Tree roots - a Conté drawing

 

Last spring we (my husband and me) went for a signposted walk in the 'Mastenbos' (Belgium) where I made several reference pictures for my paintings and drawings. Some have already been used to make nice watercolour paintings and this time I wanted to draw these tree roots.

The tree had fallen and the roots were exposed which is not usual, most of the times you see a large amount of soil and earth attached to the roots. That means all the soil had been removed - by rain or wind or both - from this fallen tree.

I made some reference pictures when we were there and I selected the best one for my drawing.

Only the roots are visible here, the sand that had fallen off and the tree trunk are not in the drawing.

That decision was made during the drawing process. I started with the roots and gave them as much details as possible with crayons and looked at the result. Nothing else was needed, so I signed the drawing, used fixative and called it finished.

The result is what I hoped for.

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. 

Snowdrops - a drawing

 

In my front garden are snowdrops, in fact two different types of them. These are the first to have flowers and I made a reference picture for this drawing.

Last time I went to my favourite Art Supply store I bought a set of 'try out' papers with different colours and different textures in a small size.

On one of those postcard size sheets I made this drawing, testing the colours on the tinted background.

The Graphitint pencils show 'different' colours when treated with water so I also tested that. After I had applied water and let it dry I added a second layer of the white pencil to deepen the colour a bit.

This was a nice experience, having these small size sheets of paper make it easy to test materials, colours etc with a simple subject - like these snowdrops.

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

Snow - charcoal drawing

 

Last week we had a lot of snow, but it has been melting away because of higher temperatures. Last night and today it is freezing again, so what was left remains in its place today.

There is snow left on fields and I wanted to make a charcoal drawing of that last snow. So we went out to see a field that was still mostly white.

Very close to our home we found a nice spot for my reference picture. 

Today the sky is almost as white as the snow so the trees and their reflection in the water have the darkest colours. There is grass visible where snow has already disappeared and there is a trail of footprints - probably made by the moorhens that live here.

The result shas the atmosphere of (last) snow I wanted to capture so I am happy with this drawing.

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

Garden lamp in the snow - a drawing

 

This week we had snow - we still have a lot of snow lying in the garden, on the streets etc. The garden looks beautiful and two of the garden lamps look really 'brave' in this snow. (the other lamps are higher and are not buried in the snow)

Of course I wanted to draw this and I used graphite pencils and a fine liner for the lamp structure for this drawing. This turned out really nice and I enjoyed working on the drawing.

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.

Kalmthoutse Heide, winter

 

During our walk on the Kalmthoutse Heide a few weeks ago I made several reference pictures. Most of them have been used for paintings in the past weeks and today I wanted to paint this landscape.

At this point the signposted walk leaves the forest area we were in to enter the moorland the area is named after (Heide = moorland). Depending on the viewpoint some really beautiful landscape pictures can be made. 

Most of the year and especially in winter the moorland is empty and dark with only a few lonely trees or bushes. Of course the area is not really big, if wanted the trees on the far horizon can be reached on foot within the hour but the feeling of emptiness is not far from us.

That feeling of being in a large empty landscape is what I tried to paint this time.

The winter sky had some large clouds, almost white with some light grey shadows and the colour of the horizon was more yellow than blue or grey. Typical for winter in this part of the world and I liked painting it. The landscape has grasses that turned yellow and lots of dark plants, the remains of the heather and other plants, all suggested like I usually do.

The result is what I hoped it would be and I am happy with it.

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.

Eucalyptus - a pencil drawing

 

My first drawing in the year 2026!

The prompt 'fresh' in the Sketch A Day app had some photo inspiration with it and I picked the Eucalyptus branch to be my subject. Mostly because I have wanted to draw one of these branches for a long time but never had the opportunity. 

In a floral arrangement I got for Christmas was a small branch and I used that one as my reference.

My plan was to draw the leaves only and the stem would be suggested by the shapes of the leaves. This works very well with this branch.

After my first layer of pencil I looked at the result and decided to stop drawing. The black of the paper is still visible and that adds to the atmosphere I wanted to achieve. 

The 'experiments' in this drawing gave me the results I hoped for.

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.