Monday, January 27, 2025

Imitating Duhrer's Renaissance Watercolors

I have always loved the paintings and engravings of Albrecht Duhrer, the German artist who was part of the Northern Renaissance during the 15th and 16th centuries. This past month I attempted to copy one of his watercolors--View of the Arco Valley in the Tyrol, 1495--but with a modern and updated twist for the Pacific Northwest. The closest example to his painting I could think of was Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach in Oregon. I used a very small canvas, part of a watercolor kit I was gifted for Christmas, and aimed to keep the same perspective and landscape view as Duhrer, but with an obvious focus on the water as well, which is absent in his art. While his rocky Italian hilltop featured a castle, mine had soaring bald eagles circling it and tourist families below it. I plan on continuing a small series of watercolors of things and places in my own life, but inspired by Duhrer's works.