Senior watercolor portrait sketches

 

Baldeneysee in Essen

Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico paper, 51.5x35 cm 

The Ruhr in Steele

 

"The Ruhr in Steele"

acrylic painting on canvas, 80x60 cm

Sketching Alpacas in Germany

This was my first sketching encounter with alpacas.  Over 15 years ago, I painted a couple of llamas in Ecuador, which just sat quietly for a long time.  These young male alpacas in Germany were moving around most of the time, with short naps on the grass.  I realized how much I rely on memory to sketch people on the go.  I do not know alpacas well enough to be able to sketch them without having the model in front of me.  This is visible in my sketches.  For the portrait of Alfie, I made a photo.

Steampunk Jubilee im Schiffhebewerk Heinrichenburg

 

Watercolor portraits... or sketches?

 

Assisted care home sketches

Whenever I visit my husband, there is someone who captures my wish to sketch. Not all are residents.  Heinz is a musician and Ismail, one of the guys in charge of testing for Covid, a mandatory procedure for visitors to the assisted care home.

People sketches

Of all sketching themes, people are definitely my favorite. The more history they reflect in their faces, the more interesting they are for me to sketch. Fellow urban sketchers, friends, family and random people on the go, have served as models. 

Now, I would like to start a series of portraits to reflect Essen's amazing diversity.  Volunteers, please contact me via e-mail:  

dorisraecke@yahoo.com 

 

The Ruhr river in all seasons

 

These are watercolors and acrylic paintings completed during the last couple of years.  The Ruhr river is always an inspiring and relaxing place to be, 10 minutes from our home.  It once resembled a sewer. Now, its water is surprisingly transparent.  Policies have changed and efforts have been made to recuperate this river for nature and the inhabitants of the Ruhr region.  

A dam in Essen gave way to the Baldeney sea, large enough to allow sailboats on it.

This sketch will allways remind me of the terrible floods in Western Germany on July 14th last year.  While sketching, it started to drizzle. A bit later, to pour heavily.  Then, we rushed to our car.