Neuschwanstein Castle Watercolor Painting | Experimental Germany Travel Art Inspired by Bavaria
For this painting of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany, I had a crazy idea.
I took the original photograph and made three copies. Then I stretched two of them vertically on the Y-axis and sliced the images apart before reassembling them into a single composition. I didn’t want the sections to line up perfectly. In fact, I wanted the opposite.
My goal was to create a fractured image that felt more like memory than reality.
When I think about travel, I don’t remember events in a neat chronological order. I remember pieces.
The German bus driver leaving late tourists behind in Garmisch.
(Word of advice: don’t be late for a German bus. I love Germany because things actually work there.)
The impossibly long Schlange (line) overlooking the famous viewpoint of Neuschwanstein Castle. We only had a few hours, and I had already learned my lesson about bus schedules, so standing in line wasn’t an option.
The beautiful waterfall hike we discovered because we skipped that line.
A church we passed on the bus ride into town. A fantastic photograph that I never got because the bus was moving.
Arrgh.
I visited Germany with my son Rocco several years ago. We had been studying German for years before the trip, and it was our first real opportunity to use the language. To our surprise, almost everyone was willing to speak German with us. With the exception of one waitress in Munich, nobody immediately switched to English.
Maybe we were finally good enough not to offend anyone.
Or maybe they were just being polite.
When I create a painting, all of those memories become attached to the image. The artwork is never just about the photograph. It becomes a collection of experiences, conversations, mistakes, successes, and moments that happened before and after the shutter clicked.
That’s one reason I don’t enjoy commission work very much.
Commissioned paintings may be meaningful to the client, but they don’t carry the same personal history for me. I paint because I want to revisit places, memories, and experiences. The painting becomes part travel journal, part experiment, and part souvenir.
Each section of this watercolor was painted separately using different color combinations and techniques. The challenge was maintaining values similar to the original photograph while allowing each panel to develop its own personality.
Purchase this original painting & fine art prints HERE
Paintings like this are an exercise in control and chaos at the same time.
The result reminds me of that hectic day in Bavaria: buses that mean business, missed photographs, mountain hikes, German conversations, castle viewpoints, and fragments of memories that never quite line up perfectly.
One final note.
When the tour staff tried to put us on the English-speaking bus, there was absolutely no chance that was happening.
No way Jose!
We had spent years trying to learn German. We were riding on the German bus.
See the creation of this painting on my YouTube channel:
Painting of church in San Juan, Puerto Rico using a similar technique.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!
Ryan Fox AWS, NWS, TWSA
Ryan Fox Painting
(919) 645-8345