Friday 29 June 2018

A walk in the 'Alblasserbos'


Because of the nice weather we had lately I went for an early walk in the 'Alblasserbos' , a small forest area on walking distance of my home. There is a signposted walk through the forest that follows a nice path. For the more adventurous walkers there are small paths that can be really wet after some rain.
The name 'forest' is maybe a bit overdone for the place, but for us it is a nice spot with large trees. There even are two areas that are called 'Alblasserbos' and they are both protected. The Dutch word 'bos' means forest.

The signposted walk has a few seats close to the path, each with a nice view. During my walk I took some rest on one of those seats and made some sketches. 
The shape and perspective of the bridge is a bit of a challenge, especially when you are sketching with only one pencil. So I have made several studies to get the bridge right.

I have used all of those for this charcoal drawing of the view that inspired me.

More information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Wednesday 27 June 2018

The ramparts of Nieuwpoort (Netherlands) - a watercolour painting


After a very little bit of thought I decided to make a watercolour painting after the Conté drawing I had made on the ramparts of Nieuwpoort. 
I had not made a reference picture, so for this painting I have been using my memory to paint the right colours.

In summertime that means lots of shades of green for the foliage of trees and bushes and another green, sometimes mixed with a hint of blue for the different grasses. 
The tree trunks are a very dark brown. Some trees have a dark brown colour while others are almost white. These are the dark ones.

The houses stand out a little more, as they do in reality. In fact it was the view of the roofs and the tops of the houses that made me choose this spot to make the first drawing.
Usually I do not select a spot with lots and lots of rooftops, but painting in a town and not having buildings in one of my drawings did not feel right. So I compromised and this is the result.

More information about this painting (size, materials used, availability) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 


Tuesday 26 June 2018

Summer


This is another painting that is inspired by a sketch that was provided by the magazine 'Plaisirs de Peindre'. 
The landscape with the buildings, lines of trees and some bushes or mountains in the background is a nice challenge for me. The sketches given by the magazine are mostly basic outlines, so the colours, time of year and other details are left to the imagination of the artist.

The landscape is presumably not situated in The Netherlands, but that does not really matter. It could be here in a part of this country, in that case the shapes in the background are bushes.

I chose to make a summer scene out of this one. So that means I had to make trees with all their foliage, fields that are a bit yellow because of the heat and drought of summer and warm colours in the buildings. And some clouds in the sky of course, even in summertime we do have lots of clouds where I live.

Using sketches and references that are not my own (or given to me by my husband and children) is for me a chance to challenge myself and paint something I would not have chosen in other circumstances. By doing this I hope to increase my skills.

More information about this watercolour painting (paper and paint used, size, availability, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Monday 25 June 2018

On the ramparts of Nieuwpoort


The little fortified town of Nieuwpoort (Netherlands) has preserved its ramparts in a beautiful manner. 
A signposted walk guided me over a part of the highest wall and I really appreciated the view I had of the town on one side and the moat on the other side. Of course there were modern houses, some fields and the river Lek to be seen besides the moat.

This view is towards the old town inside the ramparts. I had found a nice spot with a view on lots of trees, some roofs and a part of the structure of the ramparts.
I decided to make a sketch - like drawing using my Conté Sketching pencils. I have started with the Sepia pencil and have added Sanguine only for the roofs of the buildings and the foliage of the trees and bushes on the foreground.

Of course this is an experiment, as I did not explore the possibilities of the Conté pencils completely. In fact this drawing is part of that exploration.
I have not decided yet whether I will use this sketch/drawing to make a watercolour painting.

More information about this drawing (size, used materials, availability, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Sunday 24 June 2018

View on the river Lek at Nieuwpoort


The Amateur Art club "Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken" organised a day in the old fortified town of Nieuwpoort, not far from where I live. As I have written before, I am a member of that club and I was happy to join this activity.
The day included a walk in the little town with lots of information about its history and tips about nice spots for painting, drawing or photography  - and coffee of course.

After the walk we all gathered our stuff and tried to choose 'our spot' for the day. 
I decided to make some sketches and drawings as there was some wind sunshine, so I thought my watercolour paint would dry a bit too soon.

The first thing that caught my attention was the view over the river Lek from the parking place. I decided to make a charcoal drawing on that spot.


This drawing is showing the river and the weather circumstances of the early afternoon, we had some nice clouds then. Later in the afternoon the weather was clearing a little.

