Roadside flowers, a white on red drawing

 

This is my last work for the May challenge of Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken about the colour red. On a watercolour paper I made a background using two shades of red, let that dry and made a drawing on it inspired by the roadside flowers I can see when I am driving home from work.

This time I used Drawing Pencils, so the work is sprayed with fixative.

The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this work and - if you are interested in my original artwork - my contact information can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Kasteelpark van Brasschaat - a Conté drawing

 

The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about the colour red. After I had painted poppies for my first submission I wanted to do something with red paper as my background.

From three shades of red (all in a set with a lot of colours) I picked the darkest one and made a Conté drawing of a landscape. Because of the red background I limited the palette for my drawing.

In fact this is in a parc area where my husband and me went for a walk, the Kasteelpark Brasschaat which is a public place now and a great place for a walk. 

The information about the materials I have used, the size and avaiability of this work and - if you are interested in my original artwork - my contact information can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Poppies in the roadside

 

The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about the colour red. We are challenged to work with red. That may be a composition in shades of red or just a single detail in red and all that is between these extremes.

Driving to my work in the morning and back home in the afternoon I can see the roadsides full of poppies and other flowers so that was my inspiration for this work.

First I made a background in two shades of green and took away some patches of colour using a bit of tissue paper.

After that had dried I painted the poppy flowers using three shades of red. Using the greens from the background I painted stems and leaves for the poppies and the whit patches that represent some white flowers. The brightest white flowers have yellow hearts.

The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this work and - if you are interested in  my original artworks - my contact information can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

'La vie en rose' - for a challenge

 

This month the challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is 'with the wind' and is inspired by the National Windmill days which is usually held in May.

The theme 'With the wind' or 'The wind behind' made me think of windmills of course but also 'La vie en rose' or life in pink (moods).

So I selected a nice pink sheet of tinted cardboard and made a drawing of a modern windmill that does have some wind to make it turn. To show that movement, charcoal is the easiest material and I added some Tinted Charcoal for the landscape.

That landscape is inspired by the memories of our last trip to the Moselle region, where windmills were everywhere on the hilltops.

I did not try to be accurate, the angle between the windmill wings is not exactly what it should be, but the general idea can be understood and that is all that matters.

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

Common Broom

 

The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is "Hello Yellow", so we have to make something with the colour yellow. Last weekend, on the moorlands of the province Drenthe (The Netherlands) we saw the broom (Cytisus scoparius)  covered in flowers, so there I found my subject for the contribution to that challenge.

My husband made a nice reference picture for me and I made this watercolour painting, showing the flowers and only suggesting the rest of the bush. On a yellow background I made a light drawing of the flowers, added the greens of the bush and after all had dried, I painted the flowers, using two shades of yellow and hints of green for the petals and some brown for the stamens.

The result is what I hoped for.

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

Moving house - for a challenge

 

The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about moving house. May traditionally was the month to move house (I did not know that and I think I rarely did move house in May) so that's why we have this theme.

That theme is a bit out of my comfort zone, so first I thought of boxes - but within days after the challenge was announced paintings and drawings with boxes were submitted, so I had to think of something else.

This is a bit 'the story of my life' as I used a print of the map of The Netherlands to point the places where I lived and made small drawings of what happened there. Of course I did not draw everything, things should still be visible.

1 is Venlo, I was born there, but did not live there very long. My father got a job far away so we moved to Zwijndrecht, where we lived in three different homes (2, 3 and 4). I grew up there, played and went to school. 5 is Spijkenisse, another change because of my father's work. I got my diplomas for the secondary school and my professional training there. 6 is Hilversum, 7 and 8 are Amsterdam. There I moved for my own job. I married my husband and the children were born in home no. 8 as well and after that in got too small we moved to our first bought home (the others were rental) in Zaandam, no. 9. Finally, 10 is Papendrecht where we moved for my husband's job and we still live here. I discovered my passion for watercolour painting and drawing here.

That was not really much about my submission for the challenge, but a bit of information about me. Of course there is much more to tell 'about me' but I am a painter, not a novelist. So for this time you will have to do with what I wrote about moving house in my life.

As free as....

 

A few months ago we saw three storks in the sky while we were on the road to.. (that I do not remember exactly) As my husband was driving, I took the camera and made two reference pictures from the driving car before they were too far away.

The drawing is made for the May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' which has 'Animals in the lead' as its theme. I really had to think about that one, wait for inspiration to hit me.  And then I saw another May challenge, in a Facebook Group with  'Freedom' as its theme.  Also not one of my most favourite themes. But then it happened...

The proverb 'As free as a bird in the sky' gave me the inspiration I needed and I combined both themes in this work.

Using the reference pictures I made a new composition, enlarging some of the stork images and keeping some other small. This drawing is made with several types of pencil on a watercolour under painting, made up with two shades of blue in the hope to reproduce that very blue sky we had that day.

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

Enchanted Garden

The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien-Goed Bekeken' - our regional amateur art association is 'enchanting gardens' which I changed to 'enchanted gardens'. To be more precise 'enchanted garden'.
My daughter has a lot of pictures of beautiful gardens and I asked her to send me some of the most enchanting ones. There was too much inspiration in there, but I decided almost immediately to paint the Museu Romântico (in Oporto) and its garden.

Of course I have changed some things, combined some pictures, added a very magical creature and after I was happy with my sketch I started my painting.
The size of the watercolour paper is not exactly the same as my sketchbook and something went off with the perspective while painting so I could throw it away or try to save it. 
First I tried to hide the problem behind some bushes, but in the end cropping the painting into a square was the best solution, and the perspective issue is not there anymore.

The information about the paper and paints I used, the size and availability are in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

'Dauwtrappen?' - or Treading dew?

The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about a memory of mine called 'Dauwtrappen' which can be translated by treading dew.
The custom was - and still is - to rise early on the morning of Ascension Day and walk in the fields and nature while the dew was still there. And be back in time for Church of course.
This year Ascension Day is almost the last day of the month so I have painted my contribution a bit earlier and I will submit it now it is finished.

I have made the scene a bit smaller than groups of people waling the roadsides or the fields and tried to include some dewdrops in my painting.
So I had to paint some grass, dewdrops and someone treading the dew, probably an insect, given the scale I have chosen.

I did study a step-by-step guide in a magazine before I started but the drops in that guide were much larger than mine so I had to adapt the tips and tricks that were given to the size of the painting I was making.

I started out with a drawing, masking the drops and painting the blades of grass. The drops were a bit small and they were not easy for me to paint, but I think I have made something that really gives the impression of dewdrops on the grass.

And then the insects on the blades of grass had to be introduced. In my garden there are a lot of ants, so I added some of these, using a fine line marker and a drop of water.

It took some time to decide what I wanted to paint and then I had to think of how I wanted to paint it, but I really am happy with the results.

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