The difference between a stinging wasp and a harmless hoverfly trying to mimic it can be small, but easier to see if you know what to look for
Who is the real wasp
Looking up
Three days Winter hike with my brother (70 km ) in watercolors.
Eyes passing by
Sometimes it seems to me, when looking in the eyes of people passing by, they are starring into fires that has long stopped burning
You’ve aged the castle said
Walking up there one early spring afternoon, the crows circling and wind chilling the whole idea of trying to get into the Royal school of Architecture by painting watercolors here
Places of memories
"We swim here, we locals swim here", she said as we walked down to the small place between the rocks... Many years later I paint here
Hiking between coastal rocks
I had reached the ancient rocks, they felt solid, and even older than both the sand and the limestones I'd passed on my way
Walking past traditional art
The tiny houses on the wooden sticks looked faded in the sun, but faded in ways, as wood do, that kind of make it even more beautiful
Painting watercolors in the rain
The first drops of water soon hit the paper, I tried to lean forward, covering it as much as I could, while continuing to paint, but soon gave up and just let the rain join in as it liked to
Bridge by the sea
First I walked over it, then I stopped, liked the solid feel of the small bridge, way to solid for the short distance it had to span
Tiny fisherman’s house
Not many details, just what is needed when off the boat, the small house looks like it can handle a lot of wind. I take out my brushes, watercolor and paper
When coincidence makes architecture
There is a quiet feel to it, the mix of granite stones, wood and simple metal sheet roofs - Even bits from boats thrown in, a bench, and holders for the yarn and tools used on the sea.
Church wall detail
Painting bricks in Copenhagen while the rich in money rush by, and the rich in time watch the sun between the trees
The old woman under the roof
I never really got to know a lot about her, the old lady living up there under the roof in the small hut. Just saw her talking to herself, or maybe it was to the island, as she crawled out of the small door, and down the stairs. Every morning she would go swimming and often collect things along the way
Seals singing at the most eastern hut in Denmark
Most of the small granite huts are on the west side of the island Christiansø, but one is far away from all the others. Only a few hundred meters from the most Eastern point in Denmark, where the Grey seals gather to sing under the moon
Hiding a powerstation
On the Ertholmene islands every modern thing like power is hidden or integrated into existing structures. This is the look of the building housing both the power station, toilet and bathing facilities for both campside and sailors - even the people in the small huts use the facilities here
Granite huts and rocks
On Ertholmene the tiny granite huts and shacks are in some places build together with the rocks, in ways where the rocks often continues somehow inside the architecture
The school Ertholmene
I used to know the old school teacher on the islands and often came by to drink coffee and talk about all things from the islands to watercolors and philosophy and on top of the school lived the most famous artists on the islands... Mogens and Dominique
Sketching huts into the village
Sitting in the wind on Ertholmene and painting I never quite made it that day, didn't finish this painting... maybe I'd come back here, I thought, closing my watercolors
Small stone cottage under the walls
This is one of the smallest stone huts on the Ertholmene islands, situated all by itself, there is just a door and a single window, but close by a great bathing place between the rocks, when the wind is right
Self Sustaining on Ertholmene
Life on the small, poor isolated islands was tough in the old days and being self-sustaining as much as possible was important - growing vegetables became a tradition the locals still master
Sleeping in the old prison on Ertholmene
Back in the days before democracy in Denmark about the worst punishment people could receive for stirring the mind of the people was to be sent to the prison on tiny islands Ertholmene far out in the Baltic sea
Herring factory in old boathouse
Inside the boathouse is the last marinated herring factory on Ertholmene. Just a tiny place where a handful of locals listen to the radio, while preparing the fish as it has been done in generations
Ancient granite rocks Ertholmene
Sitting on ancient rocks, more than 1.7 billion years old, looking at the water that floats around them, I wonder what they have witnessed so far. Must be amazing things
The mill house – Ertholmene
For a long time the birders lived in a small hut, but then they took over the Mill house ( Møllehuset) situated on top of the island Christiansø, with perfect views to the migrating birds - I remember being invited in...
Smokehouses on Frederiksoe
I sit down in the grass with a warm, freshly smoked herring. Not often this happen... The small old white chimnies are easy to spot from a distance. They were build to smoke herring and other fish and even today, from time to time, the locals celebrate the old times, smoking fish and drinking beer on Ertholmene islands
Frits Ahlefeldt: sketchbook and stories 