This charcoal drawing is used as a 'sketch' for the watercolour painting I made at home in my little studio. 

I am happy with both the painting and the drawing and because I have used one to make the other I have decided to write only one blog post about them.

More information about the watercolour painting and the charcoal drawing can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Friday 22 June 2018

Blijdorp Zoo - at the Terrace


Each year I make a visit to Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam with my mother. We like to walk there and watch the lions, tigers, giraffes, polar bears, elephants and.....
The area is not only a Zoo, but also a botanical garden and we enjoy the trees and bushes as much as we like the  animals.

This time the weather was a bit cold, so we entered one of the restaurants for some coffee. This restaurant is part of the 'Rivièra Hal', one of the National Monuments in Blijdorp Zoo. We were close to a window and had a nice view of the Terrace and especially on one of the old plane trees (Platanus). As we were waiting for the coffee, I took out my sketchbook and pencils and started to draw what I could see. Of course I had finished my coffee before the sketch.
Behind the tree was a part of the edge of the Terrace  visible. Like most of the architecture in Blijdorp Zoo, this is also beautifully designed.

I have decided to draw this scene using charcoal and my Tinted Charcoal pencils. The addition of some colour makes the scene a bit more gentle. 

More information (colours and paper used, size, availability, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Thursday 21 June 2018

Pounce!


From time to time I use a sketch that is published by the magazine Plaisirs de Peindre for my inspiration. This is one of these sketches and I have used it to get to know the art materials I have gathered a bit better.
Of course I love cats and kittens so I just had to use this sketch.

I have printed the sketch, taped it to my window, taped my paper over it and traced the lines. I really hope that one day I can sketch a kitten without all this preparation.
A few years ago I won a set of Conté Sketching Pencils in an online lottery and I have not used them very often. This is the set of materials I wanted to use for this drawing. 

These Sketching Pencils can be used in line drawings but I have also discovered that using my fingers I can feather the pencil marks, similar to charcoal. That is nice to know and great to use.
For the eyes I have chosen a blue pastel pencil (also from an online lottery and not used often).

The background in the original sketch is not more than a line under the kitten's paw so I have changed that into a part of a frame. Maybe he is walking up the stairs, or.....

Finally there was the question of the name for the kitten. My daughter suggested Pounce, inspired by a game character and I thought that to be a great name for my kitten.
Pounce is ready to explore the world - with some prudence.

More information about Pounce can be found on my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Tuesday 12 June 2018

Our chestnut tree in springtime; the 'beginning' of the chestnuts - a pencil drawing


Our chestnut tree has lost its flowers now and there are lots of little 'fruits' where the flowers used to be. In the next few weeks a lot of these little green balls will fall off and only a few of them will be nice large chestnuts in autumn.
Of course I have made pictures of this moment and I have chosen one to be the reference for this pencil drawing.
I have used watercolour pencils and some drops of water to emphasise a few of the details. Not much, but they stand out just a little more than without the use of water.

The technique for mixing colours with pencils is a bit different from watercolour and I am happy that I am getting to know the possibilities this medium better with each drawing I am making. Of course that's what practise is for and the chestnut tree is a nice subject for these 'experiments'.

More information about this drawing (paper and pencils used, size, availability, etc.) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Sunday 3 June 2018

Our chestnut tree; stormy weather in springtime - a charcoal drawing


This drawing is inspired on the view from my bathroom window, I can see the top of our chestnut tree when I am looking out of the little window.

The flowers from the chestnut tree are all gone now (the car parked under it does not have white sport any more) and there are lots of 'baby chestnuts' on the tree. In the next few weeks a lot of those little 'babies' will fall off too and only a few will grow out to be really big chestnuts that fall off in autumn.
The top of the tree is not 'full', there are lots of open spaces - for the birds to fly in - where the sky is still visible. The branches of the tree are visible too, maybe because the tree is not very old, only seventeen or eighteen years.

This was inspired on a very cloudy and dark evening, after sunset in the blue hour. We did have some evenings with thunderstorms in the past week and the sky was looking great with those clouds! The branches, leaves and 'baby chestnuts' are just a little more than silhouettes at that time of the day.
All these dark colours and silhouettes inspired me to make a charcoal drawing.

For this drawing I have not even made a reference picture. I have pictured the clouds from memory as they were that evening and I have been crossing the little corridor between my studio and the bathroom to take a look  at the tree several times while I was making my drawing. 

More information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com