The Dunes at Rockanje (Netherlands)

 

Our North Sea coast is special, but I only learned that when I realised that other coast lines have rocks, cliffs, pebble beaches or..   no sand beach and sand dunes. For me all this sand was 'normal' but now I really appreciate our coast much more.

Last week we were at the beach in Rockanje (The Netherlands) and we started walking from the parking place called 'Tweede Slag'. In the evening the beach is almost empty so it is a nice place for a walk in the wind, we enjoyed the fresh air, the views, the birds and had a great time. 

Of course I made some reference pictures, this time I wanted to paint our dunes - a seascape would be too easy, we had a blue sea and a blue sky with some clouds. The dark bushes, the grasses and the wind-blown shapes of the dunes inspired me.

Because it was getting late and the sun was behind me when I made the picture the plants on top of the dunes were dark, almost back lit. The clouds were getting dark as well. The slope has many shells or remains of shells as the birds nesting there feed on them. There is not really a path, that area is a reserve for the birds. Of course there are grasses growing on the slopes, on the tops there are small bushes.

In my watercolour painting I wanted to depict the height of the sand dunes at that point so I chose a high horizon and a 'portrait' format for my painting. Showing the contrasts between the dark vegetation and the light sand was one of my goals, and I am really happy with the result.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this painting and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog. If you are interested in my work, please contact me.

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) - pencil drawing

 

After I had been drawing the Cattails (see my post about them) I wanted to use that paper more often. Because of the special colour of the tinter paper (vert-de-gris) not many subjects are suitable for a drawing. The reeds and cattails inspired me, so I made some reference pictures of the purple loosestrife that often grows near these plants.

The purple loosestrife also grows on the edges of water, just like the reeds and cattails so I made my drawing using the view of the leaves of the broadleaf cattail behind the purple flowers. My reference picture was made from a safe distance and I used that to draw the impression of the flowers instead of showing all the details. 

Making a good picture of my drawing was a challenge again, not only the colour of the paper is somewhat elusive, the magenta I used for the flowers also fades to red. In the end I used a camera (not my phone) and settled for the right colour of the drawing, not so much for the paper.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of my drawing and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog. If you are interested in my work, please contact me.

Slope - Kalmthoutse Heide

 

The Natural Reserve 'Kalmthoutse Heide' is not really far from where we (my husband and me) live, it is also a very favourite place to go for a nice walk in nature. The Reserve is situated on the border between The Netherlands and Belgium and most of the times we walk in the Belgian area, but this time we went for a signposted walk in the vicinity of Ossendrecht, The Netherlands. We did this walk before, but that was several years ago and 'wandelpad Haas' did have some surprises. 

The moorland area was closed with electrical fence and in that area were sheep, keeping the moorland as it should be; no grassland or woodland but with lots of heather plants. The walk went around that area, so we could see the sheep at work without disturbing them. There are reference pictures with these sheep, I will use them later for a painting or drawing.

About halfway the signposted walk we were in a relatively high place and we could look down a small slope just towards the next high spot. As the sunlight hit the ground beneath the trees, I made a reference picture - we did have lots of clouds during that walk even some very light rain.

The reference picture was used for this watercolour and of course I simplified the foreground - there were a lot of smaller bushes, some heather and grasses, but I did not want to paint all those details. The background did get some more details, some of the tree trunks on the opposite slope are much lighter in colour than the shadows behind them and I wanted to paint that properly.

The trees were given some extra attention as well, I still want to improve my tree - painting skills. The result is what I hoped it would be.

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.

Hat(s) in the lead role - for a challenge

 

The theme of the July challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken'  is 'Hats in the lead role' where a pun can be found in the Dutch title (lead role = hoofdrol and  head = hoofd).

I only have a straw hat that I mostly use when painting outdoors, to keep the sun from my eyes and still see the right colours - something sunglasses cannot do. This hat is in my possession for many years now and I have changed the decorations several times. This times it is a small ribbon and some crocheted flowers. The ribbon is not exactly in the angle between the brim and the bulb, it never is because I did only sew it in a few spots, afraid of damaging the straw.

So for this challenge I put on the hat, asked my husband to make a reference picture and use that picture for a small watercolour painting.

Because the hat had to have the lead role, my composition is all about that hat and both the background and me (the person wearing the hat) are mostly suggested. 

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

If you are interested in this painting or any other work I made, please contact me.

Broadleaf Cattail (Typha latifolia) - pencil drawing

 

Our usual walk to the small park area close to our home and back passes by several ditches and small canals because we live in a very wet part of the country. This time of the year the reed plants are much higher than we are and we can also see these 'cigars' in between the greens. We always thought these were reed 'fruits' but when I looked for the English name I found out that these are not reeds at all, but something very different, the broadleaf cattail. Never too old to learn...

When we passed by these plants, I wanted to make a drawing, so some reference pictures were made, I thought about composition, materials and the best time to make the drawing for some time and I made the drawing.

I wanted to use the paper my daughter gave me for my last birthday as the shade of the paper is almost that of the reeds that were also in that patch of water-plants. Using my Graphitint pencils I started drawing and made up the best composition while working. The 'cigars' were the most important parts of the drawing, the leaves thar were the closest to them were also drawn in almost as they are in the reference picture and the other leaves are added where the drawing needed them.

The 'cigars' were given some extra emphasis with a little drop of water to 'wake' the colours of the pencils. 

Making a good picture of the finished drawing was the biggest challenge of all. Either I could see the light on top of the drawing or I lost the colour of the paper completely. Finally I went outside in the shadows and made this picture, not great, but the best I could do. I do refuse to install a professional photo studio in my home (where do I get the money to buy the stuff in the first place) to make pictures of my paintings and drawings when making the paintings and drawings is where my heart is.

The drawing is what I hoped it would be, so the result makes me want to draw more - and more.

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

If you are interested in my work, please contact me.

Windmill 'De Liefde' in rainy weather

 

Today we - members of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' - planned to go painting en plein air at the windmill 'De Liefde'. That windmill is open for visitors and will run every Saturday in summer. It is situated at the river Lek and the views are really great. In the right conditions you can see the skyline of Rotterdam from the gallery.

Today we did not have the best weather conditions, it rained. So after coffee and some talking about windmills and painting, I decided to go outside and make some reference pictures for the painting I wanted to make.

Looking West, I could see the windmill, the river and the incoming rain. At the horizon the river just vanished into the rain and the clouds and I just wanted to paint that - but not en plein air. So I returned home, stretched some paper and started working.

For this painting I wanted the windmill to be recognisable, but I did not want to include all the details. Most details are not even visible in the reference picture because of the weather conditions and the mill had a little back light.

The greyness of the sky and the river made me use my new colour again and this time I also used it for mixing the greys, greens and shadow colours. I really enjoyed this.

This watercolour painting is what I hoped for, so I am really happy that I went home to paint in my little studio.

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