Tree stump, Mastenbos

 

A few weeks ago my husband and me went for a nice signposted walk in the 'Mastenbos' in Belgium. We passed by lots of large old trees, some remains from World War I and several dead trees and tree stumps. I did not make (reference) pictures of all of them, but this one I could not resist.

The colour of the dead wood that is still visible inside the remains of the tree bark is so bright orange-brown (like Burnt Sienna) that it stands out on the forest floor.

The surrounding landscape is only suggested, the tree stump is my subject here. That does not mean I did not make an effort while painting that suggested landscape, I have really thought about how much detail I had to paint and where I had to start suggesting shapes of trees.

The tree stump itself also was full of detail and a bit of a challenge, but I really like the result of my work.

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

Night Moth - a pencil drawing

 

The June challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is 'small pearls' or 'little gems', those little bits of beauty that can suddenly inspire us. When I saw the theme, I immediately had to think about the night moth that was resting on the wall of our vacation home while I was painting a watercolour painting outside to have some shadow and a cool spot to work.

My husband made the reference picture for me after I had pointed out the little animal and that reference was used for this drawing.

I have used a small size black paper and my watercolour pencils without adding water this time. The little animal is done as detailed as possible (zooming in on the reference picture blurred the details a bit) and the corner of the wall it was resting on is only suggested.

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

Mushroom - a pencil drawing

 

The reference picture for this drawing was made last Autumn by my husband Peter who had the camera. I wanted to make a drawing or painting using this reference but never really found the right inspirational moment.

Now I have made this drawing, using my Graphitint pencils for the mushroom and some Graphic pencils for the surrounding grass.

Making this was nice and relaxing, not a very difficult subject and ready in a short time.

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.

Tree Bark - Platanus

 

The structure of the bark of the plane tree (Platanus) is beautifully coloured and has a nice texture so I had to use that tree in my series about tree bark and other things as well.

On a watercolour under painting - not very strongly pigmented this time - I used my Graphitint pencils for the tree bark and used some water to 'awaken' some areas of the drawing.

Over that drawing I outlined the leaves - found on the ground after a windy day - and added the three major veins of the leaves. These lines were 'awoken' with water as well. 

I decided to stop here because adding more colour or structure would make this drawing a chaotic one and I really wanted the structure and colours of the tree bark to be visible.

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.