A glimpse (underneath) - Kalmthoutse Heide

 

The end of summer is more sunny and warm than the 'real' summer was this year so we went for a walk over the Kalmthoutse Heide in September, enjoying a nice warm day and the last of the purple colours of the heather in bloom. We made a nice long walk, combining two signposted walks to see as much purple as possible. Of course we also passed by woodland areas, sand dunes and sand paths and some trees that were standing (almost) alone.

Under one of those trees was a nice bench for tired walkers so we sat in the shadow of the tree and my husband made a picture of this glimpse underneath the branches of the tree. He made the request for a watercolour painting and I decided to do this 'my way' with the tree in the lead role.

The roots of the tree were interesting in shape so I gave them extra attention by changing the clarity of the reference picture to see the shapes - compared to the dark mass they were in the original picture. As most of the tree is back lit, it is only natural that the roots are too dark in the picture. With some help from the photo programme I managed to get the reference image I needed, another lesson learned for the future.

For the painting I wanted the tree in the lead role, so the background, a path, bushes and some trees  is mostly suggested. The pine cones under the tree were added for structure as well as some fallen twigs.

The painting is what I hoped it would be, so I am really happy with the result.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this watercolour painting and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog. If you are interested in my work (only original paintings are available) please contact me.

Slope - Kalmthoutse Heide

 

The Natural Reserve 'Kalmthoutse Heide' is not really far from where we (my husband and me) live, it is also a very favourite place to go for a nice walk in nature. The Reserve is situated on the border between The Netherlands and Belgium and most of the times we walk in the Belgian area, but this time we went for a signposted walk in the vicinity of Ossendrecht, The Netherlands. We did this walk before, but that was several years ago and 'wandelpad Haas' did have some surprises. 

The moorland area was closed with electrical fence and in that area were sheep, keeping the moorland as it should be; no grassland or woodland but with lots of heather plants. The walk went around that area, so we could see the sheep at work without disturbing them. There are reference pictures with these sheep, I will use them later for a painting or drawing.

About halfway the signposted walk we were in a relatively high place and we could look down a small slope just towards the next high spot. As the sunlight hit the ground beneath the trees, I made a reference picture - we did have lots of clouds during that walk even some very light rain.

The reference picture was used for this watercolour and of course I simplified the foreground - there were a lot of smaller bushes, some heather and grasses, but I did not want to paint all those details. The background did get some more details, some of the tree trunks on the opposite slope are much lighter in colour than the shadows behind them and I wanted to paint that properly.

The trees were given some extra attention as well, I still want to improve my tree - painting skills. The result is what I hoped it would be.

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

Forest walk - Kalmthoutse Heide

 

Last weekend we visited the Natural Reserve 'Grenspark Kalmthoutse Heide' again and followed the signposted walk 'Bos' (forest), a walk we have not done for years. 

Things have changed along that walk, it is much more interesting now after the forest area has had some maintenance. Trees have been cut - several of these are still on the forest floor providing food and shelter for smaller animals - and more light and bushes are growing now. We enjoyed our walk very much, not only because the trees give shelter from the sunshine and it is always cool in a forest area.

Of course I made several reference pictures, the dead tree trunk has been posted earlier, this time I made a watercolour painting of that nice forest area, with lots of trees and a forest floor with lots of different plants and bushes. A bit of sunlight was also visible in the reference picture and I hope it can also be seen in the painting.

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

Dead tree, Kalmthoutse Heide - Conté drawing

 

Last weekend we were walking another signposted walk in 'Grenspark Kalmthoutse Heide', a Natural Reserve that is in Belgium and The Netherlands. Border-crossing nature it is called and we love to go there for a walk. 

This time we had a walk in a woodland area that is on the edge of the moorland (heide) that gives the Natural Reserve its name. Under the trees we had a nice cool walk with some great views. The reference pictures I made there will be used for watercolour paintings. 

This area has a lot of dead trees in it, either because of the fire that destroyed a part of the nature several years ago or because the trees just die and are left in the area to provide food for insects - who attract birds, who attract predators, etc.

