Menkenhof

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This was a painting long in the works. When I lived in Bavaria, I focused on doing more original art and took on less commission projects. One of the main subjects I tapped into was landscapes from photographs I had taken during my travels and my surrounding area. Right across from my house was this beautiful hotel called the Menkenhof owned by a renowned and lovely family named Heigenhauser. They were our first neighbours we came into contact with in Reit im Winkl as my parents and I stayed over at the hotel for a few days before we could move into our house.

In May 2019, I stepped out onto my balcony which wrapped around the corner of my room/studio and began work on this scene en plein air. In my mind I was thinking it would turn out more impressionistic like, especially as I was painting it outside—something quite unusual for me. But, as I am always saying, detail is my middle name and I couldn’t escape from my inherent artistic nature to capture all the shingles, geraniums, reflections, and wisps of cloud I could see. I worked on it for two consecutive summers, each day going out when the weather looked the same.

As my art business was not going as I had hoped, I had to relinquish my craft temporarily and take up other work. This was when I started the process to teach art full time at the Black Forest Academy. I took my painting with me, thinking I’d have time to work on the rest of it from photos I took, but this did not end up being the case. I had it sitting on my easel in the living room of my shared apartment hoping to work on it. When friends would come around, they would notice it, and it was fun to see their reaction, but I was sad that it wasn’t getting completed. In 2023, I finished teaching at the school and got married that September. Once I moved to Basel, I made it my first goal to wrap this project up! Everyone will tell you that I had been saying I was ‘almost done’ for several months, haha. And here we are, ladies and gentlemen: I give you my finished Menkenhof painting!