International Inspiration - Elburg

During my stay in Holland, I visited a small fishing village called Elburg. I was struck that being a fishing village, why wasn't it situated on open water? It turns out Elburg was once on  a large lake that flowed out to the North Sea called the Zuiderzee. Often when storms came in from the North Sea they caused disasterous flooding and loss of life in the villages along the edges of the Zuiderzee. In order to stem the floods, a large dam was constructed, called the Afsluitdijk, which was completed in 1932. The Zuiderzee became the Ijsselmeer and land within this area was reclaimed for farming and housing. These areas are called polders.

A large polder (Flevoland) was formed in front of Elburg with a river flowing in between them. So the fishermen from Elburg can still access the Ijsselmeer however the water in the lake has turned from salt water into fresh water. Due to the fact that Elburg is no longer situated on open salt water, fishing has deminished and the town now relies on tourism for its economy. 

The town was built with large brick ramparts and the streets and alleys still breath the atmosphere of the Middle Ages. There are many terraces and cafes and popular shops to keep the tourist amused.



You can see where Elburg is situated today on the lower
right of the map. The green areas are reclaimed polders.





I began my painting by drawing the the composition lightly on
watercolour paper.



Then I masked the sailboat cables
and put pale washes in the
background.




Then I started to add more colour and established some
of the shadow areas, leaving the foreground for the end.





"Elburg Fishing Boats"