Skyline of Dordrecht - charcoal drawing

 

Not every weekly challenge in the 'Project Rembrandt Thuisopdracht' program is suitable for me. Sometimes it is about the paint that has to be used, sometimes the subject does not inspire me. This time I am inspired and I set out as soon as possible to make a reference picture of a skyline and make a tonal drawing. 

As Rembrandt himself was a master in dark-and-light, we are also challenged to make a dark-and-light drawing of a skyline (or city view, village view, even a farm view if nothing else is near) near the place we live using pencils, charcoal or Indian Ink. My choice is charcoal. 

The skyline of my own home village is not so exiting, mostly trees and low buildings, so I went to the river to make reference pictures of Dordrecht in the morning sun. Later that day it would turn grey and rainy, a good time to be indoors and make my charcoal drawing.

To find a spot with some depth was not so easy, most of the view of Dordrecht is from the other side of the river and that results in a very straight line, except  where the small harbours are situated. For this contest I selected the more modern part of the skyline of Dordrecht, as the Great Church has been painted by better painters than I am.

Keeping my paper white was a challenge and I cheated a bit with an eraser at some points, but I managed to get very light, very dark and several middle tones. The sky was blue, but darker than some parts of the concrete buildings and the river was in the shadows, so it was darker than the sky and several of the buildings. The darkest buildings have outer walls made of bricks (the inner walls are concrete in our country and between these two walls is a thin layer of insulation).

This drawing may not be what I intended to make, but I really am happy with it. It's 'a real Janneke' and I just have to keep in mind that this is how I draw landscapes. 

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

Where three rivers meet - at sunset

A few weeks ago we had visitors and as the weather was great, we went for a walk by the riverside. Whe live near the point where three rivers meet: Merwede, Noord and Oude Maas. On the left you have a view on Dordrecht, on the right hand side lies Zwijndrecht, behind the trees of the riverside park.
In the weekends the river is quiet, not so many boats as during weekdays.
The upcoming sunset was colouring the sky in a marvelous way so we stopped for pictures. My husband Peter made the reference picture I used for this watercolour painting.

Painting a sky without clouds is a thing I do not often get the chance to do, so this was a bit of a challenge.
The colours of the sky were reflected in the water, but as there was a lot of wind the water was not  calm. As this is a point where rivers meet and the tides are still of influence the water is never completely calm here.

I enjoyed painting a view that actually is very close to my home. To us this is a beautiful spot to visit all around the year. There is so much to be seen - even when traffic is low - and the light changes every minute.
In fact this was a favorite spot for some of our Old Masters as well and I can easily understand why!

The information about size, colours used etc can be found on my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com  

My first Art Fair

Yesterday I participated in an Art Fair in Dordrecht, just across the river from the place I live. The announcement appeared in a local newspaper and I decided to give it a try.
This was a learning experience!
As the Art Fair was in a community center for elderly people, most people were only looking, not buying. The comments I got were nice though. People liked my art but could not afford the money to buy, or they paint themselves and do not need to buy art.
I made some contacts that may prove very valuable and the atmosphere was nice, so we had a nice, relaxed day.
Here is an impression: