Monday 29 October 2018

October pumpkin


The month of October has a lot of autumnal themes in it and many of these are used for online challenges. To paint the theme in the challenge and publish the painting is a nice way to go out of your comfort zone and I have been doing that several times lately.

This time the pumpkin was twice in a challenge and I like the subject, so I gave it a try.
As pumpkins are not a familiar sight in my country I had to imagine a scene using some reference pictures for the leaves of the pumpkin plant and my memory of some pumpkins that are for sale in vegetable stores in this time of the year.
I made up a scene with a pumpkin, some leaves and stems and as I was painting, more leaves were added. 
While painting I decided to make a dark background in shades of green so the orange of the pumpkin would stand out.

This painting was evolving while it was being painted, that happened because I did not have much of a plan when I started painting. The result is maybe even better than I hoped for when I started drawing my pumpkin and some leaves.

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

The Signpost


As I wrote in my previous post, we made some signposted walks during our short vacation in Reifferscheid (Eiffel, Germany). Only the second (and last) walk was signposted not so very well. 
We were happy that my husband made a picture of the information board that had all the signposted walks drawn on the map so we could find our route with the help of that picture and a navigation app.
We came upon this signpost, showing lots of destinations, but our route was not indicated. 

Despite that little fault, the signpost itself was a perfectly placed element in the landscape, the white of the indicating signs contrasting with the dark bush behind it.
I made some reference pictures and painted this scene in the afternoon when we were back in our vacation home.

I do not use rough paper very often, grain fin (or cold pressed) is my usual choice.
For this small scene I decided to try something different and I had a bit of a struggle of course, but the result is nice. 
There are some unexpected qualities to the structure of this paper and I will have to explore that a bit further - and I guess I will enjoy doing so.

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

Sunday 28 October 2018

View on Burg Reifferscheid

 

We did stay in Reifferscheid long enough to make some signposted walks. We chose some short walks of five to seven kilometers and after those walks we would take time to rest and relax in our vacation home. That was also the time for me to paint, making the most of the daylight. The evenings were for reading.
The walks started on the parking place where our car was, not far from the vacation home. We just had to pack a lunch, close the door and start walking.

The first walk we chose went downhill from the hilltop and followed a little valley towards a neighbouring village and then back again through a small forest area and the village of Reifferscheid, which is more than just the hilltop with the remains of the old castle (where our vacation home was located).

There were lots of great views and my husband made the reference picture for this watercolour painting. 
The 'horizon' is high in the painting, a change compared to my usual compositional choices.
I made the ruins with the white tower my point of interest and chose to add some drama to the bushes in front of the hill that has the ruins on top.
The path uphill and the sloping fields are suggested, not detailed.

Nowadays a lot of cityscapes are painted in a composition like this and I tried to adapt that style so I could use it 'my way' for this scene. Of course I had to think a little more while painting this one, but I am pleased with the result of my efforts.

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

Saturday 27 October 2018

View from Burg Reifferscheid


Last week we had our autumnal short vacation and this time we went to a small vacation home in Reifferscheid (Eiffel, Germany) that is part of the old castle complex.
The vacation home was as modern as we wanted it to be but the setting is great.
In a few minutes we could walk up to the ruins of the old castle and the views there were great! The first day we walked there at the time of sunset and the fading light gave the views something special. We made a lot of pictures there.

This painting is made using two reference pictures I have taken of the view to the east, the setting sun in my back.
The hills in the distance cannot be seen very well in the fading light and the evening mist and the ruins of the old castle are also looking like one big mass of stones in which the different structures are not told apart easily.

The watercolour painting was made in our vacation home and I usually do not take all my art materials with me, only those that can be packed and moved in one or two bags.
That is why I have painted on cellulose paper, not my first choice, but I am learning to use it my way. This painting had some 'this will never work' moments but in the end I am happy with the result.
I have tried to paint the atmosphere of an evening in autumn in the fading light after sunset and I think I got what I wanted.

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

Thursday 18 October 2018

Autumn leaves in the wind


Of course I have to paint autumn leaves because I like their colours. I have not gathered any fallen leaves for a nice reference, so I made this scene from my imagination.

I started with dropping three colours on wet paper and waiting for that to dry (with a little help of my hair dryer)
Then I took a watercolour pencil and started drawing a composition. I looked at my 'leaves and apples' painting for some help with the shapes and then I added fallen leaves.
After this all was painted, I added some more branches and leaves in places where they seemed to be right. 
I wanted to do it this way because at first I could not predict the results after all paint had dried. Adding some branches and leaves is better than being sorry to have painted them and the composition does not work.

For this painting I have used some of my study - quality paints, because I still have  some of these and letting them sit on a shelf is not the way to use your paints.

This was fun. I have been playing with paint and water and then for the composition of the branches and leaves I have tried to react to the results of this background painting.

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

Sunday 14 October 2018

Autumn - trees and clouds


In this autumnal scene I have combined two prompts for this month again, trees and clouds. Landscape painters do lots of clouds and lots of trees, so I had to think of something I had not done before. That is not an easy task.

For this painting I have used a reference picture I have made last spring, so I had to change the colours. In a magazine I found an example of a landscape in autumn colours that inspired me to follow its colour scheme and translate that to watercolours. I changed the fields into a pond and now I only had to paint it.

As I have done before this watercolour painting is built up by mixing the colours wet-in-wet, placing shadows and highlights where I want them to be and adjusting it all because of the unpredictability of watercolour. 
The atmosphere could have been much darker, but I wanted the trees to be golden and red, so there had to be some light.
This is what I hoped it would be and I have enjoyed painting this one.

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



Friday 5 October 2018

Autumn - hot chocolate and cookies


For this still life I have combined two of the prompts given by Doodlewash; cookies and hot drinks. After much thinking I have used the handmade cup that stands in my studio holding my sketching pencils and imagine some hot chocolate in it.
I have placed the cup next to my watercolour paper and made my drawing.
The cookies are from my memory. Placing fresh cookies in my studio would not be  a good idea as they would not last long enough to be painted.

The right colours for the hot chocolate and the cookies were hard to find. 
I have no problem getting my cookies in the right colour when I am baking them, painting them in the right colour was quite a challenge. I am not completely happy with the results but for a first attempt it is not so very bad.

For this painting I have also used Chinese White for the cookies and Iridescent Medium for the cup and I have suggested some vapour coming from the hot chocolate with the Iridescent Medium.

Autumn is not only about falling leaves, chestnuts, mushrooms and great colours but also about comfort food and this painting is all about that part of the season.

More information about this watercolour painting can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Wednesday 3 October 2018

Autumn - apples and leaves


Autumn is here now, outside in nature and mostly in the shops with great food ideas, warming spices and lots of apples and pears.
Doodlewash is in autumnal moods also this month and I have combined two prompts into one still life painting.

I have made my composition directly on the watercolour paper and started painting wet-on-dry. Of course after that first layer of paint the next were done wet-on-wet and the colours of the apples and leaves were mixing as I had hoped they would. Well, most of the time they were doing as I hoped, I had to work a bit harder on some areas.

The paintings and drawings I make inspired by the prompts on the Doodlewash site are always 'something different' compared to my usual work. Here I have used some colours I don't often use and drawing a composition directly on my watercolour paper is also a bit of an experiment. There was no example and I made it up while drawing, adding leaves, apples and in the end the little branches from above while I was listening to my intuition.

The result of all those experiments is what I hoped it would be. 
This painting was made for practise and improving my skills and I am always happy when a work like this turns out nice. 

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