(This is not a) sunset - for a challenge

 

The April challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about to paint or draw something that is not what it seems to be. The only thing I could think of is the famous painting by René Magritte with the text 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe' and so I decided to make something like that. 

First I painted a sunset, leaving room in the composition for a text. The text is in Dutch, meaning 'this is not a sunset'. It is added just like I add my watermark, using a PowerPoint sheet that is layered over the image of the painting. Below is the work I submitted for the challenge.

Making the painting was not easy. This was one of those days and I was struggling with water, paper and paint to get an acceptable result. At one moment I even washed almost all the paint off the paper, made myself some tea, let the paper dry and started over. That did help a little, but I still could not paint as easily as I usually do. Maybe just because I had not painted for weeks?

By now I am happy with to the result of my work, other people say it is a nice sunset (I usually ask my husband and/or my mother to comment on my work) and I start to think so as well. Taking some distance does a lot for accepting the results of your work!

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.

Quickly into the tree! - for a challenge/contest

 

The third week of the television programme 'Project Rembrandt' is about movement in animals. The contestants in the show had a stuffed panther from a museum as model and they had to draw it as if it was moving. The people at home are allowed to use any animal for reference, just make the movement visible. Materials to be used are charcoal and/or crayons and white paper.

Last autumn we were on a short vacation and there were squirrels and my husband succeeded in making some pictures. I tried as well, but I only got a blur of a tail in my picture and that is not enough for this contest. One of the pictures my husband made is my reference for this drawing.

This time I used my Conté crayons and the pencils for the smaller details, I worked on a small size sheet of paper. For the suggestion of movement I blurred the tail and the shapes of the 'hands' and 'feet' even more than they already are in the picture.

The squirrel is my subject so that is where I used colours, the tree and grasses are only in black for contrast. Without the tree it would not be understandable what the squirrel was up to and without the grass the tree would have no beginning and no end.

The result is even better than I hoped I could do so I am happy with my contribution to the contest.

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

Asparagus - for a challenge / contest

 

The 'Project Rembrandt' competition is back on television (in The Netherlands) and there is every week a project to paint or draw at home. When the home assignment includes acrylic or oil paint I cannot join, but when it is about drawing or sketching I may have a chance.

This time it was about light and dark and the reference was the Asparagus still life by Adriaan Coorte from 1697. In the real contest the competitors had their own bundle of asparagus and a light source to make their own composition, the people who enter in hthe home assignment were allowed to use the reference from the museum (follow the link above). 

The conditions are working with black and white on grey paper.

As it is not yet completely asparagus season (they are in the shops, but expensive), I used the reference from the link provided in the competition.

The result is the best I could do with the paper, charcoal and pencils I have and I am really happy how it turned out.

The information about the materials I have used and the size of this drawing are in my Tumblr blog. 

Because I have used an existing painting as my reference (with permission as the reference is given in the competition) I am not sure if it is allowed to offer this work for sale.

Grass-lily graphite drawing

 

The reference picture for this drawing was made last May and I just had it waiting for inspiration. That inspiration came this weekend, I wanted to paint or draw something with a Springtime feeling, after all that rain we had. Of course rain is good for the flowers to grow, but the dark grey clouds can get you in a sombre mood after weeks.

So, the white flowers were found in my 'archive' and I decided to make a graphite drawing on the green paper I got just for that purpose. Some of the graphite colours are new for me - these were given to me for my latest birthday.

Finding out which flower had attracted my attention last May was another challenge, but with some help I found out that they are Ornithogalum umbellatum or grass-lily. In Dutch they are called 'gewone vogelmelk'.

For this drawing I used several layers of the water soluble graphite, only the first layer of white was washed with water. After that I started drawing details and layering white over the grey lines to soften it a little. The dark patches of shadow between the flowers were done in only one layer, no water added. 

The result is what I hoped it would be with a nice contrast between the flowers that have several layers of pigment and the shadows or background with only one layer of dark brown, still showing the structure of the paper.

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

On the high 'Esch' - Delden, The Netherlands

 

Last month we (my husband and me) had a very short vacation in the province of Overijssel (Netherlands) where we did stay in a hotel in Delden. Just outside Delden is a nice restaurant placed on an 'esch'. I found a definition of 'esch' and that translates like: In Overijssel, Drenthe and Gelderland a vast, fertile piece of arable land, uninterrupted by hedges or walls, surrounded by the building farms of the owners.

Near the parking place of the restaurant begins a signposted walk and in the field between that path and the restaurant were some trees that were pruned to get an umbrella-like shape. I made reference pictures of these trees, but as it was raining and almost sunset, my pictures are not so great.

