Parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera) - a pencil drawing

 

Last week we (my husband and me) went on several signposted walks during our short vacation in The Ardennes and it is the season for mushrooms, so we made some pictures of the most beautiful ones.

This large Parasol Mushroom stood in a field, close to the path we were on and as it was so tall, my husband made a picture from the side, so the whole stem is visible. The mushrooms that do not grow that tall often cannot be photographed like this without special equipment - which we do not have.

As I had my pencils with me, I used the picture as a reference for a drawing. The large mushroom had to fill most of the paper for my composition. I added the grasses and a few of the fallen leaves to make a small scene out of it. If I had not done that, it would have been a 'portrait' of the mushroom and that was not what I wanted. 

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

Please contact me if you are interested in my work.

'Les Hautes Fagnes' - a glimpse

 

Last week, during our short stay in The Ardennes, we also visited the 'Hautes Fagnes' which is a very special bit of microclimate in The Ardennes. At about 700 metres high it is a flat and cold region, with raised bogs (see also the link to the Wikipedia page I added above) and early snowfall. As the temperatures were extremely high for the time of the year, we did not have any snow, but the weather for a signposted walk was great.

During our walk we made several pictures, many to be used as reference for my paintings. As I had only a minimal amount of painting materials with me and the conditions in a vacation home are not always good for painting, I chose a relatively simple subject for a watercolour painting.

As expected, there was a struggle with drying times, light conditions and more, but the result is even better than I could hope for. Of course, now I am at home again, I will use more of our pictures for watercolour paintings during the weeks to come.

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. 

Please contact me if you are interested in my work.

Quarry, Ardennes - a charcoal drawing

 

Last week we (my husband and me) had a short vacation in The Ardennes and we planned some nice walks, some shopping and I planned some drawing and painting moments. The weather was great, in fact too warm for the time of the year, but great for our walks.

Very close to our vacation home was the first planned walk and we went there directly from the house - for the other walks we had to drive several kilometres to reach the starting point. This walk passed by some nice views, mostly of the river Amblève but we also passe by a small quarry, probably of the slate that was mined in that area.

This small quarry inspired me to make a reference picture and experiment with the composition in a charcoal drawing. I selected a nice area with some difference in colour and texture in the stone and some colour accents by the small birch trees that grow between the stones.

By choosing this composition I tried to apply the lessons I learned during my paining vacation last summer: fill the whole paper with your subject, don't leave room for ground or sky (if possible) and look at the shadows to define the shapes. 

The stones of the quarry alone would give only diagonal lines and would need a lot of explaining to those that would only see the drawing, so for the vertical lines I added some of the trees and crawling plants that grow on these rocks and stones using my pencils. The pencil colours do not stand out very much, as they are placed on the charcoal background.

Shortly after finishing this drawing I really thought that I had better left out the trees and plants, but after looking at the drawing several times, I started to like it much more as it is now. The touches of (autumn) colour make the drawing 'feel' how it was at that spot, dark stones and rocks, but not sombre because of the life that is represented by the trees and plants.

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

Please contact me if you are interested in my work.

Looking out...

 

Looking out of a window on our first floor I did see our chestnut tree in its Autumnal splendour, looking great in the bright sunlight. Because there are blinds I had a fragmented view on the tree and its colours but exactly that inspired me to paint.

So I made a reference picture of the tree from that first floor - a bad picture as we have double glass windows - and made plans to paint the next day. 

I used parts of that picture to draw my composition, leaving out the cars parked in the street, the opposite houses and more. After I had a nice composition of leaves I used a ruler to draw the lines for the blinds and masked these shapes using masking fluid.

After the masking dried, I used a neutral brown for my background, painted the leaves, using my memory and imagination to get a nice colour pattern and after that had dried completely, I rubbed away the masking. Next step were the blinds, looking at the real ones I established where the shadows were to be painted and I added the vertical element of the 'thread ladder' that keeps the blinds in the right shape.

It really surprised me that all went right with the masking fluid, as I do not use it often, the bottle is rather old and only half full. But there were no problems at all. 

Of course this was an experiment, but I really like 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.

Green!

 

The October challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken'  has the same theme as the Children's Books Week: Gi - Ga - Green!

So a green painting is what we have to make and fortunately it is only the beginning of Autumn, so a green spot can still be found. This spot is in my home town Papendrecht (Netherlands) close to a very busy roundabout and a school. There is a small field of grass, some trees and a line of bushes in front of the school building, all the green I could wish for, because even the sky is not very visible.

On a small sheet of paper I did start with a blue-grey for the bits of sky that were to be seen and after that I used some blues and yellows to make the shades of green I needed to paint grasses, bushes and the foliage of the trees.

This is not my usual way of painting a landscape scene, but the theme of the challenge caused this compositional choice. In fact I liked working on this painting, so perhaps in the future I will paint a forest scene like this again: mostly ground, bushes and trees, only small patches of sky. Just like I practiced during my painting vacation.

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.

Beware of elderly ladies!

 

Last summer, during my painting vacation, I made some reference pictures of one of the resident cats. The other cat was a mostly hiding, but this elderly lady enjoyed all the attention our group of painters gave her. She is sixteen years old, which makes her an old lady. 

The first evening, while we were having a late supper, she also found herself something to eat and I was able to make a picture of her holding the unfortunate mouse. It was getting really dark, so the background lost all detail, only the path she is on has some highlights. I think my phone used the flash while making this picture, the cat and mouse are very well visible, so the picture is a good reference.

It took some time before I had gathered the courage to make a drawing using my reference picture, but here it is.

For this drawing I selected a light grey tinted cardboard and I have used my watercolour pencils (again only as pencils, on this type of paper it is not wise to use water) for the drawing. The cat is a calico, so I used my black, white and some other pencils for the cat and its prey and by applying at least three layers of colour I had them stand out as my subject. 

The path and the background are only suggested and light grey of the paper is part that. I have added some highlights on the path and darkened what is behind the cat (a hedge, but without details because of the darkness).

The result is maybe even better than I hoped for - I really am improving my cat-drawing skills.

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