Where we live there are lots of plants, bushes and trees that are 'public green' and are maintained by the Public Service. We like that and enjoy our walks, even when we are not in a park area because we pass by these bushes and flowers everywhere we go.
Very often the ones that are in bloom attract my attention and I make some quick pictures for reference.
This time of the year the eglantines are in bloom and the fragrance is great.
But the flowers are nice too so I painted them.
Even when the flowers are close together, there is a difference in colour, they have a lot of shades of pink and I have tried to paint those pinks.
Compared to the flowers there is a lot of foliage, so the background is made to suggest all those leaves - and some other groups of flowers.
Painting these flowers was fun and the result is what I hoped for.
The information about the paper and paints I have used, the size and availability can all be found in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
During our last walks in our beautiful nature we did pass by some broom bushes in bloom and I made some pictures for reference. Of course the broom has lost its flowers by now and the seed pods have replaced them but fortunately the pictures do last a few weeks longer.
On a yellow background I painted the branches in the foreground first and added a background with some shadows and another little bush further away.
Bushes of the common broom seldom stand all alone in nature so I have suggested some more bush-like shapes around them. These could be blackberries or even very young trees, I leave that to the imagination of the spectator.
For the flowers I have used some of the colours that were chosen for the background. The two greens were mixed with two different shades of yellow and only one blue.
I could have made the flowers stand out more by choosing a very different colour for my background, but that is 'not me' and I am really happy with this result.
The information about the paper and paint I have used, the size and availability are all in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
During our walks in the woodlands near Rucphen (Netherlands) we did see a lot of young trees, new leaves, blossoms and other signs of spring.
In our Natural reserves there is also a lot of dead wood, tree trunks standing or lying where they died and left there as food for insects, shelter for birds and small animals and in the end to fertilise the soil. Of course the dead trees that are hazardous will be removed and some are removed to give more open spaces in what once was a production woodland.
Near a crossroads there was a tree trunk standing and another one lying on the ground, both were pine trees, and just behind them was a young birch tree.
The contrast between the young tree and the decay of the other two inspired me to make some reference pictures.
For this painting I chose a larger size paper than I have used over the past months, to give the trees some space on the paper.
The background is only suggested, as is the foreground. That bit of forest floor near the crossroads did not have any bushes or other plants. There are a lot of possibilities for signposted walks with dogs or horses and some paths for recreational bike rides so the sides of the paths are relatively 'clean'.
The information about the paper and paints I have used, the size and availability are to be found in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
After I had asked my daughter Mariska to send me some pictures with the 'Enchanted garden' theme, she also sent me a picture taken in 'Dierenpark Amersfoort', a zoo in our country.
In that zoo there is a place called 'Ancient City' where a reproduction of an ancient Persian city is made to teach the visitors how people and animals used to live together long ago. There is also a 'palace' area where tigers are coming very close to the thick glass walls so they are easily spotted and photographed.
This one was taking a very necessary nap.
Of course I could have painted the tiger, or made a charcoal drawing, but I wanted to use my Conté Sketching Crayons this time. I still have to practise with these crayons a lot before there are no more surprises when I am working with them.
For my background I have chosen a tinted paper, a light grey.
I have tried to simplify the background of the picture, which was full of large plants. I could mix and distribute the colours over the paper with my fingers and I have added some suggestions of the (bamboo like) plants later.
The tiger needed to be handled more carefully, to keep the white where it had to be and later to keep the stripes in place.
When I thought I could do nothing more - mostly because the paper does not have much structure - I signed and secured my drawing with fixative spray.
Conté Sketching Crayons need a lot more fixative than charcoal, I already knew that from the first time I had used them.
The details about the materials I used, the size and availability can be found in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien-Goed Bekeken' - our regional amateur art association is 'enchanting gardens' which I changed to 'enchanted gardens'. To be more precise 'enchanted garden'.
