Bucolic Beauty Meets Braveheart

An interesting title, bucolic beauty meets Braveheart but that’s where it was at this weekend! Here is the bucolic beauty 

Braveheart is me (yes, a descendant indeed!), now to the story! A couple of weeks ago I turned up at this uninhabited cottage (it's a kind of living history museum which you can visit by appointment) to sketch, and was informed extremely resolutely that I couldn’t paint it nor take photos and that I would have to get permission from the local council. I tried to explain that I was not trespassing and so can paint what I can see from the road, the lady concerned didn't let me finish and stormed off, I packed up and left. 

Germany is a country that has a lot of rules and regulations which are sometimes a surprise to non-residents; mowing your lawn on a Sunday (or on public holidays) is one, Sunday shop opening is also a no-no. Laws, rules and regulations have pros and cons, Sundays for example are quiet but woe betide you if you've run out of something necessary for the Sunday lunch, your only hope is the local filling station or a visit to a spa town! Being aware of all of these regulations but also feeling a bit bolshy, I decided to check up with the local council, turns out (surprise, surprise!) that I was right; yes, there is a law defending the right to paint/sketch or take photos from a public pavement or road it's known as Panorama Freedom; the word freedom brought good old Braveheart into the fray, my inner William Wallace reared his head (without that dreadful Mel Gibson wig, I hasten to add), “Pro Libertate (For freedom)” and I gathered my painting equipment! 

Having arrived at the cottage, set up my equipment and made clear to my opponent that I had the law on my side, I started painting, what should have been a peaceful session, turned into painting under duress. Once again may I add, this is an uninhabited cottage and tourist attraction, not somebody’s house/garden. After about 30 mins a black estate car slowly made its way through the garden and parked in the drive facing me (here is my set up), 

The car pulled into the gap here and a man who thought he was looking really cool smiled triumphantly through the windscreen, after 15 minutes of sitting there his smile started to fade. He had mistakenly thought he was blocking my view (pillock!) however as his estate car was low-slung and the road I was standing on higher, he wasn't in my view at all. It took him a further 5mins to realise this, and then drove forward, to no effect! I painted on! Joe Cool, decided it was time to take the game up a notch, winding down the window he snidely told me he was off to hitch up his horse box, “Would that disturb you?”, he'd do anything to get rid of me he said. Braveheart played it cool, “Do it, doesn't bother me! I'm staying till I've finished, I have a photographic memory so a horse box is no hinderance.”  

One thing living in Germany has taught me, is that being shy and retiring here won't get you anywhere; queuing will leave you standing on the platform at train stations/ bus stops and if you’ve got something to say, don't hold back .... Germans are in your face, no worrying about hurting other people’s feelings. The worm has turned! 

Joe Cool departed to re-form, his next tactic did concern me a little ......... dogs! Don't get me wrong, I like dogs, but I've been bitten on several occasions, and you know the saying “once bitten, twice shy”! He appeared on the road with two dogs, not on leashes (worrying, but against the law here!), and proceeded to parade back and forth but at a safe distance, had second thoughts and put the dogs on the leash! Sorry mate, got the law on my side and I won't back down, although I was starting to wonder if urban sketchers had had their first martyr! 

Let’s just say the whole experience was not relaxing but it is the first time in 35 years of sketching that I've experienced such unfriendliness, having travelled the world and painted all over, met some lovely people, had interesting conversations, which I wouldn't want to miss. However, I've always been surprised that apart from art students in a museum here, I've never met anyone else sketching! Maybe they were confronted by a Joe Cool, a member of the anti-Art army. 

To be honest, I really don't understand what the problem was but that's the thing about throwing the book, it works both ways, books can be boomerangs!