Colorful Traditions

Still life with Pumpkin, 1971 Watercolor





After fall 'colors' near the Battlefords, 1968

 Finding this still life seems quite appropriate for this time of year! - and lets one reminisce on more first impressions 44 years ago. The color was mostly gone out of the landscape and most gardens looked rather drab. There was much color in the celebration of Hallowe'en however. Large, bright orange pumpkins for decorations, with candlelight flickering through ghoulish faces, and children dressed up, hurrying along dark sidewalks. In a way, it was similar to the lantern parades back in Germany, that take place in the fall, also in the dark, early evening. Except that children sing as they walk with their lit paper lantern. The going house to house may be similar in some areas, though the 'loot' would have been quite a bit different.



More of what we left behind in 1968

Small village in Germany during harvest. 1960s, Oil on board



Street in Döffingen, Linolcut 1960s

This year, in 2012, it is 44 years ago, that Fritz and family embarked on the ocean crossing, leaving behind an adventurous past, that certainly holds, by far, not only good memories.

The motifs for painting, sketching and drawing were many, however.



In the valleys near the Black Forest, the picturesque villages had Fritz taking his children for many morning walks, to get "Frühsport" (morning sport, or that early workout) and lots of fresh air. Sketches were turned into linol cuts, and many oil paintings on small boards were the result of exploring the villages on foot, from 10 years of residing in the village of Döffingen, near Stuttgart in southern Germany

Scenic village Döffingen, Oil on board