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.

View through - a charcoal drawing

 

During our short vacation in the Val Joly region we made some walks. 

This tree we saw in the Parc de L'Abbaye de Liessies when we were walking a hollow road. The trunk was open at the bottom and there was a small 'see through' that made me ask for a reference picture (my husband had the camera).

Back in our vacation home I used the reference for a charcoal drawing, making sure the opening in the tree trunk was left white (the white of the paper).

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.

Val Joly - a pencil drawing

 

Last week my husband and me were enjoying a short vacation in the North of France, at the reservoir of Val Joly. The first evening we were exploring the site where our vacation home was and we had a nice view over the lake. My husband made the reference picture for this drawing.

Using a watercolour card with rounded corners (as can be seen in the picture) I started with watercolour pencils, used water to 'awaken' the colours and added more layers of pencil for extra depth. The pencil layers above the washed pencil has more shades of green and blue than the base layer, adding details that were not there at first.

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.

Two dead trees - a graphite drawing

 

This is the third work inspired by two dead trees  we saw in Voornes Duin, a Nature Reserve at our coastline. In my previous post I wrote that I wanted to experiment with colours and here is the result.

Using water soluble graphite I made a drawing in unusual colours, just to see what the result can be when I do things like this.

I really liked making this drawing and I also changed my first idea to stick to one colour only when I saw the result after applying water to the trees. The left tree has more colours, to make the difference between both trees clear.

This work has the same size as the charcoal drawing and that means not the whole left tree is visible. The background trees are also not shown in this work, I wanted to concentrate on the dead trees in the dune valley again.

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.

Two dead trees - a monochromatic watercolour

 

In my previous post I have written about these two dead trees, that we saw them last winter in Voornes Duin, a beautiful Nature Reserve at our coastline and that I intended to make more than one work inspired by the sight of these trees.

Here is the watercolour, a monochromatic painting using only Sepia on a panorama sized paper to show more of the left tree than is possible on a 'normal' size paper.

This time I have only painted the dune valley the trees were in and the trees themselves. There is no background for the reason that I wanted to focus on the trees this time. The ground they are standing on and resting on is important to understand what I have been painting.

This is not the last work inspired by these two dead trees. I intend to experiment a bit with colours, just see my next post.

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.