Variations on an acorn - a pencil drawing

 

The last half of the last afternoon of my painting vacation was dedicated to something easy as in not a very serious subject compared to what I have done the rest of the week. Of course I made the most of my subject, an acorn found under one of the big oak trees near our residence.

When I did show my plan to our teacher and coach Ad van Aart he said something about going extreme with the subject and that is what I tried to do.

I had brought my whole box of watercolour pencils and I wanted to use them. The green acorn was the first on the paper, using the colours of the subject for my drawing. I also added some water and applied more pencil layers after that had dried for depth in my colours. The shadow is only one pencil layer.

After that I started the bigger drawings, using colours that are also in the first drawing, but not 'as the original is'. Looking at my drawing now, it may show the autumn colours of that acorn if it would have been on the tree for so long.

I am happy to say that I did surprise Ad with my final work, he did not expect me to do something like this. It was fun, making a surprising composition out of a subject that does not look great as first sight.

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. 

Ruins 'Kloster Allerheiligen' - three works

 

Almost ten years ago we visited the 'Kloster Allerheiligen' in Germany and I made some pictures for painting. The works I made were never doing justice to the ruins so I decided to focus on other subjects.

This painting vacation I wanted to revisit these pictures and try to make something better. Of course our teacher and coach Ad van Aart helped me.

At first I made a drawing using pencils and a fine liner (the third work from above) to get the composition right. 

The second work (in the middle) is done with Chunky Charcoal, suggesting the day or the spiritual presence that can be felt in such ruins. I really liked the fact that straight lines are not really possible with this material and I got the feeling/atmosphere I was looking for.

Then came the suggestion to do a night version of this scene. The buildings are to be grey and the sky is to be black. Here I had to find out where the light comes from and create a credible drawing. With this very black charcoal that was a bit of a challenge, a mark made is a mark on the paper that can only be 'erased' with more black around it. 

The results are what I hoped for and maybe I will never do a watercolour painting of ruins like this, because the straight lines that are to be found in architecture - even in ruins - usually make me very unhappy.

The information about the materials I have used for these works, their sizes and availabilities and - if you are interested in my original artworks - my contact information can all be found in my Flickr account.

Stone circle - five works

 

During my painting vacation I was looking for a way to paint/depict the spiritual feeling I can get at certain sites. Our teacher and coach Ad van Aart helped me find my 'voice' in this.

After the cap stone and the dolmen I needed a new subject and I made up a stone circle.  The work at the bottom is a first try on composition. It is not quite finished but the other participants of the painting vacation called this stage interesting so I just left it this way. For the composition I did not need to go further.

The second version is made with willow charcoal to explore the spiritual feeling. Following this version I made one with Chunky Charcoal which is much darker than Willow charcoal.

The watercolour versions are made on panorama size paper, the stones on the left and the light coming from them shining to the right. First only Indigo and a second painting with an earth colour on request of Ad.

The charcoal drawings and the watercolour paintings do show the spiritual feeling I wanted to show in these works. All four are different, but the idea is there. I am really happy with these results.

The information about the materials I have used, the sizes of these works and their availabilities and - if you are interested in my original artworks - my contact information can all be found in my Flickr account.

Dolmen - five works

 

The second project in my painting vacation was a dolmen, capstone and supporting stones or at least what is left of the structure.

The first thing I made was the pencil drawing as a study for the composition and to get an idea of the structure of the different stones. After that came the Conté drawing on Terracotta paper as a 'mood' study.

Then out teacher and coach Ad van Aart suggested a second Conté drawing, with less stones for a better composition. That is the one on the grey paper.

After that study I reduced the amount of smaller stones to three and made a watercolour painting in natural colours. The grey-blue and the earth colours ate what is to be expected in a landscape.

There was more to be tried with this scene so I reduced the supporting stones to the absolute minimum of two - as suggested by Ad - changed the direction of the paper from 'landscape' to 'portrait' and used colours from the 'Twilight series' of my palette.

The results are what I hoped for. As mentioned in my previous post, this week I intended to paint the spiritual feeling that a dolmen is holy ground and my watercolours really reflect that feeling.

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

Capstone - three works

 

This painting vacation I wanted to explore the spiritual aspect of some ancient sites. Dolmens are burial grounds and can thus be considered holy ground. Sometimes I can feel that, especially when there are no other people around.

The first reference I have used is a picture of the unbroken capstone of the Ahlhorner Kellersteine II that I made about four years ago. I have not used that reference before.

Our teacher and coach Ad van Aart advised me to start with a pencil drawing to 'explore' the structure of the stone, its shadows and light spots. That pencil drawing is the third picture from above.

I continued with dark charcoal, now exploring that spiritual energy of the site and ended with a light within the stone. Another light is above the stone in the clouded sky, as if the sun shines through very dark clouds.

The third work is a watercolour where I was challenged to let the light radiate from the stone. 

The stone was simplified more and more in each step.

The information about the materials I used for each work, their sizes and availabilities and - if you are interested in my original artwork - my contact information can all be found in my Flickr account.

Snowy owl - a graphite drawing

 

In the 'Dierenpark Amersfoort' are also several birds and this Snowy owl was posing for pictures. 

So I made a picture and tried to draw the bird today, the first drawing on my new Terracotta tinted paper. The water soluble graphite is not the best medium for this dark paper but I gave it my very best.

This was the first time I made a drawing of an snowy owl and it is not the easiest bird. The bird in the cage was behind bars so I had to guess the shape a bit.

The water soluble graphite is not as opaque as is needed for this dark tinted paper, so if I want do make a 'perfect' drawing of a mostly white owl I will have to use other drawing materials.

All these things made that I also added 'experiment' in the tags, knowing this is not my best drawing, but I do share my whole art journey here and that means also the not so very great works.

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.

Siberian Tiger - a Conté drawing

 

Last weekend we visited the 'Dierenpark Amersfoort' and had a great time. 

At some point in the main route we saw this Siberian tiger, that walked towards the large window where  lots of children and adults were watching. Close to the large window the tiger laid down as if it was posing for pictures. My husband had the camera and made pictures for me.

Today I found time to make a drawing, using my Conté Crayons because these have the best colours for the tiger. To get the best result for the orange-ish fur I had to mix some colours but that is the fun of working with a limited set of colours.

This time I added more white after a first spray with fixative, to make it stand out even more. Of course I used my fixative again after that. This technique is something I have seen in a tutorial and I use it when I think I need it.

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.