Jagst hike & paint, Etappe 7

Hammerschmiede

JAGST hike & paint, Etappe 7, Hammerschmiede: Gronach creek to Jagst river

The day looked promising. The clouds were still there, but the sun came through every now and then and I started my new stage of the hike & paint tour. At Hammerschmiede parking in Gröningen I parked the car.

This time I did not start at Jagst river directly, but walked straight towards it. The landscape looked freshly washed after the rain and the light green foliage sprouts everywhere. As I walk down the hill from the road to the hammer mill (Hammerschmiede) I already discover a lot of different wild flowers and herbs such as pink and yellow dead nettle, small anemones, yellow ranunculus, wild sage and small wild strawberry plants in full bloom. The landscape is developing and where a few weeks ago the trees were brown and unadorned, fresh green leaves or white flowers can be seen on some fruit trees.

After having sketched the blossoms of the tree I continued my way towards the mill.

Here is my sketch of the upper ensemble of the hammer mill.

Nowadays it is a museum and some kind of event location as well as restauration for hikers.

The old forge is still there and during events they make the whole big hammer forge work. There is also a baking house and an oil mill. Very spectacular.

The environment makes me feel positive and as I arrive at the hammer mill, I look for a place on the opposite bank for my sketch. The sky was leaded, nearly like a greyish-lavender colour, but luckily the wind was weak. The colours of the landscape, in contrary, were very intense. 

 I could have painted lots of watercolours at the mill, but I’ll save that for my next visit. First of all I had to continue crossing the river several times, either over large stone blocks or small bridges.

Stones by the water

 The deeper you dive into the forest, the more you perceive smells of wild garlic. At a ford where there must have been a bridge in earlier times (…because you can still see remains,) there is a place to picnic and also some wooden sculptures. For me it is the „forest of figures“. After that, the path soon becomes narrower and the Gronach gorge looks steeper the closer you get to the mouth of the much larger Jagst river. You cross the creek a few times on the way, which makes the tour very entertaining.

As I arrived at the mouth, I unpacked my picnic blanket and enjoyed the things I brought with me to refresh myself.

While I had that tasty coffee in the wild, time stood still for an instance and I so much enjoyed the moment. This is about the same, as being in the flow with a watercolour.

I started another watercolor of the light green forest and the small, covered bridge over the Gronach of which I painted the detailed foliage later in the studio as that would have been too timeconsuming. (This place is very close to the point I already drew in Etappe 5 – you see I did not get a lot further…which is great, as there is so much around that needs to be painted.  

Again I thought that the colours were extremely fresh and intense. Mostly there were different lush greens and contrasting reds and browns of the soil. The creek splashes into the river and the song of the birds make the drawing spot unique.

Then it’s time to start the way back through the gorge, the forest of figures, the wild garlic forest and getting back towards Hammerschmiede again.

Gronach-Brücke

Saved the best for last. Could not resist to make a fast sketch of another romantic bridge directly at the Hammerschmiede and was too done to see that the bridge was straight and not bent like in my watercolour. (I only discovered that as I finished that one in my studio).  Tired and satisfied, I went back to the parking lot. What a day!

Brücke an der Hammerschmiede
Material: A3 and 20 x 20 cm watercolor paper Clairefontaine. 
Used this time colored pencils for the underdrawing
 
Seen: lots of wild flowers, nice stones, about 9 or 10 hikers, one biker, heard birds and river sounds and smelled the scent of spring as well as the wild garlic
 
Duration: One full day of fun!
 
Weather: Good at the beginning, leaded sky, very cloudy with very few sunny intervals, 15° C, a bit of short shower in the end which prevented me to finish my last one, but it was late anyway…
 
Thoughts: Should have brought binoculars for birdwatch and should come back for sketching the little baking house and the turbine house …and, and, and….
 
Can’t wait to continue…

Jagst hike & paint, Etappe 5

Ruine

JAGST hike & paint, Etappe 5, Neidenfels, Kernmühle bis Heinzenmühle

This 5th part of the journey dates originally from the end of February. It was the first unusually warm day this year. My report of that comes only now, as I would like to keep the story in the right order along the flow of the river.

For this journey I took a whole day off and changed my painting stool against a picnic blanket as well as sufficient provisions to have it comfortable on the way. My car was parked in Neidenfels.

At the start of the hike I could hear the noises from the nearby quarry. After passing a mill called Kernmühle I descend into Jagst valley. At first you would think you are in a fairytale forest with extremely green moss on trees and stones. The valley is steep like a canyon. You can see ruins (like in my sketch above) and you can see limestone formations on both sides of the valley. 

Krokus

I see the first crocuses of the year which I definitely needed to paint. Further behind these little flowers there was a wooden stem that looked like a sleeping swan. It feels like being in an enchanted forest. After some time of continuing my way I see a scenic viewpoint where I make my first picnic. Quite luxurious to drink a good coffee and have a bite in the wilderness.

Muscheln aus der Jagst

After that the area of the valley becomes much wider and a large gravel bed opens up in front of me. A short time beforehand (maybe two weeks before) it had been inondated by the rivers highwaters and I find a lot of green-brown shells that matches the colour of the water. The stones however are not very polished, but rather angular and rugged (see my watercolour above)

After a while I reach the inflow of Gronach creek into Jagst river. If you would follow the creek you would reach within about half an hour an ancient forge called Hammerschmiede (this could be another side story…). I make a second coffee stop and paint a small covered bridge over Gronach creek.

Brücke über Gronach

After all those smaller size watercolours I change to an A3 to be able to get most of the bridge onto my sheet. The trees are very mossy and still have no leaves. The Gronach creek splashes into Jagst river at this point. Below you can see a photo of my sketch on site.

I continue, crossing the bridge towards my endpoint. Still a hike below the Autobahn bridge to Heinzenmühle. There I make two swatches of the colour of the riverwater and it is time to hike the whole way back to the car.  I am done and it was a long, long day, but the good thing is that I can feel the sun on my skin.

Material: Clairefontaine grain fin 20 x 20 cm und Canson A3

Seen: 1 grey heron, 2 ducks, 5 deer, 7 hikers and a few brimstones

Duration: A full day

Weather: Early spring weather at about 18 degrees C, sunny!!!

Thoughts: Total luxury. Great picnic. Can’t wait to be back on the track.