Mouse, bear and owl

The cunning fat mouse, who drives the barn owls out of the forest with his strength and cleverness, or the teddy bear "Washable", who sets off old and worn out to find out what he is good for: Bernhard Oberdieck has made it his life's work to capture these stories for children in pictures. With his detailed drawings, he invites children and adults to dream and transports them into a magical world of images.

He became famous for his special coloured pencil technique: he uses pointed coloured pencils to draw stroke by stroke, transparently overlaying these strokes like a grid until finally, thousands of small coloured strokes create warm, sensitive images. But he also uses other techniques and materials for his illustrations, such as acrylic and watercolour paints.

Bernhard Oberdieck was born in Westphalia in 1949. A trained lithographer and graphic designer, he has worked with well-known authors such as Michael Ende. His paintings have been exhibited in Germany, France, Japan, Taiwan, Spain, the USA and Finland. The artist, who lives near Wasserburg am Inn, is not only showing finished and published works, but also sketches and studies in the Mesnerhaus at Kloster Seeon (Seeon Monastery). Visitors of all ages can get up close to the paper and follow every "stroke", as well as the meticulous planning and the journey from sketch to finished picture. The exhibition will be accompanied by the Bavarian Broadcasting film "White Owl, Blue Mouse", which is based on illustrations by Bernhard Oberdieck.

Last edited on 27.05.2025