already thinking about art first thing in the morning, it is not that big of a step anymore.
In the end, I shall better be painting already when the muse/creativity strikes, not the other way around.

May the force of habit be with me ;-) 

Here are some of the blogs I read that touch on the subject. They are not scientific or study-proven, just experiences by other artists:

Abandoning the Preciousness by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law 

How to Overcome Creative Blocks by Hannah Braime on lifehack.org 

How Mundane Routines Produce Creative Magic by Mark McGuinness on 99u.com

Daily Routines - Artists by Mason Currey

Tips for Young Illustrators by Jim Harris 

Super Obvious Secrets That I Wish They’d Teach In Art School by Phil McAndrew

Munot tower

As I was leaving from Pilates, I had 10 minutes at the bus stop with a view of the Munot tower.

I whipped out the Mini-Moleskine and the 0.05 Pigma Micron I still had in my bag from last Saturday's sketchcrawl and completely messed up the perspective of the tower roof.

I must say it is quite unsatisfying when getting the image converted into a bloggable file of pretty data takes more time than than making the image itself.

I am just thankful that I can at least paint the sky from memory. ;-)

I need to reread Perspective for Artists again, it explained the perspective of turret roofs so well.

Basel: 39th Worldwide Sketchcrawl

 

Waiting for Pilates class

I needed to work a little longer today, so it did not make any sense to go anywhere in between work and Pilates class. It took about 20 minutes to half an hour to sketch the view from the entrance to the Pilates studio. I would have loved to have enough time for some watercolor on this but for several reasons this will have to stay as it is. 

The main one being that I am too tired now. ;-)

Swiss BIMI

Last night a couple of my colleagues met up for Japanese dinner in Zurich. It was so delicious it made me want to go travel to Japan and explore food, people and country right away. Mmmmmh!

www.swissbimi.ch