After the rains - morning in the mountains

Last autumn my husband and me had a short vacation in the Black Forest, Germany. I have already made and published some watercolour paintings I made during and after that trip. On the way home we started early - as it is over six hours by car to get home - and we stopped for this sight. In the night and the early morning it rained and now the water that had fallen was rising up to the sky again in the form of mist. In the mountains that is a great sight especially for people like us, who are living in a flat country.
On my request my husband Peter stopped the car (in a parking place of course), opened the window and made some photographs.
We were near a hamlet situated in a bend in the road, so there were some buildings in front of the forests, the mountains and the mist.

Because I wanted to lay emphasis on the tranquility of the scene I have 'forgotten' to show the part of the road that was visible and added some bushes to the ones that were already there. The house on the left is also a bit altered and has got a more traditional 'Black Forest' facade.

Once again I have not been using green from the tube, but mixed my greens using several blue, grey and yellow paints. Because it is autumn I have added the yellows in pure form to the trees and bushes. The pine trees are evergreen of course and most of them are emerging above the mist. Only those on the far left are hidden behind the mist as that mountain ridge is much further away.
The smoke from one of the chimneys is highlighted with Chinese White.

Once again I had not stretched my paper before painting on it, and again I had some small difficulties. I have been giving this method a second try but I have found out that it is better for me - and my painting habits - to soak and stretch my paper before painting. 

More information about this watercolour painting (paper and colours used, size, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

In the Black Forest - second version

After having painted this little tree in the 'real' colours, I wanted to try to make a second version using my set of Twilight Colours. I decided to do a small painting this time and I chose to use paper that is very white.
While I was taping my sheet of paper down I decided to make a mixed-media using the paint for the background and some of my Graphitint (watersoluble) pencils for the tree and some details in the bushes and on the path.
I did not paint the trees on the left now so I could concentrate on the little tree in the curve of the path.

For the bushes in the background I used the granulating colours in my set of Twilight Colours: they fade away nicely, even where I applied a thicker layer of colour.
The sky, the path and the foreground are painted with the colours that do not granulate so much and I really am happy with the results.
For the path and the shadows I used the grain of my paper, lightly going over it with my pencil gives the same effect my granulating colours do. But this gives just a bit more control. The trees and bushes were drawn in the usual way and I made some accents with little strokes of a small brush with clear water.

This was a 'quick one' as it did not take much time to make, but this is one of the experiments I promised myself to do over the year: getting to know all the possibilities my paints and pencils have to offer. I will have to extend that to next year and maybe even further and that does not bother me at all!

More information about this painting can be found at my website  www.jannekesatelier.web.com 

In the Black Forest

On our vacation trip in the Black Forest (Germany) the weather was most of the time something between a light fog and a drizzle. 

Nevertheless we went hiking a few times and our first walk was directed towards the Sankenbach Waterfall. We could walk there from our vacation home so on a nice dry (not rainy) afternoon we went there. There still was a light fog between the trees that gave our afternoon something special.

The waterfall is very steep and maybe very spectacular when more rain has fallen, now it was really nice to visit but we could not really make pictures showing that there was much water falling.

Located at the top of the pathway down the falls is a hut meant to be a resting place. 

We ate our sandwiches there and made some pictures of the surrounding area.

In a curve in the path stands a small tree, partly hidden in the fog. 

I made several reference pictures with the idea to paint that scene.

I wanted to paint the special feeling of that autumn day in the forest.

The curve in the path that is fading in the mist, the little tree (on the lookout for hikers?) also not clearly visible and of course the foreground that can be seen much better - but not too well. And of course on the path the traces of the last rain, not so very long ago.

This was not really easy to paint, but I am happy with the result.

Maybe I will paint this scene again, using a different set of colours, sometimes a scene invites me to do that and this is one of those.

More information about this watercolour painting (size, materials, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Ruins and autumn colours

The ruins of the monastery of Allerheiligen, Germany are situated very nicely besides the brook and the waterfalls. As it is a touristic site, it also is very well - kept, clean and accessible. I gave some information about the history of the site before.

I painted this scene before and used the colours of reality; green for the fir trees and yellow and orange for the other trees and the bushes below. I also tried to reproduce the foggy weather of the day we were visiting the site. 
But I was not finished with this scene, I wanted to paint the scene again and this time I wanted to do a fantasy in autumn colours.

For this painting I also changed my crop a bit, now I did not want to draw attention to the contrast between the green and the yellow/orange trees but I wanted to accent the ruins themselves. This time I have been depicting the difference in the structures of the walls that are still standing. Some are in natural stones, others are made of nice rectangular blocks of limestone. And all of it is striped with moist and dirt.

The trees and bushes are bare this time, as if the foliage has already been shed and the leaves have been cleaned up by the caretakers of the site.
The background still suggests a forest in autumn colours - not all the trees shed their leaves at the same time.

More information about this watercolour painting (size, colours and paper used) can be found at my website  www.jannekesatelier.webs.com