Dolmen, evening mood

 

The prompt in the Sketch A Day app was 'evening' so I planned to make a nice watercolour as it was weekend, so I would have time for a painting.

Of course it had to be a landscape and looking through my reference pictures for a scene that could be changed to an evening mood painting I saw the pictures I made of the Dolmens in North Germany. I decided to use one of these.

Using only the dolmen and the horizon line to begin with I made a nice evening sky and when that had dried I painted the ground and let that dry naturally like I did with the sky.

Then the stones, leaving a small area unpainted for the evening light on the top stones. That small line was filled later with the oranges I have also used for the sky.

The 'to begin with' was in fact enough, the result really pleased me and I decided not to add any other landscape elements like trees or a path.

So this is the result: Dolmen, evening mood.

The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this work and - if you are interested in my original artwork -my contact information can all be found in my Flickr account.

Sonnenberg - evening

 

Last week we were in a vacation home in Sonnenberg, Leiwen, Germany and enjoyed some quality time with our children and grandchildren (our daughters-in-law are counted amongst children).

Of course we had time for some nice walks and the first evening we went for a walk close to the vacation parc. Returning from that walk we had a nice view over the Moselle valley, but as we were a little down the hill (Sonnenberg is a hilltop) the valley was out of sight.

The sun was setting and the colours of the sky were very nice so my husband made a picture using the camera (my phone does not 'zoom in' enough, the camera is better for that) as my reference.

For the painting I simplified the view a little, the people were left out and some other stuff as well. I don't think a bin would have improved my composition to give an example of what was left out.

Getting the painting right was a bit of a problem. For the composition I have added some structure to the very distant hilltops and the trees may be a bit too dark. The danger of overworking the painting was very close so I stopped and this is the result.

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

View from the Churchyard - Reifferscheid

Last October we were for a short vacation in the small German village of Reifferscheid, in the Eiffel region. On the day of our arrival we went for a walk around the high part of the village, mostly to stretch our legs a little after the drive from home. The high part of the village is the ancient castle area, surrounded by walls and on a high hilltop. Our vacation home was close to the old gate, a few minutes walking brought us to the other end where the white church was. 
As it was autumn, the days were short and our walk was made at the hour of sunset. The light was beautiful and I really enjoyed being outside at that moment. We made a lot of pictures and I started painting that same evening after dinner.
The reference pictures I made from the church and churchyard had to wait a little longer, but today I wanted to paint this view.

I was inspired by the shadows on the building, the almost random placement of the graves and the view on the hills opposite the village, all in that wonderful evening light.
Painting all that was a bit of a challenge for me, especially the graveyard with the graves. Because there were so many shadows the shapes were to be guessed in some cases, only the difference in colour made the gravestones stand out against one another.
I have (again) chosen to suggest most of the shapes of the stones, some graves and the plants between them.

More information about this watercolour painting (size, colours and paper used, availability, contact information, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Starlings swarming

It has been a few years since I had seen them, but this year they are back: almost every evening I can see starlings swarming and looking for a good place to sleep.
They do this in the last half hour before sunset and some time after, while there is still some light. 
Maybe this is only seasonal so I am enjoying these swarming birds as often as possible. 

Of course I have also been watching them with the idea of a painting somewhere in the back of my mind. Making photographs of these swarms is not easy, the birds are too small to see in a picture made using a camera with average possibilities.
Looking and remembering does work and I have made up a swarm of my own, checking it for credibility with some of my family members.

The landscape is imaginary, but it's based on/inspired by the view from the window of my little studio. The colours used are the muted colours of the evening twilight, short after sunset.

At this time of the year we are in the last weeks of winter, some of the trees are starting to show some glimpses of green and some are still bare, waiting for warmer weather.
In the fading daylight the structures of the bark of the trees disappears, most trees are just dark shapes against the sky at that time of the evening, like they are back-lit.

More information about this watercolour painting (size, materials used, availability, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Winter evening

When I was browsing through my reference pictures looking for inspiration I found this scene. The picture was taken years ago and I could not exactly find who had taken it, probably my daughter. It was one of a series of snow pictures given to me for inspiration a long time ago, so I can use it as I wish.

The scene is not very far from our house. 
We regularly take a walk around the quarter where we live and in the winter - with snow - the most beautiful spot of the walk looks like this. 
The lights are the lanterns illuminating the highway close by. There is a screen (to block most of the noise so houses have been built nearby) which is visible in winter, when the trees and bushes are bare and the herbs are sleeping in the soil. 

Sunset is early in December and the picture was taken just after the sun had disappeared. 

I used some of my Twilight Colours again, combined with a yellow and an orange for the lantern lights.

More information about this watercolour painting (size, colours used, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com