This tree stump was standing in an empty field beside the path and I just wanted to draw it. So the picture was made and the drawing as well. Because this stump really is very dead, I used grey paper and the corresponding colour combination.  As written before, I have selected colour combination for dead trees and another combination for the living ones.

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

If you are interested in my art, please contact me.

Kalmthoutse Heide - moorland

 

A few months ago we (my husband and me) went for a walk on the Kalmthoutse Heide, a Natural Reserve we like to visit as often as possible. This time I made reference pictures of the small peat bog opposite the 'Putse Moer', a large moorland pool and very easy to find on the maps of the area.

As usual I needed some time to gather courage for a painting, because this is not an easy subject for me. All those tall grasses - do I have to paint them all or just a few - and which ones need to be in the painting? 

Also as usual I just had to start painting and these questions answered themselves and I just have to do what looks right when most of the paint is on the paper. The tall grasses I added in the foreground and in the middle ground are not really painted, I used water soluble pencils.

Before all that I also decided on the cropping of the reference picture, what to do with the horizon (the trees on the horizon are 'replanted' for the painting) and my point of interest. These choices were not the ones that I need to gather courage for, so I made them after I chose the reference picture I wanted to use for this work.

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

Dead Tree (another one) - a Conté drawing

 

This week we were in the North of Belgium again, for a nice walk on the Kalmthoutse Heide. That Natural Reserve is always worth the time for a walk, every season is different. We have made these signposted walks several times, sometimes clockwise, sometimes anti-clockwise and now I try to make reference pictures of the details of the landscape. The wide views don't change that much over the years.

This time we passed by several dead trees, many of them not really good for a picture, but in a bend in the path we found this one. Very dead for a long time and filled with small holes made by birds or insects. The bark was mostly gone and only some beginnings of branches could be seen. The rest of the branches were sawn off, probably for the safety of the walkers.

Again I chose my new grey paper and some Conté Sketching Crayons for the drawing, the last time I used these together I was really happy while working on the drawing and the result was better than I hoped for. So I wanted to draw a second dead tree using the same materials and I was not disappointed. Again the result is better than I hoped for so more dead trees, tree trunks or stumps will follow and I hope to get better with every drawing I make.

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

Dead tree - Kalmthoutse Heide

 

Last week, as we were walking a signposted walk on the Kalmthoutse Heide, I saw a dead tree that inspired me to make reference pictures. On the bark - what was left of it - were lots of colours, white, shades of brown and orange and more so I tried to capture that in my reference pictures. And I wanted a picture of the whole tree, standing alone against the sky. 

While I was trying to get that right my husband told me to try from the other side, where he was still standing. The colours that inspired me at first were not visible from there, but the tree looked great from the viewpoint he advised me. The sky suddenly looked more cloudy and dark and the tree did stand out beautifully.

Last week I experienced that it could be too dark to paint really early in the afternoon, so now I started my painting in the morning, choosing a large size paper for this scene. Still the weather was against me, something with the humidity, drying time, paper staying very wet and that stuff. The struggle was not very long, I soon found out what was the matter and I have used my hair-dryer very often for this painting.

After one layer was dried, I added more paint, dried it again and repeated until I was happy with the result. Normally I don't need to dry my paper so often in between layers and I can keep adding paint much longer. So today was different, but no problem.

After the sky and foreground (a piece of moorland in autumn) were what I wanted them to be I started painting the tree. As the tree was in backlight, there are only shades of dark and darker brown in the shape of the tree and the remaining branches. Many of the smaller branches have fallen off long ago and what is still standing may stay like this for a long time. Or not, the tree may be very weak by now and fall in the first storm that comes.

I am really happy with the result of my work, I tried to paint the loneliness of that dead tree and I think I succeeded well.

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

If you are interested in my work, please do contact me.

Kalmthoutse Heide - August

 

Now is the time of the year that the heather is in bloom so we went for a walk on the 'Kalmthoutse Heide', a protected Natural Reserve that is mostly in Belgium but crosses the border with The Netherlands in the Western parts of the Reserve. Because of the various lockdowns we had over the last year and a half, we had not visited the Kalmthoutse Heide for a long time.

