Weeping Willow - 2: Almost sunrise

 

This is the second watercolour with the weeping willow as my model. In my previous post I have written about Tonalism and my plans to make a series of paintings using the weeping willow as my model, placing the tree in various landscapes and weather conditions.

This time I have placed the tree in an imaginary landscape, it has a nice pond to stand next to, there are bushes and trees in the background and I have added the suggestion of buildings, as this tree stands in a city park. 

In fact, in The Netherlands weeping willows are usually planted next to ponds or wide ditches as they thrive in moist or wet soil. That does limit my options for the next paintings a little bit, but it is great for my water-painting skills.  

This time I have painted a 'before sunrise' mood, with clouds in the sky and the red of the rising sun beginning to fade away.  The orange and yellow colours of the rising sun are yet to come, we are still in the blue hour. The colours of the grass are already visible but the trees and bushes have backlight so these are mostly dark shapes against the sky.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this watercolour, its price and availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Weeping Willow - 1

 

The title suggest there are more paintings to come using this tree as my model and that is exactly what I have planned. The reference picture was made a few months ago, in springtime with a lot of sunlight from behind the tree. The colours of the tree are not visible, it's only a silhouette against the light, ideal for creative interpretations.

A few weeks ago I found a group about Tonalism on Facebook and first I started reading about it, then I applied for membership - which was granted.

Tonalism is a style of painting that was used in America, inspired by Impressionism and a bit in the shadow of that movement. It is mostly about atmospheric landscapes, sunrise, sunset, backlit scenes, misty scenes - just what I like very very very much.

So this is a first painting of a series, using the ideas of Tonalism with a weeping willow as my model. The next paintings will have different colours, sunrise or sunset or what I can think of to change the atmosphere of the scene. Of course I can add bushes, other trees or even a pond or hills if I want to. A snowy scene could also be great. 

The original reference picture has some buildings in the background and a street from left to right. The tree stands in a small parc area with a pond on its left. In this painting I have only indicated the buildings and the slope of the grassy area towards the pond. Now I have painted the tree once, I can paint it with more confidence the second time - and all other paintings to come.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this painting, its price and availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Behind the clouds...

 

After a week of clear skies we had a day with clouds, blue sky and sunshine. At the end of the afternoon, when the sun is lower in the sky the skyscape can be spectacular and that inspired my husband to make some pictures for me.

Of course I wanted to paint that and I found a sheet of white paper - I do usually use paper that is not completely or 'optically' white - and started my usual preparations.

This sheet of paper had been waiting to be used for over ten years now and the edges had lost some of the original sizing, so I had to tape the soaked paper with some extra tape, in order to mark the workable surface. While painting I noticed that I could not add water and paint and move all that around as much as I like to do, so I had to restrain myself a little. 

For the skyscape I marked the outline of the clouds with a watercolour pencil and started painting the sky first with some layers of blue. After that I mixed a grey using the blues that were already in the sky and added the shadows in the clouds and the sky. For these shadows I used several shades of the mixed grey, diluting the original strong mixture with water. The white linings were either left unpainted or lifted out with a damp brush. The shades of grey and blue were painted over with other mixtures where that was needed for the result I wanted to achieve.

For the final touch I added the treetop with a dark green.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this painting, its price and availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Rose - drawing

 

Now we are slowly coming out of lockdown (in The Netherlands) many events are themed 'Open up' and so is the June challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' and 'IkToon'.

This year both organisations work together again - as happened before - and both have the same challenge in the month of June.

Most of the times I try to find my inspiration for a challenge in nature or my own garden and this time the opening buds of our rose were just what I was looking for.

I have made some reference pictures at the right moment and decided to make a drawing for the challenge.

I have chosen to draw some of the rosebuds that were just beginning to open and one flower that was halfway opening up because that referred perfectly to the theme of the challenge.

For this drawing I have used my water-soluble pencils and a mixed media paper with a very fine grain to get the results I like best.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of the drawing, the price and its availability can all be found in my Tumble blog.

Common Linnets - Oosterschelde

 

During our walks along the shoreline of the Oosterschelde (Netherlands) we walked along some 'inlays' that were formed in areas where a break in the dyke was possible. A new dyke was made a bit more inland and the area between both dykes sometimes got flooded, sometimes stayed mostly dry land. These 'inlays' are now valuable and varied spots of nature, protected so we are only allowed to see them from the dykes that surround them.

One of those 'inlays' has a lot of breeding birds and at one place there is a birdwatcher's spot where we could look at the activity on the small (artificial) islands in the water. As it was springtime when we walked there, we had a lot to look at.

We were on the dyke and could not only see the water, but also the top of the bushes and small trees that were growing underneath the dyke in the protected area. These branches were frequented by some small birds and I asked my husband (who had the camera) to make some (reference) pictures. It was not easy, as the birds did not stay in one place for a long time, but he got me some nice pictures. 

One of the birds had been sitting there for some time, the other had just arrived and was arranging his (or her) feathers before settling for a rest. The background of the reference pictures is the water behind the dyke and the sunlit branches with the birds were standing out perfectly.

At first we thought - guided by the sound of skylarks - that these were the birds in the picture, but we were wrong. After comparing our picture with some references in books we concluded that these are common linnets. That is still special for us, as these small birds are not easily found where we live.

For this drawing I made a background in watercolour, because  that is the best way in which I could create the illusion of calm water in the background of the scene. Because I have used cellulose-based paper, I could not make my background as dark as the water looked in the reference pictures. Adding more layers of paint to that quality of paper only results in picking up all the paint that was already there and leaving white paper instead of a nice dark colour.

The branches and the birds are drawn with water-soluble pencils. Because the background ended up lighter than I hoped it would be, I had to make the branches darker than they were in the reference to stand out. My white pencil was not very visible on this background as it would be on a darker one. 

While making this mixed media drawing I changed and adapted my initial plans several times, depending on the results I got in each step of the process.

I did not apply any water on the drawing of the branches, as they are not the subject of my work. Only the drawings of the birds are 'activated' with a little water, so the colours would come to life. The result is what I hoped it to be.

The information about the paper, paints and pencils I have used, the size, the price and availability of this work can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Common Tern - Oosterschelde

 

In previous posts I have mentioned our short stay in a vacation home in Kortgene and our walks on the shoreline of the Oosterschelde. We have seen a lot of beautiful views as the landscape is a Natural Reserve but the wildlife is also worth mentioning. We were there in springtime so there were a lot of birds nesting and searching for food. We also saw several birds flying with branches that seemed much too big for such a small bird, but they were up to the challenge.

This common tern was hunting in the water very close to the shoreline. I asked my husband - who had the camera - to make some reference pictures and after about five minutes he had been able to make several beautiful pictures. (I only made pictures with my smartphone and zooming in on a flying tern is not a good idea. The camera is much better for that)

For this watercolour I only made a drawing of the bird, using a watercolour pencil. The sky and the water were painted using the reference pictures as a guideline. I only looked more closely at the reference for the shapes of the waves.

The information about the paper and paints I have used, the size, the price and the availability of this watercolour painting can all be found in my Tumblr blog.