Still, one of these pictures is used as my inspiration for this watercolour painting. Choosing a limited palette of blues and browns I changed the mood a bit, but not much. It really was dark, wet and desolate and that little tree was all alone compared to the other trees. The tree is still in its winter sleep, so all the branches and twigs are visible against the grey sky and I think I painted them all. As mentioned, this tree was pruned to get a desired shape.

The result is what I hoped it would be, showing the atmosphere of a rainy late afternoon at the end of winter.

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. If you are interested in my original artworks, please contact me.

Walking! - collage and Conté drawing

 

The March challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is 'In our family...' the theme of the Books Week that is happening each month of March in The Netherlands.

In our family we like to go for a nice walk, preferably a forest walk.

For my contribution I have made a collage of walking maps, the legenda of these maps, some titles of the walks, a bit of a description and of course the icon for a restaurant (coffee cup) from old magazines on tinted cardboard and sprayed that with fixative for Conté Crayons. 

On that layer I started drawing a forest path with the Conté Sketching Crayons, but I had to use more layers of fixative before the crayons really did 'hold' on the magazine paper. For this I was prepared, I did read about it somewhere in the past.

After some layers I found that there was a difference in paper quality that could not be covered up with fixative so I let that be part of the experiment's results.

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

Tree trunk - a Conté drawing

 

As promised (mostly to myself) another drawing of the tree trunk we saw a few weeks ago during our walk on the Herikerberg. At first I made a pencil drawing or study, using the materials I brought during our short stay in the area.

This time a Conté drawing, like I have made some more: using black, grey and white Conté crayons on a grey paper for a 'portrait' of a dead tree or tree trunk.

For this drawing I made a different composition, the trunk is more to the right side of the paper so the roots on the left side of the trunk get more attention. Only the tree trunk is in the drawing, the surrounding mosses and dry autumn leaves are not here. This tree trunk was in the middle of the path we were walking and maybe that is how the roots are so clearly visible.

The drawing is what I hoped it would be, these remains of trees are still impressive and I can show that in my drawing.

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

Near the 'Herikerberg' (The Netherlands)

 

This week my husband and me went for a short stay in the Eastern part of our country, close to the border with Germany. We made a nice walk over the 'Herikerberg' near Markelo (Netherlands) and made several (reference) pictures. For the reference picture of this watercolour I was seconds too late at every attempt, the sun just came through the clouds and disappeared again very quickly. So the light spot in the clouds is from my memory.

In fact I looked at the reference only briefly, mostly for the structure of the larch trees in the foreground. The placement of the branches and twigs  is different from any other tree. The larch trees lose their needles in autumn, so the branches were bare.

As it had rained the day before our walk, the trees were very dark and the fact that they were back-lit added to that dark brown colour. The rain had also left a lot of water, there was a light fog under the trees that would lift later that day.

The result of my painting is what I had hoped for, an atmospheric view of some woodlands in our country after a rainy day.

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

Tree trunk - pencil drawing/study

 

This week we (my husband and me) went for a walk near Markelo (Netherlands) and we made several reference pictures of the landscape. My pictures are mostly showing trees, including this tree trunk, in the middle of the path. We stayed a few nights in a hotel and I did only bring paper and pencils with me - and a water brush for extra possibilities.

The tree trunk was partially overgrown with mosses and there were the remains of autumn leaves on the trunk and on the path. The roots were visible between the autumn leaves, very dark brown because it had rained during the night.

For the drawing I chose my Graphitint Pencils, using the dry colours but also adding some water which activated the colours that are 'hidden' in the dry pencil marks. The water was mostly used on the areas with mosses and the remains of the autumn leaves. 

After I had used the water and activated the colours, I let the drawing dry and added more dry colour, repeating the process until I was happy with the result.

The reference picture is still inviting me to try this subject using other materials, so this might not be the last time you see this tree trunk in my works.

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

The Beech District - illustration for a challenge

 

The February challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is to design an impossible building. That really is a challenge, because there are so many buildings that are 'impossible' and more are designed and have appeared in great art works. So I really had to think hard this time. 

My first idea was really nice, a huge sphere with one or more houses inside which can roll in the wind, an internal structure with little balls and ball-bearings keeping the buildings horizontally at all times. But as I do not have the training for such technical drawings I had to think of something else.

My husband suggested a bird's nest like the weaver birds make and that helped. 

Of course I made a tree first, with the ladders to the 'nest houses' hanging down. Then I had to make an enlargement showing the nest house, which I also 'opened up' to show the interior.

For this work I have used watercolour paint, line markers and watercolour pencils and I named it The Beech District, (De Beukenbuurt in Dutch) because I think the tree might be a giant beech tree.

