Young Vicuña - Blijdorp Zoo Rotterdam

 

Visiting Diergaarde Blijdorp in Rotterdam is always a great experience. Not only is it in Rotterdam, which means always under construction, there are always new animals, plants or buildings to see.

This spring a young vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) was born and we visited the Zoo when it was only three weeks old. A young vicuña can stand and walk within hours after being born, so this one was walking in its 'home' and looking at the people. It (the gender is not yet made public) stayed close to mother and both enjoyed the sunshine. Of course I made some pictures and one was used to paint this watercolour.

The background is only suggested, in reality there is a fence and some trees and bushes behind that fence, I just indicated the trees and bushes.

The rocks that are part of the accommodation are also mostly suggested, the animals are my subject and are allowed to stand out. Uhm... sit out.

As these are the first vicuñas I have ever painted, I am really happy with the result.

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

Blossom, crab apple (Malus 'Royalty')

 

A lot of relatively small trees are standing in our neighbourhood, in the streets between the buildings a lot of beauty can be found in Spring and Autumn. 

This time I was inspired by a small tree with the blossoms mostly in buds and leaves that were just a little more brown than those flower buds. I made a reference picture for a watercolour painting and today I found the time to paint.

After I had spent a lot of time thinking 'how to do this?' (this is done in the days before I start painting so I already have a plan when I am stretching my paper) I decided on a background with the colours of the tree and the sky behind it. After that had dried, I started drawing leaves and flower buds until I had a nice composition. Changes were still possible and I let that depend on how the painting looked after the leaves and blossoms were painted.

Using a few shades of red, a brown and a blue the initial drawing was filled with colour and after that had been done, I added the suggestion of more foliage in the top part of the painting.

Then I had to find out what kind of tree inspired me to add that to the name of the painting. With help from my husband and Google I found it was a 'Malus 'Royalty'' or a crab apple tree.

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

Springtime in the Alblasserwaard (Netherlands)

 

A few months ago I was invited for a Facebook group - and accepted of course - called 'De Project Rembrandt Schildergroep' that is connected to an annual television contest about finding the best amateur painter. I will never try to participate in the television contest, because there is a lot of acrylic and oil paint involved and it very often is about painting people. Things I avoid for different reasons.

But I tried to enter the weekly home contest as often as possible and now the programme has ended (for this year) I will also try to enter the monthly challenges of the Facebook group. This month the challenge is about a springtime landscape, exactly my kind of subject!

My reference is a picture my husband made two years ago during a walk close to our home. When we cross the highway and railroad (by a very nice bridge) we are in the polder landscape of the Alblasserwaard and there these views with pollard willows, fields, ditches, and in springtime rapeseed flowers can be found easily.

The trees just have their first leaves, the rapeseed flowers are even brighter than I can paint and the fields are looking great, I cannot easily find a better 'springtime landscape' than this one.

Painting this scene was not that much of a challenge - after I got the perspective of the ditch, the trees and the fences right in my initial drawing - and I am happy that I managed to get the shadows right to recreate that sunny day we had our walk.

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

Springtime in the garden

The new month means a new challenge by 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' and this month the theme is 'Stranger'. As I do not paint people, I had to think of another stranger and a look into my own garden gave me the inspiration I needed.

A lot of our flower bulbs are left in the ground in summer and this has resulted in some mixing of the species. It can occur that a daffodil comes up between the tulips and this way I found the stranger I wanted for my contribution to this challenge.

This time I have used my watercolour markers - and water to make the colours flow and mix with a fine liner. I have explored this combination of art materials before and I liked the result so this was the moment to use these markers again.

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

 

(Easter) Bunny

 

In a week from now it will be Easter and the Easter-themed challenges or painting ideas are appearing on Facebook and other media. I do not make entries for all of them, but the challenge on one of my Facebook Groups was too nice to resist. Paint or draw an Easter Bunny or another Easter - fun themed work.

As I have never before been drawing a bunny I looked for references and found a line drawing to work from. There are no eggs in my final drawing, instead I added spring flowers.

A sheet of watercolour paper (cellulose based) was used and an under painting for the sky and grass was made and left to dry. Next step was a graphite pencil drawing of the bunny, using the line drawing I found as my reference. Usually the result of this procedure just looks like the original, I never can make an exact copy. It looks like a bunny and that is all I need.

This pencil outline is used for an oil pastel drawing. The oil pastels are new for me, I got a student grade box for free when I ordered art supplies last winter and I have used them only once before. I have layered and blended the colours until I was happy with the result or knew I had reached the limit of the materials. To place the bunny in a real field I added grasses and flowers with the oil pastels as well.

The result is even better than I hoped for, not a great work of art, but still a nice springtime scene.

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

King of the street

 

During our regular walks around the residential area where we live, my husband and me meet people, birds and cats. The cats are free to go where they like and don't always react when I talk to them. This one walked along with us for a short distance and when I asked permission to make some reference pictures he (?) allowed me to do so, taking a nice pose on the street.

It took some time for me to make a drawing, but today I was inspired to draw this nice guy.

This pose was a bit of a challenge because the head is slightly turned away from me and the edge of the cheek not very good visible as it has the same colour as the rest of the body, but I accepted that challenge and tried to make the best of it. 

The Conté pencils and crayons I used do not have the right colour for this beautiful red cat, in fact he was much paler, almost a very light orange. But as I wanted to use my Conté materials, some give and take was necessary where colour was concerned.

Of course my cat-drawing skills need a lot more practise but the result is not discouraging.

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