Dead tree - watercolour and pencils

 

More than a week ago my husband and me were on a very short trip to our Natural Reserve 'De Veluwe' and we started with a morning walk in the  Deelerwoud. After the rain had (not completely) stopped we had a great walk with beautiful views. We even saw some deer that were too fast to be photographed but we do have the memory.

Not far from the starting point of our walk we saw a really big dead tree, still standing as if nothing was wrong. Because there was no bark left we could not determine what tree it was, but it probably was an oak tree - looking at the shape makes that very plausible.

My husband had already made the picture before I could ask him and of course I wanted to paint that tree. And that is exactly what I did not do.

Because the tree was lighter in colour than most of the background I would have to paint around it and so I decided (also inspired by our current climate crisis) that I would paint around the shape of the tree and leave that negative shape as blank as possible.  I could either leave it untouched or add some pencil marks if the painting 'asked for it'.

After the painting was done I decided that the pencil marks would add to the result so I used three colours of my water soluble pencils to accentuate the shape of the tree and the branches. The tree still looks very much like a negative presence and that is what I wanted it to be.

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

Through the Archway

There are lots and lots of challenges for paintings and drawings each month and to most of them I do not respond. Some just don't inspire me at all and I simply do not have enough painting time to respond to all the challenges that might be good to try because I will be learning something new while painting.
This painting is a response to the May challenge of one of the Watercolour groups I have joined on Facebook; 'Through the Archway'.
The pictures that are given for inspiration are mostly architecture and one beautiful forest scene. I have waited to paint this, because I did not have much time until now.

The reference picture was made by me or my husband during a short vacation a few years ago and I still had kept it for later use. This is a perfect 'through the archway' with all the tall trees and the branches hanging over the path.
As this is an autumn scene, the trees have lost most of their leaves and the colours that are left are shades of yellow and orange. The forest floor was remarkably green with grasses, I remember there was a lot of wind at times to blow away the fallen leaves.

Painting this scene was not difficult for me, I only had to remember to paint the trees behind some of the bushes. That means not painting the trees first, but adding the dark browns of the tree trunks after I had given the bushes their green, yellow and orange colours.

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

Rain is coming!

Autumn in The Netherlands can be a wet season. Wind and rain are normal these days and we usually take either raincoats or umbrellas with us when we go outside.
This was one of those days. We had a family reunion in the old harbor town of Elburg, in the northern part of the Veluwe. The old town is a protected area and outside the old city walls the landscape is rural. On one side is what remains of the once dangerous 'Zuiderzee', the Veluwemeer, a small lake between the 'old' and the 'new' land.

This somewhat overcast view attracted my attention so I made some quick reference pictures before it actually started to rain again. 

It may be autumn yet, not all trees have lost their green colours. There is a lot of yellow and brown visible already, promising more fantastic autumnal splendor to look forward to.

For this watercolour painting I decided to use a quarter of a sheet of paper and a limited palette of blues, yellows and a brown colour. I am getting used to mixing my shades of green from blue and yellow paints and I am more and more satisfied with the results of these mixtures. I just have to keep in mind that I want to use transparent blues and yellows for this and my greens will be nice and transparent too.

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

On the moors

When we visited a small part of the Veluwe called the Renderklippen last autumn, we made quite a few pictures. I already used a lot of them to paint from and this time I used two pictures my daughter Mariska made. 
We were standing relatively high on top of the moraine and she made a series of pictures to create a panoramic view of the area. 
From that panoramic view I chose my composition.
This scene shows a bit of the path over the moraine and through the field. As it was a foggy day, the moors and the trees in the distance are hazy, which adds to the feeling you get when walking in a landscape shaped in the last Ice Age.

More information about this painting can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.co.nr 

Mushrooms on a tree trunk

Autumn is the time of the mushroom, so on our short trip to the National Reserve of the Veluwe my daughter collected mushrooms - with her camera.
She made lots of pictures of beautiful mushrooms but this one wanted to be painted first.
The little mushrooms grow out of a tree trunk on a spot without bark. As I wanted to draw the attention to the mushrooms, I did not paint all the details of the wood and the resin but just hinted at the colours of the mushroom's background. I made use of masking fluid to keep the shapes of the mushrooms as I had been drawing them on my paper and after removing the mask I painted the details of the mushrooms.
Unfortunately it is not easy to determine the species of mushroom I painted...

