Tree stump, Mastenbos

 

A few weeks ago my husband and me went for a nice signposted walk in the 'Mastenbos' in Belgium. We passed by lots of large old trees, some remains from World War I and several dead trees and tree stumps. I did not make (reference) pictures of all of them, but this one I could not resist.

The colour of the dead wood that is still visible inside the remains of the tree bark is so bright orange-brown (like Burnt Sienna) that it stands out on the forest floor.

The surrounding landscape is only suggested, the tree stump is my subject here. That does not mean I did not make an effort while painting that suggested landscape, I have really thought about how much detail I had to paint and where I had to start suggesting shapes of trees.

The tree stump itself also was full of detail and a bit of a challenge, but I really like the result of my work.

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

Night Moth - a pencil drawing

 

The June challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is 'small pearls' or 'little gems', those little bits of beauty that can suddenly inspire us. When I saw the theme, I immediately had to think about the night moth that was resting on the wall of our vacation home while I was painting a watercolour painting outside to have some shadow and a cool spot to work.

My husband made the reference picture for me after I had pointed out the little animal and that reference was used for this drawing.

I have used a small size black paper and my watercolour pencils without adding water this time. The little animal is done as detailed as possible (zooming in on the reference picture blurred the details a bit) and the corner of the wall it was resting on is only suggested.

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

Mushroom - a pencil drawing

 

The reference picture for this drawing was made last Autumn by my husband Peter who had the camera. I wanted to make a drawing or painting using this reference but never really found the right inspirational moment.

Now I have made this drawing, using my Graphitint pencils for the mushroom and some Graphic pencils for the surrounding grass.

Making this was nice and relaxing, not a very difficult subject and ready in a short time.

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

Tree Bark - Platanus

 

The structure of the bark of the plane tree (Platanus) is beautifully coloured and has a nice texture so I had to use that tree in my series about tree bark and other things as well.

On a watercolour under painting - not very strongly pigmented this time - I used my Graphitint pencils for the tree bark and used some water to 'awaken' some areas of the drawing.

Over that drawing I outlined the leaves - found on the ground after a windy day - and added the three major veins of the leaves. These lines were 'awoken' with water as well. 

I decided to stop here because adding more colour or structure would make this drawing a chaotic one and I really wanted the structure and colours of the tree bark to be visible.

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 Tumblr blog.

Pond shore - Mastenbos, Belgium

 

These days are a very short vacation for my husband and me as the schools are closed, so we don't have to go to work. We made use of that by going for a signposted walk in Kapellen, Belgium. 

We explored the 'Mastenbos', a nice forest area that is very accessible for walks - no adventurous paths, just nice for a walk - and has a long history. The forest has many trenches and bunkers remaining from World War I and there is a lot of information about that history at the start of the walk.

We were happy to find more forest related information on the sides of the path and learned some things on the way.

There is a large pond in the forest that cuts through an old beech avenue. The pond has been maintained recently so the sunlight can reach the surface again. Looking over the pond - that has much of a canal as it is very straight - I could see the structures of the other shore and I made a picture of that.

The scene is great for my new panorama paper and I made this painting as soon as possible.

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

Quarry with tree roots

 

On our first evening in Sonnenberg (Leiwen, Germany) we made a walk as we had been in the car for hours and wanted some fresh air. 

That walk was very close to our vacation home and we passed by some nice views over the Moselle valley. We also had nice spots on the other side of the path and this is one of them.

On several places there are little quarries that have been washed out a bit further by the rains so the tree roots are visible. This was an inspiring one, the shadows create interesting shapes here so I made a reference piture.

Looking at the picture again I decided to make a drawing using my Tinted Charcoal Pencils on a tinted paper.

The bit of forest ground above the quarry is important to show where the tree roots come from and is is mostly in shadows so the contrast with the sunlit parts of the wall of the quarry gives more structure to the landscape. Without that part, the drawing would have been much more 'abstract' and that is not what I wanted.

The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this work and in case you are interested in my original works my contact information can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Tree bark - Poplar

 

Close to our home are lots of poplar trees and the older ones have beautiful bark structures close to the ground - where I can see it best and make pictures as my reference.

One of these trees also has mosses growing in the structure of the bark and that one was my model for this work.

On a watercolour background I worked with my Graphitint pencils, using one wash of water between layers of pencil. 

After a strong wind I found a fallen leaf that was used for the second pattern in this work. I traces the outline of the leaf using a white pencil, colouring the negative space between two leaf shapes. I kept on working like that until I had 'covered' my sheet of paper with overlapping leaf shapes.

The white was not standing out as much as I hoped so I added white gouache paint in several layers to the white lines and the negative shapes that were coloured white.

Once again I experimented with structures and materials and I really like doing that. The result does not matter that much, even though I like the finished piece to be balanced.

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