After I had asked my daughter Mariska to send me some pictures with the 'Enchanted garden' theme, she also sent me a picture taken in 'Dierenpark Amersfoort', a zoo in our country.
In that zoo there is a place called 'Ancient City' where a reproduction of an ancient Persian city is made to teach the visitors how people and animals used to live together long ago. There is also a 'palace' area where tigers are coming very close to the thick glass walls so they are easily spotted and photographed.
This one was taking a very necessary nap.
Of course I could have painted the tiger, or made a charcoal drawing, but I wanted to use my Conté Sketching Crayons this time. I still have to practise with these crayons a lot before there are no more surprises when I am working with them.
For my background I have chosen a tinted paper, a light grey.
I have tried to simplify the background of the picture, which was full of large plants. I could mix and distribute the colours over the paper with my fingers and I have added some suggestions of the (bamboo like) plants later.
The tiger needed to be handled more carefully, to keep the white where it had to be and later to keep the stripes in place.
When I thought I could do nothing more - mostly because the paper does not have much structure - I signed and secured my drawing with fixative spray.
Conté Sketching Crayons need a lot more fixative than charcoal, I already knew that from the first time I had used them.
The details about the materials I used, the size and availability can be found in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
Last summer I have been sketching the waterfall in the Japanese Garden of 'Dierenpark Amersfoort' (Netherlands). A few months later I have made a watercolour painting, using the colours that are naturally there in that scene. That is mostly brown for the rocks, green for the plants and trees in the background and a bit of blue for the reflection of the sky in the water. I was not really happy with the result but I could not really see what went wrong, so I let it rest, trusting that one day I would know how to make a better version.
When I am really taking time to make a sketch on the spot, that sketch usually is detailed and made only with black pencils, so the result is monochromatic. These sketches can be 'better' than a multi-coloured painting, because sometimes the use of colours does not represent the values that make the black and white sketch such a strong image.
That is what I thought to be 'not so great' in my first watercolour painting.
Now I have made a second version, using only Indigo for the landscape with a hint of yellow to paint the bright green plants that are at the bottom of this waterfall.
I have used my initial sketch as my reference again, but now I have not used the memory of the trees in the background (I had used a reference picture for that). The sketch does not have the trees either, and I wanted to stay close to the sketch.
The choice of Indigo was made mostly because the brown shades of the first painting were disappointing me and I wanted to do something different.
I like this one better than the first painted version and I don't think there will be a third painting or drawing made with this sketch as my reference.
More information about this watercolour painting can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
Most of the zoological gardens in The Netherlands are very nice places, not only because of the animals but also because of the park area. The 'Dierenpark Amersfoort' is one of those zoos with nice large trees, a lot of plants and a great scenery.
This Zoo has a small Japanese Garden, with some rocks, places for meditation and a pond with Koi carp and a waterfall.
The day we visited 'Dierenpark Amersfoort' was a very hot, sunny day so I found myself a spot in the shadows and sketched the waterfall while the others were exploring other parts of the Zoo. After I had finished my sketch I also made a reference picture to remember the colours.
This watercolour painting is based on the sketch, with a very little bit of help from the picture.
The paper I have used here is new for me, this is a quarter of a sheet Arches grain fin. I have soaked and stretched it and started drawing the most important lines as soon as the paper was dry. After that.... painting!
Rocks like these are something I do not often see in our landscape so they still are a challenge for me. The trees behind the rocks and the water of the pond were easier.
This place, hidden in the small Japanese Garden was filled with shadows from the trees behind and above the rocks and the rocks themselves that blocked most of the light.
So the white, falling water and the green plants that grow between the rocks do stand out against the dark, wet rocks.
The water of the pond looked dark because of the shadows of the rocks.
There were lots of other visitors and the little bamboo fence I had chosen to sit on was not very comfortable so after I had finished my sketch I joined the others for our lunch.
If I had been alone in that place it would have been very relaxing and I have tried to show that quality in my painting.
More information about this watercolour painting (size, materials used, availability, contact information, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