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

Tree bark - 2 a graphite drawing

 

Last summer I made several reference pictures of tree roosts, tree bark and whole trees for later use. Of course I can always paint a tree and I have experimented with the tree roots during my painting vacation. These works were made as a start, to gain confidence for working with that subject.

The tree bark pictures are used now and I am experimenting with a watercolour under painting and combinations of pencils for the drawing. Using a small size watercolour painting I make an under painting in only one colour that can already suggest the colour of the tree bark. When that is dry I start drawing the patterns of the tree bark.

This time I have not only used a Graphitint pencil for the drawing, I also used a dark matt graphite pencil to achieve the dark shadows that are in the reference picture. The tree is another coniferous tree and again I do not know the species.

The reference picture is only used as a guideline for the direction of the lines in the tree bark and I have indicated the darker areas. After these were drawn I used my memory and my imagination to get the result that you can see, only looking at the picture when I really thought I was going the wrong way.

The results are what I hoped for and of course I will make more of these drawings in the future. Maybe one day I will make a watercolour painting of tree bark, but first I need to get more familiar with this subject.

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

Winter in the polder

 

This week we had snow, temperatures below freezing point and great views! Driving was not too tricky so when I had to go to one of my children I drove through the polder of the Alblasserwaard (Netherlands) instead of taking the highway. In fact I prefer that route always, driving is more relaxed and it is a shortcut.

Of course I had to drive, but I could also enjoy the views of the snow on the fields and I decided I wanted to paint that. This painting is an imaginary landscape, I did not stop for a reference picture. The few parking places along that route do not have the nicest views.

A polder landscape always has some ditches, pollard willows - most of them are smaller than I am except for the branches - a line of trees and bushes on the horizon. When you look in the right direction there is a chance of a village with a church and don't forget the reeds beside the ditches.

So I arranged all these elements under a blue sky with some clouds looking for balance in the composition and I painted the landscape using the colours I remembered, dark brown for the trees, white and a nice grey for the clouds, blue sky and a brownish yellow for the reeds.

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.

If you are interested in my original artworks, please contact me.

Tree bark - a graphite drawing

 

The patterns of tree bark are beautiful! Last summer I have been drawing and painting the bark of a redwood tree, this time I have made a drawing of the bark of another coniferous tree - I do not know which species.

The reference picture was enlarged so I could concentrate on the structures of the tree bark.

For this work I used a small sheet of watercolour paper and made an under painting with a nice granulating colour and let this dry naturally. After that I picked a Graphitint Pencil and started to draw the lines and shadows of the tree bark. Because I only used one pencil, I had to think about the values, the original reference picture has more colours in the tree bark than only shades of brown.

The darkest shadows were touched with a brus with a little water, to 'awaken' the water soluble graphite tint of the pencil and darken the shadows even more.

This experiment has turned out nice, at least for me. The results are what I expected and in the (near) future I will make more works concentrating on the structures of tree bark. 

Maybe I will be a bit bolder in my colour choices and add more techniques and materials after a while, but I will have to find out what I really want first. And that can only be achieved by making more drawings or paintings.

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

The base, beech tree - another work, another technique

 

Another work using the tree roots of the beech tree we saw near Vaals (Netherlands) last October. As I did not know when I would have the time to make this work (we planned some nice things to do) I made a blog post with the first two works and decided to wait with the third work until later.

This work is also based on the charcoal drawing I made first so the reference picture was not used for the graphite drawing.

For this drawing I have used some colours of the Tailor shaped water soluble graphite that I discovered earlier this year. The shape of these graphite 'sticks' works nice and as it is water soluble only water and soap are needed to get my fingers clean.

I used two shades of brown, only the light shade is washed with some water. White is used for the sunlit parts of the tree roots.

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

The base, beech tree

 

A few months ago, during our short vacation in Vaals (Netherlands) we made some signposted walks. I have already posted paintings of the views over the hills but of course I have also made reference pictures of trees and tree roots.

This beautiful beech tree had some nice exposed roots, the sunlight caused some highlights and shadows so I had to make a watercolour painting of it.

For the painting I have used only two colours - and not the most obvious ones - for an experiment in 'does this give my painting the atmosphere I want it to have?' and the result pleases me.

Before I made the painting I first made a charcoal drawing

This drawing was used as reference for the painting, just like I did during my latest painting vacation in August. 

And again, the atmosphere of a charcoal drawing is very different from a painting, even with a very limited palette. Still, the results are what I hoped for.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of both the watercolour painting and the charcoal drawing and their availabilities can all be found in my Tumblr blog.