My daughter has a lot of pictures of beautiful gardens and I asked her to send me some of the most enchanting ones. There was too much inspiration in there, but I decided almost immediately to paint the Museu Romântico (in Oporto) and its garden.
Of course I have changed some things, combined some pictures, added a very magical creature and after I was happy with my sketch I started my painting.
The size of the watercolour paper is not exactly the same as my sketchbook and something went off with the perspective while painting so I could throw it away or try to save it.
First I tried to hide the problem behind some bushes, but in the end cropping the painting into a square was the best solution, and the perspective issue is not there anymore.
The information about the paper and paints I used, the size and availability are in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
Last week we had a day off from work and went for a walk in our beautiful nature again. We left early and walked a signposted walk in the woods near Doorn. The area has some hills, left over after the last Ice Age and the woods have different trees and bushes than those in the southern parts of The Netherlands. There are no plantations for the production of wood for instance, the hills make the harvesting difficult compared to the flat landscape in the south of our country.
Of course we enjoyed walking there and I have made some reference pictures for this watercolour painting.
Because the trees and bushes are different the green is brighter, more yellow in this early spring. Beneath the trees is mostly shadow and fallen leaves, with some patches of grasses or herbs. The foliage on the trees is not a closed canopy yet and the sky is still visible. This will be a much darker place in summer, when the sunshine cannot reach the ground so easily as it can now in springtime.
While we walked we heard lots of birds singing and sometimes I am sorry I cannot paint that.
The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of the painting can be found in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
Last Sunday, during our walk in the woods near Rucphen, I made some reference pictures for landscape drawings. The first drawing is in my previous post, this second drawing is a mixed media, inspired by the colours of the grasses and bushes in the background.
Of course these colours cannot be depicted by a charcoal drawing alone, so I made a watercolour underpainting, using the light blue of the sky and the bright green and yellow of the bushes and grasses.
On my dry underpainting I worked with Tinted Charcoal pencils, so the drawing has not the deep black of charcoal, but the hints of colour I wanted for this drawing.
The paper I chose has more structure than the paper I use for a charcoal drawing and I have not 'filled the holes' of the paper so the lines are broken and my underpainting is still visible.
The information about the paper, paints and pencils I used and about the size and availability are in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
This Sunday morning we did get out of the house early again to be in the woods for a walk when it would still be quiet. This time we rode to a small place called Rucphen and walked in the woods for almost two hours.
Some parts of the woodland were thick with bushes, some parts were more open. There also was variation in the kind of trees, this part had mainly fir trees. There are some birches in the patch in the background, the separation between the different patches in this woodland is very clear. The nature management organization plans to change that, but growing a forest takes years, not months.
This part of the woods was nice and open, with patches of sunlight on the ground, some shadows and the tall trees that once were planted for the production of straight planks.
Now there is much more space between them and that inspired me to make some reference pictures and to make a charcoal drawing as soon as possible.
I did doubt about the technique I wanted to use and decided that the more laborious one will be used later. So there will be another drawing with trees, some bushes in the background and.... later!
The details about the materials I used, the availability and contact information are in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
Last weekend we went for a walk in our beautiful nature. Because of the restrictions we left home really early and arrived almost first at the beginning point of the signposted walk we planned to do. After the walk there were a lot more cars in the parking area so we ate our lunch and returned home.
During the walk we enjoyed the fresh air, being outside, the nature and we made some pictures - of course.
These flowers were on the side of a ditch and my husband leaned over the fence to make some reference pictures for me. It took some effort to find the name of the flower, but I found it in a book that has been given to me by my parents over fifty years ago. The English name was found using Wikipedia.
The flowers are a nice shade of pinkish violet and I wanted the background to be warm, not green. On this part of the plant are no leaves, so I did not need any green at all.
The stems and flower buds are dark red or almost violet.
Because the flowers have a light colour I painted the background first and modified that - after I painted the flowers - where needed.
The information about the paper and paints I have used, the size of the painting and the availability can be found in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
