Muiderslot

 

Today the prompt in the Sketch A Day app is 'slot' and in Dutch that word means lock or castle. I decided to go for a castle.

Several years ago we visited the Muiderslot and I made a picture from an unusual angle, the castle is almost hiding behind vegetation. That picture is still waiting to be painted, but now I have used it for this drawing.

Again I made the drawing with watercolour pencils and used water on the building to awaken the colours. More pencil for depth and some lines with a fine liner for the definition of the towers and to indicate the small windows.

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.

Glade

 

When the prompt in the Sketch a Day app was 'Glade' I first had to look up the meaning of the word. Of course I am never too old to learn and now I really know what a glade is.

So I made a drawing of an imaginary glade, using my watercolour pencils. The grasses and bushes were given a bit of water to awaken the colours and after that more layers of pencil colour for depth.

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.

Church Door - charcoal drawing

 

During our short stay in the Val-Joly region we also passed through the small town of Eppe-Sauvage. 

At that moment there was not much to do but we did want to see the 16th century Church. Unfortunately the church was closed and we walked around it. The main door in the front did attract my attention and I made a picture of it, to make a drawing later.

Later is today and I decided to use the Chunky Charcoal I was introduced to during my latest painting week.

With such a big chunky stick it is not the easiest task to get all lines in the correct place and I did not get an exact copy of the reference picture, but the result is better than I thought it could be.

While making the outlines of the doors I had wiped the charcoal down to suggest the plank doors and I planned to work on that a bit more. 

The door frame and the lower part of the wall that were made of a light natural stone became darker and darker as I had to correct the lines I had drawn initially. The upper part of the wall was made of red bricks and the darkest part of the composition. After some work on walls and steps I was happy how I suggested the different materials.

Before I got to this point I decided that the doors did not need extra work at all. The way I wiped down the charcoal from the top of the door post had a nice mysterious result that I like much better than the original plan.

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.

Roadside flowers, a white on red drawing

 

This is my last work for the May challenge of Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken about the colour red. On a watercolour paper I made a background using two shades of red, let that dry and made a drawing on it inspired by the roadside flowers I can see when I am driving home from work.

This time I used Drawing Pencils, so the work is sprayed with fixative.

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.

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.