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July 2025

- João's Bar -

Art is a broad discipline. I feel that I belong to the plein air and watercolour painters. Even within this circle, no two styles are alike: some prefer watercolour pencils, others paint wet-on-wet. Some love large paper formats, others small ones. I start by drawing precisely, working with a thin brush and little water. But once the contours are set, I begin to play freely with the colours. Despite all of our differences, I guess one thing unites us: the willingness to devote ourselves spontaneously and with complete dedication to the visible – whether in the solitude of nature or in the lively pulse of the city.We engage in a race against time, changing light conditions, capricious weather, curious passers-by. No one shies away from the sun, wind or cold. No other form of visual art requires more determination to begin and finish a painting – as if with a long breath.

I decide on many of my motifs spontaneously, while others are close to my heart.Just in time before it was demolished, I painted João's bar on the beach at Odeceixe in southern Portugal. It was a cool spring afternoon. I sat cross-legged on the terrace. Sunbeams danced across the cold, sandy concretefloor. The last winter storms had already ruffled the bamboo roof, and the shutters and door were tightly closed. There was no one around, except for my husband, who was walking with our son down by the water. It always takes me a while to get started on a painting. This time was no different. My gaze wandered leisurely over the embankment, the river and the beach to the sea, where the sun sinks into the horizon in the evening and, at night, when the sky is clear, the imagination is lost in the Milky Way. Then my thoughts raced through many summers – and finally paused on a single day: 31st July 1995. That was when I met my husband Klaus, right here. It was evening, and people were milling around on the terrace. Lots of voices, lots of languages, lots of red wine, Sagres, Mary Jane. The smell of grilled fish and bifanas filled the air. Music, summer, youth lifted the soul. While my friend Bea and I philosophised about God and the world that evening, our children played pranks on Klaus, whom I would meet later that evening. Now I sat where our table once stood and painted. A little melancholy mingled with my colours – and a lot of joy.

My plein air watercolours show nothing more than visible reality, and yet with them I can capture a place, a time, my feelings – in a quiet, unobtrusive way. Those who knew João's bar will find their own memories in this motif. And those who did not know it may see a quiet association, a fleeting dream or a desire for something long lost blossom within themselves as they look at it. For as individual as plein air paintings are, they can also touch us in a deeply personal way.

> order magnetic bookmark motif  'João's Bar '

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