Reflections - a different mood

 

In my previous post I have introduced this landscape on the shore of the 'Veerse Meer' with the line of poplar trees reflected in the calm waters of the lake. I also wrote that I would paint this scene again, changing the composition to the one that is in the reference picture. 

This means that I have placed the horizon in the middle of the composition, which is a bit against the rules, and I have changed the colour scheme.

For this painting I have given the poplar trees the green colour they have later in spring. My first painting shows the red-brown shade of the fresh leaves before they turn green a few weeks later. Instead of the grey-blue shade of the clouds and their reflections in the water that I used in my first painting I have used Indigo which is a dark blue shade for this one. 

Both changes create a different mood to the painting and that is what I wanted to achieve.

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

Reflections

 

Last May we visited the 'Veerse Meer' and made a nice walk through a woodland area with mostly poplars on the shore of the lake. We (my husband and me) both made lots of pictures as the dark clouds that were reflected in the water of the lake inspired us both. 

At some point we could access a long landing stage, pointing out into the lake. From the end of that landing stage my husband - who had the camera and could zoom in or out at will - made pictures of the tree line that was reflected in the water. As there was almost no wind, the reflection was as good as perfect. This picture is perfect to be used for a painting, I just had to find the time.

For my composition I have changed the place of the horizon, as the picture has the horizon halfway. That composition will be painted also, but I wanted to start with this one. I used the picture for a sketch and worked after that to make my painting, trying to remember the right colours as good as possible.

The reflected clouds are much darker than the ones in the sky, so I could change the mood of the painting with the modification I made in the composition. Poplar trees have red-brown spring colours so I painted the trees mostly red-brown, which gives a nice contrast with the blue-grey shades of the clouds and their reflections in the water. 

Looking back at the picture the trees were already mostly green with parts of the red-brown shades of fresh leaves, so my memory played me some tricks. The brown-red colours were what I noticed most during the walk, so that shade seemed to be the right one while working from a black and white line sketch. Another lesson learned! The painting result only benefits from this because a blue and green painting would not have the mood I wanted to paint.

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

Dark clouds over the 'Veerse Meer'

 Last week we had a very short vacation in our province of Zeeland, not very far from our home. We had booked a vacation home close to the 'Veerse Meer' and the first day we went for a walk starting from the small town of Kortgene along the shoreline of the lake.

The walk was passing through a woodland area with lots of poplars and bushes and herbs on the forest floor. From time to time we could reach the shore of the lake and I made several (reference) pictures of the opposite side of the lake. Some of these pictures had a really dark cloud and its reflection in the lake (it would start to rain a little later) and I chose the best of these for a charcoal drawing as I had brought my drawing materials with me.

There are more pictures that need to be painted in watercolour, the colours of the sky, the water and the land were beautiful but the value contrast was not enough to make a good charcoal drawing.

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