Wadden Sea, Norddeich

 

In the last week of December we were for a short vacation in Norden and Norddeich. We did have fog the first days, but our last day had clear weather. Lots of clouds and a very cold wind, but we could see much more of the town and the sea so we went for a walk twice that day.

In the morning we had high tide and the water was covering most of the sandbanks that can be used to cross the Wadden Sea at low tide. Of course you still need a guide when you wish to walk on the sand banks, but it should be possible.

During the morning we walked along the dyke from the 'dog beach' towards the harbour of Norddeich and back and during thar walk I made some pictures of the clouds and the sea.

The reference picture for this painting also shows the sand close to the dyke that was not submerged by the high tide - I made the reference picture just because of that. The dyke is so very straight and man-made that it was a nice change to see these sand banks with their irregular shapes.

The painting does not show all the people walking and enjoying the fresh air, but only the sea, the sands and part of the dyke with the 'dog beach'. We were standing on a higher dyke when I made the reference picture without many other walkers near and that feeling of being almost alone looking at the beauty of nature is what I wanted to paint. I think I succeeded and I am happy with the result.

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

Tree bark drawing - oak

 

The reference picture with the beautiful bark of an oak tree was waiting to be used for several months and I finally decided how I wanted to use it.

For this work I first made a watercolour under painting, followed by drawing the tree bark with a Graphitint pencil on the dry underpainting. This is how I usually made these tree bark drawings, though the latest one already had an 'extra' by adding the shapes of the leaves.

Now the experiment starts!

Once complete, I used watercolour paint for the colours on the tree, but not exactly as they are. Using the watercolour also activated the colour of the Graphitint pencil I used for the drawing. The Graphitint pencils are water soluble and show a different shade when activated by water. After all was (as good as) dry I used the pencil again to deepen the shadow parts.

So far I have only been working on the tree bark and now it was time for the 'extra', acorns this time. I made some shapes of acorns and the little caps they have with white paper and used these shapes for a first composition. The shapes have different sizes, that is how I wanted to do this. Drawing around the shapes with the Grapitint pencil did not really give the result I wanted so I used a white Graphitint pencil to draw these shapes again.

The result was nice, but not enough, so I almost filled the paper with these shapes I cut out, overlapping in areas and drawing the outlines with both pencils. After that I used the pencils to indicate the volumes of the acorns and that gave me the result I was looking for.

The experiment was nice, combining pencils and paint and making two layers of shapes, the tree bark and the fruits of the tree.

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

Roode Beek (The Netherlands) - Conté drawing

 

Last Autumn we (my husband and me) were in the Natural Reserve 'De Meinweg' in The Netherlands and the signposted walk we were on passed by the 'Roode Beek'. This small river is part of the border between The Netherlands and Germany where we were walking.

The reflection of the trees in the water was nice and after making some reference pictures I was sure I wanted to make a painting or drawing using these references.

For this Conté drawing I did buy a light blue pastel stick first, to add to the shades of grey, black, white and some earth colours I had used before. The blue is a nice one for landscapes, indicating the sky colour or the reflections in the water.

The sky was mostly grey that day but somewhere there must have been a patch of blue between the clouds as it is reflected in the water of the river. The trees, bushes and grasses are drawn in the earth colours that are my usual palette when I work with Conté.

The result of my work is what I had hoped for, the touch of blue helps defining the river.

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

After the lightning - for a challenge

 

The theme of the January challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is taken from a book by one of the members: "Bliksem" or Lightning in English.

What do we do nowadays when there is a thunderstorm? Do we look at the lightning or do we hide in fear? 

This does not inspire me, so I looked a bit further. What does it look like after the lightning?

In our country we can still find oak trees standing alone in a field and these are in danger of being struck by lightning. Sometimes a tree survives and we can see the damage. More often the tree is killed by the lightning and cleared away before the remains can bring danger to people passing by.

Based on the silhouette of an oak tree in winter I imagined one side to be broken and fallen to the ground while the other side is still alive. The time is set in the end of Autumn, some leaves have not fallen yet.

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

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

Dark clouds, beach Norddeich - a charcoal drawing

 

During our short stay in Norden we went to walk on the beach of Norddeich on the only day that we had no fog. In the morning we had high tide, the water covered the beach completely and came to the dyke. Later in the afternoon, when we returned for one last walk we saw the beach as the tide was low, or at least lower.

The sand was still very wet and the wind was even stronger than in the morning so we stayed on the dyke for our walk. Now the tide was lower some structures close to the coast - for breaking the force of the waves - were visible now and I made some extra reference pictures.

The clouds were still dark and interesting and the reflection of the light that shines on the water between the breakwaters in the foreground inspired me to make this drawing.

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

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

View on Norderney

 

During our short stay in Norden, we had some foggy days, but one day had clearer skies. Still very cloudy, but we could see the sea, the dyke and the islands across the 'Waddenzee'.

This is the view on Norderney with the guiding poles for the ferry in the foreground.

Making the reference picture was not easy with all that wind - I had to keep the phone camera still but that was really hard. So I managed to make a not so very sharp picture. That picture is combined with my memory for this watercolour painting.

Again I used my panorama shaped paper to make this painting, the subject is ideal for that paper size.

Of course I enjoyed working on this one safe inside in my little studio at home (no wind, no cold, no rain, just nice and cosy)

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

Dark clouds (Norddeich)

 

After Christmas we went for a short stay in Norden, the North of Germany. The coast at Norddeich is very close so we have been there, walking by the sea. There were some dark clouds and we had a strong wind, but I could make some reference pictures.

As we were there for a short stay, I had only packed my drawing materials so this is an experiment with graphite and water soluble graphite pencils.

I made the drawing of the landscape and the clouds with graphite first, added the water soluble graphite in the clouds and sky and washed that with a water brush.

The result is a nice surprise and I really like to make such study - drawings in the future while on vacation.

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