Moselle Valley, walking - a charcoal drawing

 

Last Autumn we revisited the Moselle Valley and made some nice walks. This scene is from the 'Zitronenkrämerkreuz' walk starting in Ensch.

At some point we had to cross a small stream using a bridge that had seen better times. All was safe but we were extra careful.

I made pictures of the stairway/path back up the other bank of the stream to use as references for a drawing or painting.

Today I made that drawing, using Willow Charcoal end some of my Tinted charcoal pencils on a tinted paper.

The result is what I hoped for. Maybe I will use this reference picture another time, but for now I am happy with this result.

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 Flickr account.

View on the Moselle Valley - watercolour painting

 

The prompt 'Landscape' in the Sketch a Day app was not as easy as it seems because... which landscape will I paint and how will I show it?

I decided on a view of which I had made a reference picture and used that reference for a charcoal drawing. A watercolour painting would be the first painting from that picture.

Because the picture was made just before or just after sunset, the colours were not so very bright. Painting the colours as they are in the reference would mean a lot of 'almost black' with shades of brown and a hint of green. That is not easy to paint, these shades are too full of pigment to give a nice result.  In the reference the bushes and trees in the foreground can still be distinguished, the painting that foreground would become a dark blur.

So for this painting I did bring back the 'daylight colours' a bit, but a bit muted because of the fading light.

The small town of mostly white buildings on the riverside can still be seen and that is what I hoped to achieve.

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.

Looking far

 

A few weeks ago, as we drove close to our vacation home in the Moselle valley we were surprised by the Autumn colours of the vineyards. Last spring all was still bare, only a few leaves visible, now a warm yellow was the dominant colour.

We stopped - in a safe spot- for some pictures and looking through these pictures I really did like this scene, although I feared that a painting would not really do justice to the great view.

So I had to add something unexpected and the binoculars were a very logical choice. This is mostly because looking far is 'ver kijken' and binoculars is 'verrekijker' in Dutch.

The binoculars are antique ones, and I changed the angle (on Internet they are pictured from the front) so they could hang from the nail.

This was fun!

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.

View over the Moselle valley - a charcoal drawing

 

After our vacation in April we wanted to see the Moselle valley in Autumn as well, so we returned for another short vacation to the same location.

The first evening we went for a short walk after being in the car for hours. Just before sunset we made some nice pictures of the views over the Moselle valley from a high point near our vacation home.

I decided to do a charcoal drawing of the view as the clouds were nice and dark and the hills were even darker. 

For this work I had to do two layers, which means I had to use fixative first before I could continue darkening the foreground. This is a method that I am not very much used to, but it really helps getting that nice dark foreground.

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

Fünfseenblick - panorama view

 

Last week we were on a short vacation in the Moselle Valley, in a vacation parc near Leiwen. 

On our last full day there my husband and me went to the 'Fünfseenblick' point to see a great view over the Moselle Valley. The river meanders a lot and from the lookout tower we could see a lot of river and a lot of river bends.

I did not climb to the top (I had to come down in a dignified manner too) but from halfway up I could make a panorama picture as reference for a watercolour painting. 

The painting was made that same afternoon, making the best of the shadow of the cottage and painting outdoors. Indoors was getting warm as the sun was shining brightly and the curtains did not help much to keep the cottage cool.

The result is even better than I hoped to achieve in a vacation home and I am really happy with this painting.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this work, its availability and my contact information are in my Tumblr blog.

If you are interested in my original artwork, please contact me.

Sonnenberg - evening

 

Last week we were in a vacation home in Sonnenberg, Leiwen, Germany and enjoyed some quality time with our children and grandchildren (our daughters-in-law are counted amongst children).

Of course we had time for some nice walks and the first evening we went for a walk close to the vacation parc. Returning from that walk we had a nice view over the Moselle valley, but as we were a little down the hill (Sonnenberg is a hilltop) the valley was out of sight.

The sun was setting and the colours of the sky were very nice so my husband made a picture using the camera (my phone does not 'zoom in' enough, the camera is better for that) as my reference.

For the painting I simplified the view a little, the people were left out and some other stuff as well. I don't think a bin would have improved my composition to give an example of what was left out.

Getting the painting right was a bit of a problem. For the composition I have added some structure to the very distant hilltops and the trees may be a bit too dark. The danger of overworking the painting was very close so I stopped and this is the result.

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