Storm - a september challenge

September has begun and with that comes not only the end of the summer vacation for our schools (my husband is a teacher) but also the new challenge of Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken. In January I had decided that I would participate in every (monthly) challenge so this is my contribution for September.
The theme is 'Storm' and I had to think of something new. I have painted lots of stormy skies but I want to make something new for every challenge.

As I am still in the mood for leaves, fruits and flowers this is a combination of a stormy sky and a composition of leaves and some fruits of one of the sycamore trees (Acer pseudoplatanus) that are growing in a park area near our home.

The landscape is imaginary, in the sense that I have not really seen this, but the line of trees, the bushes and the field are something that really can be found in our landscape. The leaves and little 'helicopter' fruits that are blowing in the wind are a sight that can be seen here also - when the winds are strong enough.

This was fun again, painting an imaginary landscape combined with things I learned about composition during my painting vacation and I am really happy with the result.

Details about the materials I have used for this watercolour painting can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Medieval sheds - another summer storm scene

In my previous post I have painted a reconstruction of a Medieval barn that has been found somewhere in our country. More buildings have been rebuilt and are to be visited for the public and I have been sketching these sheds too. These are dated a few centuries earlier than the barn I have already painted,they are from the Early Middle Ages and the remains of these buildings have also been found in our country.

Again I have painted a cloudy sky, like an approaching storm and I have added some trees to the scene. The reconstruction sites also have trees, but these are not always near the buildings I have sketched. These reconstructed buildings have to be visited by a lot more people than originally lived there in the Middle Ages. 

So for my paintings I 'replace' the trees a bit.

The shed in the back is completely constructed from wood, which has obtained a nice grayish shade over time. The shed in front has a thatched roofing with a lot of mosses growing on top of that. 

The entrances of the sheds were not to be seen from the spot where I found a place to sit and sketch, but that did not really matter to me. I did like the view from that point so I sketched what I could see and painted this scene with the sketch as my reference.

I wanted to give this scene a rural (Medieval) atmosphere and I really like the result.

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

Chapel - a summer storm

Another Chapel painting inspired by the season and the weather we are having now in The Netherlands. Over the last few weeks we have had a lot of thunderstorms, heavy rains with (temporarily) flooding  and the view I have from my little studio inspired me to paint.

The little Chapel we saw on the top of a hill in Germany during our short vacation last October is a 'willing subject' for paintings like this. 
The weather and the colours that will appear in the landscape are my starting point and I create an imaginary landscape according to the atmosphere I want to depict. 
There always are a hilltop, a path and the Chapel, but everything else can and will be changed according to the needs of the painting I want to make.

This time there is a hill with some trees and bushes behind it and another hill further away in the background. Summer has arrived, so there are a lot of greens in the grass, combined with some dry areas where the grass turned to straw and I have added some brighter yellows for the flowers that have to be there.
The dark clouds also darken the landscape, only the flash of lightning makes the details visible - for a short time.

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

Chapel, stormy weather

When I was thinking of the possibilities of placing the little chapel in imaginary landscapes, this stormy weather was one of the things that came to my mind.
As I have written in a previous post some construction work was going on in my home so I have not been able to paint as often as I like, and it has taken me a few weeks to make all the paintings that appeared 'on my list' for this project. There is even more inspiration coming up now, so I am not finished yet.

The landscape resembles the 'misty' version, and this is very much like the real landscape the chapel is standing in. It is almost alone on a hilltop, visible from afar.

Maybe you have already noticed, there is always a light in my chapel, visible through the window and the open entrance. 
Of course the chapel must have been consecrated, so it is home to the presence of God and there is always a light inside to symbolise that. 
I have chosen to emphasise that in all the versions I have made - and will make.

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

Our chestnut tree; stormy weather in springtime - a charcoal drawing

This drawing is inspired on the view from my bathroom window, I can see the top of our chestnut tree when I am looking out of the little window.

The flowers from the chestnut tree are all gone now (the car parked under it does not have white sport any more) and there are lots of 'baby chestnuts' on the tree. In the next few weeks a lot of those little 'babies' will fall off too and only a few will grow out to be really big chestnuts that fall off in autumn.
The top of the tree is not 'full', there are lots of open spaces - for the birds to fly in - where the sky is still visible. The branches of the tree are visible too, maybe because the tree is not very old, only seventeen or eighteen years.

This was inspired on a very cloudy and dark evening, after sunset in the blue hour. We did have some evenings with thunderstorms in the past week and the sky was looking great with those clouds! The branches, leaves and 'baby chestnuts' are just a little more than silhouettes at that time of the day.
All these dark colours and silhouettes inspired me to make a charcoal drawing.

For this drawing I have not even made a reference picture. I have pictured the clouds from memory as they were that evening and I have been crossing the little corridor between my studio and the bathroom to take a look  at the tree several times while I was making my drawing. 

More information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Erasmus Bridge, Rotterdam - stormy weather

The reference picture for this painting was made a few years ago in Rotterdam. We had planned a boat trip, a short walk, a 'ride' with the river taxi and a dinner as a surprise for my mother, the occasion was Mother's Day.
The weather was stormy, so the walk to the departure of the boat trip - crossing the Erasmus Bridge - was quite a challenge! 
Once on the boat we made several pictures in the harbour area of Rotterdam and the Erasmus Bridge of course. That bridge is still beautifully white and looks great with a dark sky behind it.
Now, a few years later my mother requested a painting of that bridge for her home and I found this picture. So it is both a painting of a very special part of Rotterdam and a memory of a nice day together with the whole family.

For the painting I used only three colours and white for the highlights of the bridge and in the waves. Usually I do not use a ruler in a watercolour painting, for the tension cables of the bridge I made an exception. They really need to be straight!
I had some trouble finding the right 'green' for the river and the clouds but after some experiments I had found it. The water and clouds really can be green here, in the right weather conditions.

I am very happy that my mother likes the painting. So this one is not available..

More information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com