Autor: Bettinaskunst

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RIVERPAINTINGS, Etappe 3 – from Elpershofen to Grossforst

JAGST hike&paint

My day began with a light lavender coloured sky and still we have the winter cold, but the weather is slowly reaching temperatures above zero and the snow begins to melt.  Anyway I ask myself, why on earth should I go out at this weather? The answer is clear: Because the sun is shining and it will be even warmer during the day and my addiction to paint outside is strong.

By car I stopped in Ilshofen for some provisions and had my coffee mug packed too. As I drove down towards Hessental, I saw many swans in the valley. Then I continued to drive to Elpershofen to park my car.

My plan was to start at Elpershofen, the place my last hike ended and walk towards Großforst. This might be interesting. There is an ostrich farm and I hope that the animals are out, but you never know…it is still winter. The hike will not be too far, so I will have enough time to sketch all day.

Wehr in Elpershofen

weir and part of Elpershofen village

The snow is melting. In the woods and in shady spots there is some and the river still has some icy parts.

My picnic blanket is very useful to sit and sketch to be sheltered against the cold and wet soil. Thanks to the sun, the paper dries much better and it feels more convenient than on my earlier trips this year. I was in good mood and used some pencils to be able to finish the watercolour faster. The car was still in reach so I stowed my first moist sketched paper away.

Then I started my hike to the right of Jagst river.

As I continued walking I saw the beautiful birches and the large old bridge dating from 1866 (renovated in 1957) behind me. Still it is sunny and it feels good to feel the sun on the skin. I follow the tiny street and cross a forest, where I saw a fox running close to the edge. What a beautiful animal. Too fast to sketch, but I made a pencil sketch out of imagination and coloured later. The river is to my left.

Fuchs am Waldrand

Next day after my encounter with the fox, I did several fox sketches. Here is one of them:

Fuchs im Winter

I reach Großforst and see that there are a few very sketchable houses, but the large animals I see at the edge of the village, first attracted my attention. As I sat down to sketch, just a female ostrich stayed unfrightened, the others fled, but came back after a while, very curios about what I was doing there. I just made a pencil sketch and then contiued my hike. Colouring would be done later, I thought, as it was beginning to get colder. The sun was already getting weaker. I was hungry as well.

High time for a hot coffee and my provisions. There is a bench right in front of the nice metal bridge. The bridge leads from Großforst to Kleinforst. But first the picknick. Hm, it was so good. Had a Pretzel with butter and the coffee was strong and hot. This point where I am now sitting, will be the start for my next hike&paint trip. For now it is the middle of my todays hike as you can see on the map.

Over fields and grass I made my way back to Elpershofen. Saw many birds like grey herons and different duck families. Nearly no cars, just three bikers on this hike and no hikers at all. The only flowers I saw were some little snowbells and a few crocusses in a garden, but that was it for the flora…anyway it shows that spring is just around the corner…

The temperatures are rising soon and it will be even more fun to sketch outside…hope I can soon carve out another hike&paint day soon….so stay tuned.

Elpershofen bis Jagsttalranch

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RIVERPAINTINGS, Etappe 2 – from Hessenau to Elpershofen

JAGST hike&paint

Leofels

My second adventure of the hike started on a lovely January morning.  It was quite cold that day, temperatures around zero and the trees in the forest where partly frozen in the morning.

The hike would be a round tour and lead me to Elpershofen, which is about 8 km all in all to get back to my starting point (round tour).

First I drove to the ancient ruins of a castle called Leofels which is right above my real start in Hessenau. I thought I would have a lot of  time to sketch but the weather made it more difficult for me this time. Actually it was so cold that my hands hurt while sketching, although I had gloves on… began this direct watercolour of the ancient walls and entrance to the ruin of castle Leofels. It did not really dry so I gave up in between and finished the contrasting dark tones in my studio.

Hessenau, Mühle

Then I drove down to Hessenau and parked my car where my last hike & paint Etappe ended and started my second one.

Began a pencil sketch of the mill in Hessenau, which was my todays starting point for the hike, but it was so cold, that I even did not begin to watercolour.  I packed the paper away to colour it later at home.

The mill building was nicely renovated and the winter trees had no foliage but a few dry leaves.

Had a short talk with a lady at Milch-Häusle and off I went. Took the way to the right side of the river direction Liebesdorf and it began to snow while I was walking.

Jagst river was very broad and the valley was not as steep as it was earlier. I had a wide view, although the snowfalls turned the landscape into grey-white.

As I reached Liebesdorf I had to cross another bridge which was a concrete one and sofore not worth sketching it.

Then the way to Elpershofen was not as nice as I thought because of the extreme traffic on the street but there was no nicer way where I could walk, so I followed the street.

My highlight: To my surprise the small restaurant was open to warm me up and I had a good warm late lunch and some time to relax  before going out into the cold again.

It did not snow any more and the sun came out. I made a fast sketch of the bridge in Elpershofen. No details, not many colours…

Jagstbrücke Elpershofen

The landscape was turned into a white wonderland.