We made the signposted walk that was our first in that area and we could see some differences - nature did not really suffer during the lockdowns. Of course I made several (reference) pictures of the heather in full bloom and some other nice views.

One of these pictures is used for this watercolour. The clouds were really dark, we had rain twice during the walk and because of the grey sky the trees also looked like dark shapes without much contrast. Of course I did not paint every little flower on every patch of heather, I prefer to paint an impression of the landscape and the viewer is welcome to imagine the details. 

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

Moors

After a lot of rainy days we had one day with sunshine and so we went for a walk in the Natural Reserve "Kalmthoutse Heide", which is on the border of Belgium and The Netherlands, not far from where I live.
Of course there was a lot of water on the paths and in the moors and I made some reference pictures of these (almost) flooded moors. 
The first picture I took was just water and grass, no horizon, just for the reflections and what was below the water surface. During the rest of the walk I thought of how I would paint this scene and I made a plan.

On heavy black paper I painted the blue background of the water with the reflections of the sky and I indicated the grasses with some dark colours where the shadows and the wet areas are and light colours where the grasses are growing.
After that dried completely  I used watercolour pencils and a Graphitint Pencil for the blades and for extra texture in the wet areas of the groups of the grasses. This was the stage where the painting started to look right and I am really happy with the result.

The scene is almost abstract and I liked to do this painting - for a change. Usually I paint landscape scenes with a horizon, this time I focussed on a detail.

The description of the paints and pencils I have used, the size of the painting and the availability can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

The Border Marker

Walking one of the many beautiful signposted walks in the area of the 'Kalmthoutse Heide' we found this broken stone. My husband made some reference pictures for me and I started planning a painting.
The stone is one of the border markers that line the border between Belgium and The Netherlands and our walk passed that border a few times. 

This broken stone, cracked and covered with moss on most sides inspired me to change the scene from a 'normal' border landscape to something more mysterious.

Watercolour is an ideal medium to create a foggy or mysterious atmosphere and I have been experimenting with the colours in my palette, water, layering mixtures, more water, wet - in - wet and wet - on - dry techniques and this is the result. 
I am happy with this painting, it was a great exercise and the result is very close to what I hoped it would be.

Unfortunately my picture does not give full credit to the real painting. 
The painting has a green glaze to it and my simple photo - adjusting programme cannot show that easily.... so tilting the computer screen may help to see what I really made. 

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

Bird sanctuary - 2; an experiment with a limited palette

We returned from our last walk on the 'Kalmthoutse Heide'  with a lot of photographs that can be used as reference for my paintings. 
To prevent me doing the same thing over and over again, I usually start challenging myself after the first two or three paintings and here I set myself a double challenge.

I chose to work with a limited palette of only three colours. The three are selected carefully, when placed in a colour wheel made up of 12 colours, they are in the shape of an equilateral triangle. So they have a natural balance.
I have worked with this palette before and this is great for painting landscapes.

The second challenge I set myself is the high position of the horizon. 
Usually I have my horizon positioned low, like the old masters did. So now I have a lot of land to paint and very little sky.

For this double challenge I decided to work on a smaller piece of paper than usual.

The scene is the bird sanctuary I painted before, but this time a bit to the left from my first painting. There is no real path, just some parts with moss, low grass and sand that suggest there might have been a path in the near past. The tree is waiting for warmer weather to let the leaves come out and the bushes are doing the same.
In the distance are evergreen trees and bushes, in front of them are traces of other paths visible in the moss and grasses.

My limited palette may have a natural balance, it is hard to get really dark values with these three colours without making a mess of my painting. So I stopped before that could happen and decided to suggest a bit more than I did in my latest paintings.

I really enjoyed working on this painting and the lessons I learned will be used to improve the next ones.

