Last year we made pictures of flowers, trees, landscapes and I did not use them all at the time. That happens more often than not and so I have a lot of pictures on my 'to do' list for watercolours, drawings or 'experiments'.
This is a bit of an experiment. I have used paper that does not accept more than one or two layers of paint so I had to adapt to that. This is a challenge that I have wanted to set for myself, the results are always different compared to my usual style of painting.
Both the background, the leaves and the flowers were painted as wet as the paper allows and after all was dry (so happy with my hairdryer) I added some pencil lines to define the shapes a bit better. The flowers did not need much, the leaves now have practically another layer of colour with the use of the pencils.
The details of the paper, paints and pencils I have used can be found in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
Very close to our home - on walking distance - is a small forest area with an old orchard in it. There are apple, pear and plum trees and some walnut trees as well. The trees are tall and have to be climbed to get to the fruits in autumn, modern orchards have small trees so the fruits can be harvested while standing on the ground.
We think this small orchard once belonged to a farm of which the owners have changed their business and sold the land to 'Staatsbosbeheer' - the Dutch institute for forest management (and protection).
A few weeks ago the trees were beautiful with white blossoms and of course some pictures were made.
For my watercolour painting I wanted a soft atmosphere, with light colours as background to the delicate white flowers.
The white of the flowers was left open, no masking used and the background was made in only one layer. In fact I was prepared to do more, but after the first layer was dry I was happy with the result and I also didn't feel the need to add more colour after the flowers were painted.
For the flowers I used shadow colours in the petals and the yellow, grey and red colours of the hearts were added after the petals had dried.
Some green leaves were added and the painting was just what I hoped it would be.
The details about size, colours and paper used are in the link at my website.
Contact information is also at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
The first leaves of the poplar trees (Populus ×canadensis) have a colour that is between orange and brown in the first week, after that they grow green.
On a walk close to our home we passed by a young (small) tree, so I could make some reference pictures of the fresh leaves.
This time I started with a sketch, thinking of my composition and positioning the groups of leaves while I was drawing. Satisfied with my composition I started painting.
First the background, using the colours that would be used for the leaves and branches. The background was only a little bit planned and I placed my sketched composition where the background colours 'allowed' it.
The leaves were painted in several layers and later the branches were added using very watery paint.
The details about the paper and paints I have used, the size and availability are at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
Last week my daughter Mariska sent me a picture she made during a walk near her home.
The flowers are what we call 'wild hyacinths' (the common English name is bluebell) and in our country you can also find pink variations.
Because we live in strange times now, all confined to our homes or the areas close to our homes I am painting subjects that have not been my first choice in the past, but are an inspiration now.
This time I just wanted to paint the flowers and try a technique that is not my usual one.
I decided to make a small watercolour on paper with less structure compared to my usual watercolour paper. The technique had to be a bit different because of that, I painted almost dry on dry, and worked very quickly, I did not have to wait for my paint to dry.
This paper can handle only small amounts of water before buckling and I did not dare to paint in more than two or three layers.
The result is what I hoped for, a nice painting of a pink flower.
The details of the paper and paint I used, the size and contact information are at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
My mother had a bouquet of tulips that at first seemed yellow, but when opened the flowers were almost white. The veins were still yellow and faded over time.
I have made some reference pictures when I visited her and decided to make a small watercolour painting.
Because the flowers are (almost) white, I have chosen a white (cellulose) paper to paint on. This paper does not allow my usual wet technique for the backgrounds I like to paint so the leaves of the flowers are more than a bit suggested.
The flowers were not painted at first and later I added the yellow veins and the greenish yellow of the bottom of the flowers. There are also some shadows and I have painted one flower that still has to open, to show the yellow colour of the buds.
This painting was done just for the fun of it and never intended to be 'a work of art'. I did enjoy painting these flowers and of course I had some practice in 'how to paint a white flower'.
The details about paper and paint used, size and availability can be found at my website
www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
In the chestnut tree in my front garden the leaves and a lot of flower buds are already growing. The leaves are still a bit curled and have that nice light green colour of springtime.
Early this morning I made some reference pictures for this watercolour painting.
In fact, this is the kind of painting I wanted to do two years ago, but I had not yet been instructed about how to do this. Last summer, during my painting vacation our teacher gave me lots of help, encouragement and instructions so now I am much more confident about painting like this.
For this watercolour I started with a yellow and green background and dried that completely. Using a light green watercolour pencil I drew some chestnut leaves on my paper, using the pictures I made this morning as my reference. I did not aim to make a reproduction of reality, I just wanted the illusion of a branch with a lot of fresh leaves.
The leaves were painted using the same yellow and blue (mixed to several shades of green) and a brown that is present in the veins of the leaves.
The details of the paper and paints I have used, the size and availability can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
The April challenge of our regional amateur art association is 'Alienation' and that is of course because of the strange times we are having at the moment. We have to practice 'social distancing', we have to stay at home or close to home as much as possible, grocery shopping is done alone and we work from home.
All meetings, (art) festivals and other gatherings are cancelled so we can only go 'out' in our nature, which is discouraged. This is happening all over the world now but I write it down for future readers, to remind them about the circumstances at the time I made this painting.
A few weeks ago, just one day before all things closed down in The Netherlands (because of the corona virus) we went for a walk on the beach. We did chose a beach that is not so very popular, so we had a nice walk without too many other people coming too close. We already had to practice 'social distancing' at that time.
We made some nice pictures of the waves walked for more than an hour and went home again.
I decided to use one of the pictures that were made at the beach for the 'Alienation' challenge.
I have tried to omit the horizon in order to get the alienation that is asked for in this challenge. There are several reasons for that and I will try to explain them all.
In our rather flat landscape there always is a horizon. In fact, there is another online challenge at the moment which uses that ever present horizon as its theme.
When we are looking at a landscape our eyes always try to find the horizon and a photograph is 'not good' when the horizontal line is not found.
And I remember reading that the paintings J.M.W. Turner made about ships in stormy weather were thought to be alienating because the horizon was nowhere to be found in these scenes.
So I have made a seascape with a bit of beach, some waves, the sea and clouds but I have not marked the horizon. I hope this will do for the challenge.
Painting these waves was a bit of a challenge for me, mostly because I have not done this very often. I know I need to practice more and I really will do so somewhere in the future.
The details about the paper and paints used, the size and availability can all be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
Last weekend we were walking in our neighbourhood when I saw almost hidden between some bushes some small, delicate flowers of a yellowish green and I made some reference pictures.
Back at home I could only find that they are one of the Euphorbia species and probably endangered.
These little flowers with their almost discrete colouring seemed a good subject for a drawing so I sharpened my pencils and started - on a small piece of paper.
The little cup shaped flowers that are just above some leaves in exactly the same colours can only stand out by drawing the shadows, so I did set myself a challenge.
At some phase in the drawing process the paper does not accept much more layers and I decided to stop before that moment. Being a watercolourist I like the white of the paper to be a part of the result and now I am happy with the result and confident that I did not overwork my drawing.
The details about paper and pencils used, size and availability can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
