What to choose...

 

The theme of this week's challenge (Travel) brought up the best - or worst - in me and this is the third work I have made inspired by this challenge and the description of its theme.

The announcement included the suggestion that we might travel again after this winter - and the lockdown - and we are challenged to draw or paint our favourite destinations.

That is where the stress begins!

For this drawing my husband helped me to print a photocopy of a map showing my hometown and a bit of the surrounding area. Rotterdam, a bit of the Port of Rotterdam, the old town of Dordrecht and our Natural Reserve 'De Biesbosch' are also visible on the map.

The options for a vacation are innumerable but my favourites are on the arrows on the directing post. I have guessed the direction of each destination and made the arrows so that the name should be legible. The direction post stands where my house is situated in our home town - this is approximately of course, the map is not that detailed.

The challenge is only for a week, if I had more time I would have put in much more effort than I could do now. It still was fun thinking about this one and making it - even in so little time.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this work and its availability can be found in my Tumblr blog.

Étretat - a charcoal drawing

 

The 'Travel' challenge of Artists&Illustrators Magazine inspired me to browse my archives for nice references and I came across the pictures we made in Étretat. 

Ten years ago I only made watercolour paintings and I painted the cliffs a few times, but I was not completely happy with the results. This time I have tried a charcoal drawing, knowing that the use of only one colour - in a variety of tones - can have much more impact than a multi-coloured painting. 

The tonal values of the cliffs, the sea and the sky are almost the same in the reference pictures that were made about an hour before sunset in autumn so I had to make some changes to create a strong image. 

For this drawing I started with the cliffs, the beach and the sea and after these were finished I decided to leave the sky completely blank, no clouds or other hints of colour. In doing so, I have made the cliffs my subject - and that would not have happened if I added clouds with the same tonal values that are present in the cliffs and the sea.

The result is an impression of these famous cliffs and I am really happy with my drawing. I added the name Étretat to the bottom of the drawing just for fun - and I will also submit this work for the challenge.

The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this charcoal drawing can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Memories of Honfleur

 

This week the theme of the challenge is about 'Travel' and we are asked to paint, draw or sketch our favourite destinations for a vacation. Of course there are many favourites but I thought it wise to choose a destination that can be recognised by an international jury.

So I thought of a sketch I made over ten years ago, sitting behind a cup of coffee in Honfleur. This little church is between two large buildings and on the side of the harbour. The water here usually is very low, so only the tips of the masts are visible.

Honfleur is a small town without much colour, there is a lot of grey stone used to build it. 

I added some colour to the buildings next to the church, which is really mostly grey with some touches of colour.

I have used my markers again - a line marker and my watercolour markers, combined with a wet brush for the washed effects. This is a technique I want to use more often, after my first experiment I really enjoy working with these materials.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of the drawing and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Tulips from....

 

Last week was my birthday but we could not have any visitors, due to the lockdown regulations. My brother and sister-in-law sent me a beautiful bouquet of tulips, so there still was a bit of festivity in my home.

The tulips are gone now, but from memory I have painted a few of the beautiful flowers I have enjoyed for almost a week. There are a lot of flowers in the painting, but this is not even a third of the bouquet that was on my table.

The new challenge with 'Spring' as its theme is perfectly timed for this painting. I wanted to paint these flowers to keep their colours in my home a little longer. 

For this watercolour I have chosen not to use very strong shadows, to keep the scene light and friendly. The flowers in the bouquet all had very delicate colours and they were not placed in direct sunlight. In this time of the year the sunlight is not really strong, so the shadows are soft as well. 

Again I enjoyed painting this scene and I am happy with the result.

The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this painting can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Home is....

 

For the weekly Lockdown Drawing Challenge (Artists & Illustrators Magazine) we had to draw (or paint) 'Home' - either our home or what makes us feel at home in a place.

They also explained that a drawing or a sketch are also accepted, not only completed paintings.

So this time I have been thinking about "what makes a place a 'home' for me?" and about how to put that on paper.

My home is where my kitchen is so I made a reference picture of a small part of my kitchen. I made a line drawing on a sheet of paper and added colour with my watercolour markers. This was washed out with a bit of water and the result could be called a line and wash drawing. 

To explain why I have made this drawing I added the banner with the text.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this drawing and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

A new beginning

 

During one of our short walks we saw some tree trunks in a park that were growing new branches. The trees must have been cut because of a disease but the trunks and the roots were left in the ground. New branches with leaf buds were growing and I wanted to paint that. I did not take any reference pictures this time but I did look very well at the scene, to be able to paint it from  memory.

For this watercolour I have imagined the fresh leaves that must be on the branches now, a few days later. The tree trunk is dark of course, but I have used warm colours to indicate the life that is still there. 

The background is imaginary and I have used fresh, spring like colours. Once again it is really hard to make a good picture of my watercolour because there is not much daylight left in the afternoon. The rainy weather does not help either.

Painting a scene like this from memory turned out not to be difficult and I am happy with the result.

The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this watercolour painting can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Family

 

This week the Lockdown Drawing Challenge is about Family. In the announcement they mentioned portraits of family members, at home or far away, but I do not paint people.

That means I had to think of something else or not participate at all. Inspiration was not far away - in a picture made by my son or my daughter-in-law. Of course I asked their permission to use the picture.

This little still life also depicts a family so I made a small painting inspired by the reference picture though it's not an exact copy of the socks on the line. I made up some details and omitted some other ones, still hoping to get an impression of the socks that can appear on a young family's washing line. 

This was the first time I have been painting a washing line, clothespins and laundry and I did enjoy the process. 

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this painting and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog.