Last week we had a few days of really nice, warm weather and my husband and me also had some days free from work. So we enjoyed a wonderful day outdoors, walking in our beautiful nature. We revisited the Estate 'Huis ter Heide' and made another signposted walk. The landscape varied from fields to woodland and a bit of moorland, all during a walk of 6 kilometres.
Now it is the end of winter and after those warm days there is a little beginning of spring, but almost all the trees were still bare and there were as good as no flowers. We did see an early butterfly and heard lots of birds singing.
Amongst the reference pictures we made that day are a few of this dead tree trunk, beautifully lighted by the sun. Of course this one inspired me and I have made a charcoal drawing as soon as possible.
These last weeks we have been at work in our home, so I have been painting walls, doors and the sides of the stairs, they all needed some attention after all those years we are living in this house.
That is the reason why I have not been doing much watercolours or drawings and after all those weeks I really wanted to go back to my studio for some artwork.
In a previous post I have written about the policy of our Nature Preserve association to let dead trees stand where they are, so I will not explain that again in this post.
This tree looked almost white with some dark shadows and crevices so I had something nice to draw. As it stands in the middle of some undergrowth I had some trouble to make my reference pictures and of course I had to include that in my drawing.
This drawing is what I thought it would be so I am really happy with the result.
More information (size, availability, contact information, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
A few months ago we walked a long signposted walk in the area called 'Huis ter Heide' and near the end of that walk we spotted several white trees. This was the first and I quickly made a reference picture. Later we saw more of these dead trees, totally white, standing between the other trees and bushes, making a very special sight. These trees were at some distance of the path, so we did not get near enough to guess what kind of tree it was. This walk was before the dry and hot summer we had this year so the rhododendron bushes were in bloom and the fields had lots of flowers.
At the moment I made my reference picture I had already decided that I would use it for one of my 'white on black' paintings.
I have not only used white gouache and watercolour paint for this painting, for the tree I have been drawing with silver metallic and white (Graphitint) pencils.
The pencils are a nice addition to the gouache and watercolour, they allow me to show the details of the smaller white branches.
Painting this dead white tree and the surrounding landscape was a nice challenge for me, especially because it had been a few months ago since I had painted a 'white on black'.
More information about this painting (size, availability, contact information, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
We love to go walking in the beautiful nature of our country (The Netherlands). Most of the nature is made up of small patches of forest, moorland or dunes and there are a few larger areas that are extra protected as Natural Reserves. This time we went to one of the smaller areas called "Huis ter Heide". There is a building that gives the area its name and used to be the 'headquarters' for the rangers that managed the area. Now the building has another function and is no longer accessible for the public.
Our signposted walk passed through the forest part of the area. These walks are not only signposted in the forest itself, but using an app on your mobile phone you get additional information about the special features of that walk. Most of the times the information is about the animals that live in the area or about the history of the place.
A lot of information is given about the policy regarding dead trees. A few decades ago these dead trees would be removed so the walk through the forest would be more pleasant. Nowadays the dead trees are left where they are unless the endanger the visitors. Dead trees give food and shelter to lots of insects and birds and are indispensable for a healthy forest. The 'unpleasantness' of dead trees is now turned to a thing to be explored by inquisitive (young) people.
All these dead trees have light and dark areas, some of them have mosses or lichens, some have the bark partially fallen off. All that is a nice exercise for me, to train my drawing skills.
This time I chose a very dark tree with many curves catching the light or casting shadows - a nice challenge for a charcoal drawing.
The result is as I hoped it would be, so I am really happy with this drawing.
More information (size, materials used, availability, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
