Common Broom

 

The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is "Hello Yellow", so we have to make something with the colour yellow. Last weekend, on the moorlands of the province Drenthe (The Netherlands) we saw the broom (Cytisus scoparius)  covered in flowers, so there I found my subject for the contribution to that challenge.

My husband made a nice reference picture for me and I made this watercolour painting, showing the flowers and only suggesting the rest of the bush. On a yellow background I made a light drawing of the flowers, added the greens of the bush and after all had dried, I painted the flowers, using two shades of yellow and hints of green for the petals and some brown for the stamens.

The result is what I hoped for.

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

Juniper berries - a pencil drawing

 

Last weekend my husband and me went to the province of Drenthe (The Netherlands) to walk in the beautiful nature there. Before we went to our vacation home, we made a signposted walk in the Mantingerveld, a place where the junipers are still growing in great numbers. 

Of course there was more to see than just junipers (Juniperus communis and I have a lot of reference pictures for nice paintings, but I just had to make a reference picture of the berries and make a drawing. 

As known, the berries take two years to mature, the green ones are in their first year, the darker blue ones in their second year and those will fall off or be eaten by birds. The juniper is the only indigenous needle tree in The Netherlands and it is having a hard time because of changes in the landscape and pollution. In places like the Natural Reserve 'Mantingerveld' the forest rangers are working hard to preserve the junipers. Looking at the amount of trees in that area, they seem to be successful.

The drawing was made during our stay in the vacation home, I only bring drawing materials when we are going for a short vacation and so I am limited in subject choice.

The berries have multiple layers, I used some water to 'awaken' the colours and added more pencil lines on top of that. That was done to make the berries stand out as my subject.

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

Aekingerzand

 

Last weekend, during our (very) short trip to the Northern parts of our country, we walked in Natural Reserve 'Het Drents-Friese wold'. We passed by the 'Aekingerzand' and made several pictures. Of course we made a lot of pictures during that walk, but this charcoal drawing is made after a picture made at the moorland bordering the Aekingerzand.

The clouds were getting darker and the moorland is still brown in springtime - not many green leaves yet and the flowers will not be there before August. The horizon had some bushes and a lonely tree. This reference picture just asked for a charcoal drawing, adding a bit more darkness to the landscape to add to the atmosphere.

The drawing was made in our vacation home not long after the reference picture was made and I am really happy with the result.

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

Hungry house sparrow - a pencil drawing

 

Last weekend we were on a short trip to the province of Drenthe (The Netherlands) to do some signposted walks in the Natural Reserves that are in that area. We stayed in a vacation home and as the weather was mostly nice, we had been sitting on the terrace of the vacation home the first afternoon and left some breadcrumbs for the birds on the table. 

Most birds were too quick for the camera but my husband made a nice picture of a house sparrow (Passer domesticus) deciding on which piece of bread looked the most appetising.

As we were on a short trip, I only took drawing materials with me. Looking through the  pictures of the first day I decided to make this drawing of the sparrow and some bits of the bread. 

Where we live, house sparrows are no longer as common as they used to be, we have more blue tits, doves and members of the crow family. So a picture of a sparrow has become something special. Later we also had tree sparrows on the table, eating the breadcrumbs, maybe I will also make a drawing of that bird.

For this drawing I did not use any water to 'awaken' the colours, the balance between the colours would be lost. The bird is very present in the drawing so I did not have to accentuate it to make it stand out.

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

If you are interested in my original artworks, please contact me.