More information about this painting (colours used, size, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.co.nr 

Another snowscape - still the Veluwe

My inspiration still works overtime and the fact that I recently bought a book about Winterlandscape painting in the nineteenth century in The Netherlands really helps me find new ways to paint a landscape with trees.
So, inspired by the old masters I transformed an autumnal landscape into a snowscape again, now in warmer colours. The landscape is still found in a small part of our National Reserve The Veluwe; the Renderklippen.
The reference photo was made by my husband Peter.
More information about this watercolour (colours used, size, etc.) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr

Veluwe - now as a snowscape

I am still experimenting with the possibilities of my new set of Twilight Colours.
This time - inspired by all the snowscapes that are appearing on fb this time of the year - I decided to transform an autumn landscape into a snowscape. In fact that is not so very difficult; you just need another set of colours, a bit of salt and some patience.
My first plan was to make the ground dark with a few white patches and so I started out making the sky, bushes , trees and the falling snow and left the painting to dry completely. When I stepped back I decided to change that plan and make the ground white with a few dark patches and some shadows. It really didn't need much more than a few carefully placed touches.

As reference  I used a picture my husband Peter made for me when we were walking in the Renderklippen (the Veluwe) last October.

More information about this painting (size, colours used, etc.) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr 

That one little red bush

Autumn colours do not come at all trees and bushes at the same time. 
So here all was still in shades of green exept that one little bush which had coloured to a fiery red and really stood out.
I decided it deserved to be painted, so my daughter Mariska made some reference pictures for me. The green foliage was still there, but it already had a lot of thin spots. 
So I decided to make a charcoal drawing, that material makes it easier to show that air through the branches. And a Cadmium Red pastel pencil for the brave little bush.

More information about this drawing (size etc.) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr 

In the parking lot at night

This is not just any parking lot - it's the parking lot at our hotel on the Veluwe, last October. By day it was just a parking lot with trees and bushes surrounding it, but at night in the light of the lanterns those birch trees really did catch our attention.
So the first evening I was standing next to my daughter holding equipment while she was making lots of beautiful pictures. One of those pictures had not only the trees but also a bush in autumn colours and I decided to paint that one.

This is a scene that asks for white gouache on a black background. For the colours I just mixed in some watercolour paint, that works very well for me.
More information about this painting (size, colour and paints used etc.) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr 

At the prehistoric burial mounds

Our beautiful National Reserve 'De Veluwe' has been the inspiration of my latest paintings. It is not over yet!
As I mentioned before we were in the vicinity of a moraine, a leftover from the last Ice Age. A lot of the low hills in the area are part of that moraine, but this scene is a bit different. 
The area of the Renderklippen also contains some prehistorical burial mounds. 
They are 4000 to 5000 years old and still visible in the landscape, situated beautifully on the edge of a small moor. The foggy weather made the site even more mysterious.

The reference photo was made for me by my husband Peter.
More information about this watercolour (size, colours and paper used) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr 

When the fog lifts....

The first time we saw this landscape it was foggy weather. So when the fog lifted after a few days we could see much more of the autumn colours this part of the Veluwe has to offer. And we all had a very pleasant surprise!
The sky was still cloudy, but opening up with bright red/orange and patches of blue.
The trees were changing from green to a reddish brown and the heather lost their flowers but still had a lot of violet to be seen.
As I explained earlier, we were in a moraine so the landscape is not as flat as the rest of The Netherlands. We were walking on the top of the hills and looking at the scene below us when my daughter Mariska made the reference photo I used for this painting.

More information about this painting (size, colours used) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr 

Foggy weather on the moors

The fog I painted before lasted a few days, so here is another watercolour inspired by that special atmosphere you get in that kind of weather.
We were walking in a small part of the Veluwe called Renderklippen, a moraine left over from the last Ice age. There is a lot of variation in that landscape, I already painted the woodlands, now you can see the moors. They are all small patches, but to me that makes it all the more attractive for a walk - in an hour or two you can visit various landscapes!
Of course when there is someone with a camera in your company, the walk tends to last longer - but we all see much more of the landscape we are exploring.
The reference photo for this painting was taken by my daughter Mariska.

More information (size, colours used) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr 

A walk in the woods

A walk in the woods can be very refreshing - if only because of the fresh air and the exercise involved. We usually take at least one camera with us, so we return with lots of pictures and I am inspired to start painting as soon as possible.
Not all scenes are fit to be painted in watercolour, so this one has become a charcoal drawing.
Those nice tall trees are standing in 'de Renderklippen' which is a part of our National Reserve de Veluwe. We had some nice walks there and I got inspiration for a few more watercolour paintings!

More information can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr 

A foggy day

Sometimes foggy weather is sometimes nice, especially when the landscape around you gets a bit mysterious. A bit of fog in a forest gives just that touch of mystery to inspire a watercolourist - like me.
This forest is in the Netherlands, it's a part of the National Parc of the Veluwe. We were here for a short vacation and were really lucky with the weather. A bit of fog, not too much and the temperatures were nice for the time of the year too. So more than one walk in the surroundings was made and enjoyed.
We took a lot of pictures - as it was a bit too damp to stand still and try to sketch - so after this one there are more paintings waiting to be made.

More information can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr