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Its not very long time that I was debating with a female artist, who told me that I would paint very beautifully, but there would be no message, nothing special, and that would be the reason that I could not exhibit my paintings in the gallery, the was supervising. When I saw her paintings in the web, everything was clear to me: Those whose paintings really have no message, whose paintings cannot be declared even as paintings, are just doing much ado about nothing....
I think, those who are willing to hear or see the message of a painting, will be aware of it! And painting life as it is, just as the painter sees it, is message enough, its simply the truth he sees and wants to retain for the afterworld. This counted in former days, this counts here and now, this will count in the future. Truth declares itsself! There must be no explications and declarations. And true art declaires itsself too......

My last comment which I recieved from Manuel, my old master of watercolour on my painting
"Berlin, watching the ships go by" sounded like this:
Well,..Alfred,..your painting is O.K., much better than the last few ones...!"
Mostly Manuel and I agree in opinion. I know, he wont say untruth,..I know, he is a true friend.....

..I confess, the question is very provocative...knowbody that I know would be willing to destroy her or his
artwork,... really nobody!!! Our art is much more than the sum of the component parts, we need to create
it, much more than colour, paper, water, or whatever solvent we use...its all the time, we invested in our
art, so much trouble, till we got our actual experience,..once I said, our paintings are part of our soul,..and
this applies to each artwork, we are doing.
When we are not willing to tear our artwork, our paintings, which are part of our soul,...why,..I ask myself,
...I ask you,..are we willing to tear our ...souls....!?!
You may reply,..nobody is willing to do that, either tear her or his artwork, or tear her or his soul,...not
under any circumstances....!
Is this really true..?
On FAA we are used to comment artwork of colleagues, the artwork of whom we like...
But sometimes,..maybe very often,..we comment and vote for artwork, we dont like so much,..perhaps
we do that in the hope that our artwork will be commented in return, ..in the hope that we can gather
comments and votes,...and will be uprated in the search option of FAA,...and sell copies of our artwork,
...and ... in short,..earn money,..or more money...!
A dear friend once confessed, "...A...., its really all about trading comments,..I really dont know, whether
they like my artwork,..or not...!
I confess,..these words made me sad,..very sad!
You may replay, ...well, many of my comments are for artwork I really like, ...but some are for colleagues,
who are happy about receiving positive and encouraging comments, ...it cannot be wrong, to encourage
these colleagues in their work, in their art, in their hopes.
But isnt this exactly,..what I feared,...some comments are honest and faithful, and some are "well-meant"..,
"well-meant" for our colleagues, the artwork of whom we dont like that way, we commented it,..or
"well-meant" for our own profit.....?
I cannot answer this question,...there is only one way,...we should listen to our heart,... and if there is still
a very faint and silent voice,..and we are still able, to hear it,...and I hope for all of us, that we still can,
...then we should do what our heart tells us.....

When we look at the boat or at the train, you may perhaps overview, where the journey may go to. When you look at the river below, you may know the town, where the river may merge in the sea...But perhaps you dont know, whether to enter the train or the boat or nothing at all, ...simply keeping standing on the bridge and watching the river below...
There are times when you dont know, whether to stay hear on FAA, or not to stay,...when you doubt about what you are doing, or what you should letting be...
You should not damn these moments,.. you should be quiet and immerse yourself into the pictures your are seeing, ..with your eyes and your heart
and listen, what your heart tells you,...these are the moments, when new pictures arise,..in your heart,..in your brain,..and sometimes on a sheet of paper....

Well,..many of us, who are posting their art-work here on FAA are painting,..O.K. many are taking photographs, many of which are digitally remastered, why are we doing this?
Of course there are many possibilities, let us see..
...to earn money, that will be only very few; to have a nice hobby and pastime, ...to be creative, to create something new, something special, something unique, which exists only one single time on earth...
But sometimes, when I see paintings, which are so beautiful, so unearthly wonderful, I ask myself, could it be, that some of us are painting,.. to escape into a better world, into another world, ...kind of paradise, that only exists in our dreams, our hopes or our beliefs...or is it the money after all....?

From 21. November - 20 Dezember 2013 I will show many of my watercolour paintings in Fürth, public library.

From 23.09. - 24.10.2013 I will exhibit watercolour paintings in Fuerth, Adult Education Centre.
The prospective title of the exhibition will be: City, country, riverside - people.
The first 3 terms of the title remind of a wellknown childrens play

When I finished my painting "Nuremberg City Hall Backyard" I was quite content with the result. But when I posted a digitally remastered "pop-version" of the painting, (see on the left side) I had the feeling, that I can do better, that I had not exhausted my possibilities the first time. Future will show whether its possible, to paint "like a computer". Comparisons with "chess", which isnīt possible nowadays without PC and "Chessbase"-software are not far to seek.
Future will bring it to light....

To be honest, when I began to "plan" my paintings with sketches, my paintings improved obviosly. I do them for arranging values, to try combinations of colours or to check the composition.
Then some day, I posted a sketch on my flickr-gallery in the same size as the following accurate picture, by this means I was able to compare the two paintings, which were posted side by side. The problem was, I liked the sketch, which was painted in 15 minutes more than the accurate, big painting, I had finished in a few week. How can this be possible, what had happened?

Maybe there are many possibilities, I try to list some:
Small sketches are looking much better, when they are scaled to the same size as the big ones.
When you paint quick sketches, you try to paint only the essential things, no details.
When you paint big paintings with many details, you may forget the very essential things, or you may not elaborate them as extensively, as it would be possible.
When you paint small sketches you paint only shapes and values, no details (I think, one of the most important things!)
When you paint small and quick sketches, you do this much more with your heart and your personal temper and character than with your brain.
What can we learn about all this, what do you think?
Perhaps to paint very quickly with a very big brush on a oversized sheet of paper, with very much enthusiasm and "heart" and not worrying about the result,... just doing it? I think itīs worth trying!!

PS: ..what about calling them XXL-Sketches??...

We talk about "watercolour", "oil on canvas", "pastel" or "acrylic painting", yes even about "ink painting". Nobody says "oil colour" or "acrylic colour".
Do we think so little of this medium, that we have to ad the term "colour" to be able to mention this medium in the same breath as "oil" or "pastel" or "acrylics"? I donīt know.
I am not so presumptuous to call this medium the most difficult to use, though I know, thatīs exactly what many painters do.
What I really know, and I got to know this from my own experience, but I learnt this many years ago from Claude Croney, painter, I like most, that colour isnīt that important. What really counts is your composition and the tonal values, you use in your painting!
Fine art America - friends of mine know, that I like to combine in my paintings "watercolour" with solubable ink fineliners, watercolour pencils and so on, but the most important in my eyes is the solvent, the very medium, itīs water.... In my biography I unveil my relationship to this medium, and I wonīt disagree, if someone should call this relationship "love affair". Painting purists may say, that the medium of these paintings must be called "watercolour and mixed media", this may be possible,.. I insist that the very medium of my painting is water, ..water...and nothing more!!