Dänemark

A week in Denmark, spent in Aarhus sketching with Ea and Anette, in northwestern Jutland at the beach and in Kopenhagen, mostly sightseing.

strandbunker

during the 2nd world war, more than 5000 bunkers were built on denmark´s coasts to complete the atlantic wall, so the scandinavian coasts would be "protected" from an allied invasion.
many of those bunkers remain there more than 65 years later, sunken into the sand, crumbling...
it´s a strange architecture. all that bulky, graffiti-sprayed concrete..
again, very cold on the beach. drew each bunker in 1-2 minutes, then wandered on to the next, trying to warm my fingers inbetween sketches. no choice but to do all the cross-hatching from memory.

winter portraits

 

All drawings done during the hvide sande trip, outside temperature around - 8 °C made indoor sketching very appealing... my models complied and dedicated themselves to their holiday activities, which consisted of drinking wine, watching tv, searching the internet for christmas recipes and crocheting socks.

hvide sande #1

 

i spent some days in denmark shortly after christmas, in hvide sande on the west coast.
this is a vacation village covered in snow, seen from the dunes, and below, the swans huddling together in the town´s harbour. it was so cold that the salt water froze.