More information (colours used, size, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

A wider view - Kalmthoutse Heide

This scene attracted my attention the moment we were walking on top of the hill and looking towards the bend in the path we were following. I asked my husband Peter to take a reference picture for me, as he is a bit taller than I am and could get a wider view.
As we walked towards the bend in the path I took another reference picture, which I used for the charcoal drawing I have already posted.
At this point the sand path is very broad and filled with footsteps of the people who walked there before us. Around the bend the path is more narrow, between the hills and dunes that give this part of the area its name: Vossenbergen (Fox mountains).

This was springtime, the grasses and mosses are green already, a nice bright colour. 
As the area is sandy, there are mostly evergreen pine trees and heather bushes. These heather bushes are not just brown, their colour has more than a hint of violet. In a few weeks they will be green too.
Our walk started under a bright blue sky but as time passed, some clouds appeared. 

Again I have tried to show the beauty of this Natural Reserve in my painting. 
I am not the first painter that is attracted by this area and I hope I will not be the last.

More information about this watercolour painting (size, materials used, etc) and the other paintings I made inspired by this Natural reserve can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Testing my new Tinted Charcoal pencils

A charcoal drawing can be a bit too much black (and white) when you want to draw a landscape. So I have been experimenting with techniques to introduce some colour to a charcoal drawing. I was really happy with the results I got using a watercolour underpainting on watercolour paper but sometimes that is not what I am looking for.
Then, browsing on the internet I found Tinted Charcoal pencils. In the instruction videos they are used for the whole drawing, but I just want to add them to my charcoal. 
I decided to give these pencils a try to see how they can be used in my artwork.

This is the result of my first attempt: the scene on the Kalmthoutse Heide was back-lit, so the silhouettes are strong and dark, perfect for a charcoal drawing. I added the colours of the grasses on the left with my pencils, and very little pine-green in the tree. So most of the drawing is made with my charcoal stick and I added the colours later.
Working with these pencils is different than working with a stick of charcoal, the marks can be blurred with my fingers, but not so easily as the charcoal. Of course that is because they are pencils and I just have to get used to them. I have got the tin with all 24 colours, so I have plenty of opportunities to experiment with my new pencils.

More information about this charcoal drawing and all the watercolour paintings I made inspired by the Kalmthoutse Heide can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Ssssh - bird sanctuary!

One of my favourite places to go for a hike is the Kalmthoutse Heide. This  Natural Reserve is situated partly in The Netherlands, partly in Belgium and the management is shared by several organisations.
The Kalmthoutse Heide is very close to the place we live so it is easy to go for a walk when the weather turns out to be nice. There are many signposted walks and I think we have explored them all by now. Of course we can walk there all seasons and see the changes. We also started to walk the pathways anti-clockwise for a change in perspective.

Some areas are closed for public during the breeding season. The reference picture for this painting was taken looking into one of those areas while I was standing behind the fence. The paths that can be seen are forbidden to walk on from March until July.
The birds were not always to be seen, but they made their presence very clear on this warm spring day.

The heather plants are still brown, many of the grasses are dry and yellow, but green moss and grass is showing itself already.
Most of the trees and bushes have started to unfold their leaves, this pine tree is having fresh green needles amongst the older ones.
The trees and bushes in the background are all pine trees, this part of the Kalmthoutse Heide is sandy and relatively dry.

I have tried to paint the beginning of springtime and I hope I have succeeded.
For this painting I have been ignoring my ready-made greens and mixed the colours I wanted using blue, yellow and some sienna or violet for the shadow parts.
This is a nice challenge for me because not all 'blue' and 'yellow' mixtures make a nice, transparent green. But still, despite the challenge part, I really am happy with the mixtures I have now and think the painting results are better than with the mixtures I get using the ready-made sap green and other greens.

More information about this painting and the ones I have made during the past years inspired by the Kalmthoutse Heide can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Heather in bloom - Kalmthoutse Heide

Last september the heather was in bloom and the weather was nice, so we went for a walk in the "Kalmthoutse Heide". This is a natural reserve overlapping the border between The Netherlands and Belgium.
That place is a favourite of mine and I have already painted many parts of it. This one, with the blooming heather, is special to me, for we do not always get the opportunity to see that.

More information about this watercolour (size, colours used, etc ) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr