The nature in our country is beautiful, but sometimes very wet. To be able to walk in these areas plank paths are constructed and maintained as part of the signposted walks.
Our last walk in 'Landgoed Visdonk' passed by one of those paths. The forest pond it crosses is a large one and the views are beautiful once on the path. This pond is an open area between two parts of the forest.
The plank path is very close to the surface and constructed in a slightly curvy way.
I have made some reference pictures at the beginning of the path for later use.
It took some time before I knew what I wanted to paint, the day was bright and sunny and the pictures I made are very detailed. Because detailed painting is not the style I like the most I had to think of something else.
For this watercolour painting I have changed the atmosphere of the scene from a bright sunny day into something more moody.
The foggy atmosphere is not so very strange in such a place, these forest ponds are well known for their morning fog after cold nights.
After all this thinking I sketched the path and the lines of the forest in the background and started painting. I have used a limited palette of only four colours and only the beginning of the path has the suggestion of details.
More information about this watercolour painting (paper and colour used, size, availability, contact information) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
The signposted walk we did last week in our Natural Reserve "Oude Buisse Heide" passes by a small pond. That pond and the area around it was donated to the organisation that manages the Natural Reserve by its latest owner Mr. Jan Dik. Hence the name Jan Dikkeven because 'ven' is Dutch for a pond in the forest.
The bridge only seems useless because there is a lot of very wet mud on one side and there is water on the other side. In months with more rain there probably is a small stream ending in the pond.
We did have to cross that little bridge to continue our walk and I made some pictures of the scene because I liked it.
Springtime means fresh young leaves, lots of branches still visible and the earth is not yet covered with grasses and mosses. The little bridge is as lop-sided as I have painted it, it was necessary to concentrate when we crossed it.
I did like to paint the little pool next to the bridge with the reflection of the large tree in it. There are lots of shadows that suggest the presence of more trees behind my point of view. The big tree is a pine tree and most of its needles grow on the higher branches, out of sight. They do give a bit of shadow though.
Painting this scene was nice. I had to think about shadows, bits of grass and bits of bare earth and to leave open spaces in the lines of the branches for the beginning foliage.
The big pine tree is very dark because of the shadows and it's not easy to make it round. I did learn from this one, so the next big tree will certainly be easier.
More information about this watercolour painting (size, materials used, availability) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
