In the wind

 

While the painting vacation was continuing, I had to think of more landscapes with a surprising element to paint. One thing that came up was a real memory of an Autumn leaf blown in front of the lens while we were making a picture of a group of buildings.

When I told our teacher and coach Ad van Aart that memory he suggested to make some thumbnail sketches first to find the best composition for this work. In these sketches I varied with the size and place of the city/village skyline, the size and place of the leaf and the filling of the shape of the leaf. We both thought that a big leaf, only outlined with the landscape still visible was the best composition.

I tested this in a larger drawing

using water soluble graphite in a very limited palette. 

I went looking for a real leaf as big as I could find and that is the one I outlined in both the drawing and the painting. If a bigger leaf would have been found, I probably would have made the watercolour painting larger, now I adjusted the size of the paper to the size of the leaf - which is a maple leaf.

The information about the materials I used in both works, the sizes and availabilities of both works and - if you are interested in my original artworks - my contact information can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Ferns - a graphite drawing

 

Last week we were in a vacation home in Leiwen, Germany and when walking away from the vacation parc there was forest in almost all directions. The first evening we went for a walk to stretch our legs after more then four hours in the car and I spotted some fern leaves unrolling. Later search suggested it was part of the Dryopteridaceae family, probably a male-fern (Dryopteris filix-mas).

As I had wanted to draw these young leaves for a long time - but never was in a forest area at the right time - I made a reference picture and made a drawing as soon as I could find the time to do so during that short vacation.

Using only graphite pencils I did not have to worry about bringing the right colour with me (I do not bring all my pencils on a short vacation) and I am really happy with the result.

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

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

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.

The Letter

 

The past months are all about Johannes Vermeer and the exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, so it was no surprise at all that the March challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' was about the letters in  many of the paintings of Vermeer.

We are challenged to imagine what the women depicted are reading or writing.

For my contribution I decided to imagine what 'the woman writing a letter' could be writing about.

The translation of the text is here:

Dear Godmother,

Thank you very much for your beautiful wedding gift.

My happiness knows no bounds, now that I have received such a beautiful present from your Silver City.

Receiving your gift was a highlight of the day, which could only have been surpassed by your own presence. Your covering letter made it clear that only a very unfortunate set of circumstances prevented you from handing over your gift in person.

I hope that your husband has since recovered from the unfortunate incident.

My husband is also very pleased with your gift and also sends his thanks.

Dear godmother, thank you for the salt and pepper set.

Yours,

Janneke

Added to the text I made a graphite drawing of an antique Silver pepper and salt set, using images from the internet as my inspiration. 

Our Silver city is Schoonhoven, not far from where I live. For the text I supposed that the lady writing (the newly wed one) lived in Delft, the city of Johannes Vermeer and her godmother lives in Schoonhoven.

The last line of the text is a hint to a comic scene/song that was popular in The Netherlands when I was much younger. I hope the other members of the association will understand.

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

Ahlhorner Kellersteine I (Germany) - graphite drawing

 

Our vacation home last week was close to a route that connected over 33 sites with dolmen, standing stones and grave hills. The route is 330 kilometres long, so we did only visit some sites that were close to where we were staying. On the road back we also passed by several sites with dolmen, so we had our share of history last week.

One of these sites, the Ahlhorner Kellersteine I and II are located in a forest area, with a nice footpath leading there.

Of course lots of (reference) pictures were made and that afternoon, in our vacation home I made a graphite drawing, using my new box of pencils and graphite sticks.

My reference picture was made from underneath some trees, so the dolmen was seen in between the trees, not in an open area as most pictures show them. Of course I wanted something different.

Drawing all those trees meant a bit of planning but I am happy with the result. Maybe I will use this as a study for a watercolour painting.

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