There is also a weir in Elpershofen, where in summer people go swimming. In winter there is total quiet. Saw two white herons on my way back along the other side of the river and one fox!

From down here, I could see the castle ruin of Leofels high above the trees and knew that I would soon be back at Hessenau where the car was parked.

Elpershofen will be my next starting point for my hike&paint at Jagst river.

This time it was really beautiful, but sooo cold. Thought that I would sketch more, but it was impossible to do so. Most of the colour work was done in the studio this time, but the experience to be out at any weather is a great one.

bei Elpershofen

Did not need my picnic snacks this time, as I was lucky to find some restaurant for the lunch break. Going out to sketch in these weathers is a great experience, anyway I would prefer warmer weather…

Can’t wait for the next hike&paint adventure…

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RIVERPAINTINGS, Etappe 1 – from Diembot to Hessenau

JAGST hike & paint

Hessenau

After some time since my last hike & paint adventure (and my book „Watercolours along Jagst river“)  from Crailsheim to Kirchberg, I decided to make a new start and do more „microadventures“ of this kind in the area from Kirchberg to Langenburg, always following Jagst river. The project name will be: RIVERPAINTINGS

The rules would be basically the same:

  1. Plan consecutive hikes, start in the morning, at the place, I have last been towards the city of Langenburg
  2. Have enough watercolour, and paper packed
  3. Paint the whole day, what seems interesting to me on the way (as it turned out that only a few hours is not worth the effort)
  4. Do at least one tour in a month for seing the change of seasons
  5. Have enough coffee and snacks to picknick

START: Drove through Kirchberg on my way and made a short car stop in Eichenau, where I made a sketch of the gorgeous stone bridge and weir last summer (see last post). Therefore I spared this location out and drove along the river to Diembot, which is very close and parked the car right at the little bridge to start my todays walk to the left of Jagst river.

My bagpack felt light and I was in good mood. The weather was unusually warm for the month of January. The water of Jagst was quite high,  like dark petrol colour and from the other side of the river I could hear some noisy tree cutting work in progress.

The way I followed,  was very close to the river and on my mobile navigator,  I could see that the river would make two complete  U-turns on the way. When I entered the forest, the trees were dotted with white dots, the noises I formerly heard aren’t any more and besides the cracking beneath my feet, it was very calm.

Then I had to go up steeper into a forest with lots of very old oak trees, often covered by light green moss.

When I was up very high over the river I could hear some orange men on the other side of the river shouting and making noice. Turned out that there was a drive hunt going on. Then some shooting…

Some fallen trees obstructed my passage here and there and very soon I was leaving the forest again. I could see Hessenau in the green valley below me. Here I needed to make an A3 panoramic sketch (see above).

After the picnic high above Hessenau and after finishing my painting I continued towards Hessenau, went over the bridge and to the „milk-station“, which was a little hut filled with fresh dairy products and other provisions. Here I bought some stuff and saw that the hunters have already finished their hunt and they caught 5 huge brown boars. Two of them were already stretched and three of them on the ground. The colours orange and green were their trend colours;) Made two rough pencil sketches which I coloured later in my studio.

Hunters
Jäger nach der Wildschweinjagd

 

I crossed the mill, walked out of the village and continued upwards into the forest again. This time I was at the other side of the river for the way back. Consecutively Hessenau will be the starting point for my next tour. From now on I was on my way back.

The only flowers I saw was „Nieswurz“, a Helleborus plant. It was directly above my path and I also only made just a pencil sketch as it was already late and beginning to get colder…

Helleborus

Saw a deer, five dead boar, lots of green and orange hunters and a really enchanted acorn-linden forest half way on the way back to my car.

The weather was fine, with some wonderful sunshine in the afternoon at about 6-8 ° C, which is warm for January.

All in all I walked more than 10 km, therefore sketched more than painted… time flew by and it gets dark early. The conditions were perfect and it was a good start.

Maybe next time I would walk less and paint more. Can’t wait for the next hike&paint adventure.

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RIVERPAINTINGS – Jagst hike & paint continuation

JAGST hike & paint

Those who did not read my older blogposts might not know that I did several consecutive hikes along Jagst river from Crailsheim to Kirchberg in different steps some time ago.

The rules for my hike & paint project were to always start a new hike at about the same point, the last hike ended in order to get a full picture of the way westwards along Jagst river. In between I made stops and painted what was interesting to me, like fauna, flora, landscapes, panoramics, and above all the water of my home river: JAGST

Soon I will do a continuation of this hike & paint project, which I will call RIVERPAINTINGS.

My new starting point will be Kirchberg and I will walk towards Langenburg in several step. How many it will be I do not know yet. But I know that the interesting things will again be the change of seasons in my paintings and the things I experience on the way.

Have fun following my RIVERPAINTINGS journey and see the hidden treasures of my beloved Hohenlohe Region.

Bettina Ruppert

@bettina_draws

(the above photo shows a place called Eichenau, which you will find westwards after leaving Kirchberg along Jagst River.  There is a wonderful stone bridge by the weir. This painting was done last summer.)

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