Ladybug - a pencil drawing

 

In the Sketch a Day app the prompt for today was 'Beetle' and I decided to draw a Ladybug on a postcard-size paper.

For the beetle I first put down a layer of colour and I 'awakened' it with water. The grass has only one layer of pencil colour for the contrast between my subject and its surroundings.

After the water dried I added more colour, using more pencils than in the first layer to get the depth that can be achieved with watercolour pencils.

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.

Wren - a pencil drawing

 

Today's prompt in the Sketch A Day app is 'Melody' and I thought of birdsong. There are many well-known songbirds and many of them were already featured in the submissions of the day so I wanted something different.

A little wren can also sing a nice song and they are such charming birds that I should draw them more often.

Using a Watercolour postcard as my paper I made a drawing first, added water to the bird shape and added more colour for depth and for the correction of my initial - not so perfect - shape. The branches and leaves are one pencil layer only for the contrast between my subject and its surroundings/background.

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

Trees along a sunken road

 

Some weeks ago we were for a short vacation in the Val Joly region and made a walk in the Parc de L'Abbaye de Liessies where we were walking in a sunken or hollow road during that walk. 

The road was so much sunken that we could just see the top of the sides and many tree roots were visible. My husband (who had the camera) made some nice pictures of these tree roots.  During our short vacation I made a drawing after one of these pictures and this time I wanted to make a watercolour painting. 

My reference picture for this watercolour painting is made from a different angle and shows the tree from the drawing and a second one, both with a lot of their roots exposed. The high side of the road is also visible.

The second tree, on the right side of the painting was the biggest challenge with its roots so intertwined that I really needed the 'help' of my reference picture. Usually I paint the sketch I made on my watercolour paper and from memory but in this case that did not work well for the many details.

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.

Kasteelpark van Brasschaat - a Conté drawing

 

The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about the colour red. After I had painted poppies for my first submission I wanted to do something with red paper as my background.

From three shades of red (all in a set with a lot of colours) I picked the darkest one and made a Conté drawing of a landscape. Because of the red background I limited the palette for my drawing.

In fact this is in a parc area where my husband and me went for a walk, the Kasteelpark Brasschaat which is a public place now and a great place for a walk. 

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

Poppies in the roadside

 

The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about the colour red. We are challenged to work with red. That may be a composition in shades of red or just a single detail in red and all that is between these extremes.

Driving to my work in the morning and back home in the afternoon I can see the roadsides full of poppies and other flowers so that was my inspiration for this work.

First I made a background in two shades of green and took away some patches of colour using a bit of tissue paper.

After that had dried I painted the poppy flowers using three shades of red. Using the greens from the background I painted stems and leaves for the poppies and the whit patches that represent some white flowers. The brightest white flowers have yellow hearts.

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.

Felled tree - a pencil drawing

 

During our short vacation in the Val Joly region we also made a walk just across the border, in Belgium, starting at the Étang du Vivier in Sart Eustache.

The walk was challenging for us so we did not have much time or energy to make pictures but this felled tree was just beside the path and we did stop for a picture here. The stump was at the other side of the path so we presumed that a large piece was 'missing', taken away by the foresters.

The picture inspired me to make a drawing on a large size paper as the tree was really large and details would not be possible on a small size. 

Using my Graphitint pencils I first made a layer of pencil drawing and used water to 'awaken' the colours that are special to that type of pencil. After that had dried I added more layers of pencil for more depth and details.

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.

View through tree roots - a pencil drawing

 

During our short stay in the Val Joly region we made a walk that started in the Parc de L'Abbaye de Liessies and in a hollow road we saw how the sand was washed away from the roots of some of the trees. My husband had the camera and made some reference pictures for me.

This was the most 'dramatic' one and I made a pencil drawing while we were on vacation. 

These days I only bring some drawing materials with me on vacation because drawing is easier in less ideal circumstances such as not being in my studio.

This drawing is a small size and I will probably make another work using this tree as my inspiration.

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.