Mushroom - if I only knew which one this is....

We are having a nice summer here, not as hot as last year and some days, even weeks with rain to keep our nature hydrated.
Last weekend we went for some signposted walks near the Visitors Centre in Oisterwijk (Netherlands) and made some nice pictures while we were walking. Those will be used as reference pictures later.

Near the entrance of the Visitors Centre were some logs of dead wood, nor even the bark was left on it, so I have no idea what trees these used to be. Growing from one of these logs there was  a nice group of mushrooms, white, light yellow and a bit of orange. (I have not been able to find the name of the mushrooms) I did make some reference pictures and decided to paint these in my 'white on black' technique, with the use of some watercolour pencils for the details that don't want to be painted.

Of course that needs to be explained: the black paper I am using is not watercolour paper, it absorbs a lot of water and paint before the white stands out. This really takes five or more layers. The log of dead wood that provides the food for the mushroom is very dark and does not need so many layers of paint, but the few details of the log I did want to show would 'sink into the paper' if I used my paint for them. So here is where my pencils come into the process and the details are there where I want them to be.

I really like the results I get with this technique. At first, I only mixed gouache and watercolour, but the pencils really add that something I missed in some of my first 'white on black' paintings.

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

On the banks of the lake - Oisterwijk

A few weeks ago, during a nice warm sunny day, my husband Peter and me went for some signposted walks in our beautiful nature. 
The first stop we made was in Oisterwijk, at the Information Centre of the Natural Reserve which is the beginning point of several nice signposted walks.

This time we chose a walk of 3,5 kilometres passing by three fens or forest lakes. The biggest of these three is called 'Kolkven' and on the banks of that fen we made some pictures.
The sun was shining brightly and some of the pictures were very back lit, some other had the 'flare' that often appears on pictures when the sun is reflected in the water.

The sun is just left of the camera on the reference picture for this painting, but I had to 'correct' for the flares and reflections of the sun. In other words, I used my artistic licence here to paint the sky and its reflection in the water of the 'Kolkven'.

The seed fluff of the reeds did stand out nicely against the background of the distant trees and their reflection in the water, the reeds themselves were partly back lit but the light colours were showing at the edges of the plants.
The few reeds growing higher than the rest of the plant and appearing above the background trees completed the composition.

As this is the end of winter, there are mostly dark colours in the vegetation, with the exception of the yellows of the reeds and the light colours of the seed fluff.

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