Backlight, Guoache, 2ox2o cm, Astrid volquardsen
It was a hot day with blue skies as the woman stepped out of the National Gallery. The difference in lighting could not have been greater: The subdued light inside the Gallery and outside in the backlight.
This motif was created long before the pandemic.
The Determinater, Guoache, Astrid Volquardsen, 2020
Well, who is the winner here? Red against blue, blue against red? Above all, I was fascinated by the posture. Let’s hope they have settled well.
I play far too seldom. Not in the actual sense of playing, but playing with material. Just doing things without any intention behind it. I was much too focused on the next exhibition/sale that playing and trying things out was pushed into the background.
Astrid Volquardsen, 2020
There is just something magical about this place. In the evening the air is filled with the song of hundreds of geese. 
Salt Marsh – Flensborg Fjord, Guoache, 8,5×15 cm, Astrid Volquardsen, 2020
My artist friend and I started a 20 stroke challenge after Nathan Fowkes. The aim is to capture a mood of a landscape with 20 strokes of the brush . The first thing you need is a thick brush to overcome the fiddling around.
Unfortunately two years ago I was diagnosed with a brain tumor that was partially removed. It left me right sided paralyzed, with aphasia and with epilepsy. This is my working hand it it wasn‘t an easy way to get back. I have a motto: »What you do today can influence all your tomorrows.« (Ralph Marston) According to this motto, I approach my motor skills, concentration, endurance and LIVE.
And this shows me after 2 and half years later, taking on plein air painting again!
In live, all comes down to this:Live is about choice and attitude.
This post is aimed at those people whose live doesn’t work out the right way and takes an unexpected turn.
NEVER, EVER GIVE UP.