Blossoms in bud - a pencil drawing

 

Walking home after having done some shopping I saw these small buds on a bush by the footpath. Of course I made some reference pictures for a drawing.

These white blossoms or buds look best on a black paper and I chose medium size for this branch.

Using my new Drawing pencils I made this work. These pencils work great and I am still exploring the possibilities of layering and mixing colours and saturating the colours when I don't need mixing - like with the white petals.

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.

Tulips - a pencil drawing

 

For the prompt 'Pink' in the Sketch A Day app I had to think a little, but looking at the tulips on my table I decided I just had to make them change colour a bit for my drawing. 

On black paper I made some simplified tulips using pink for the petals and green for the stems and leaves. The petals were treated with a bit of water and after that had dried a second layer of colour was added. 

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 Tumbr blog.

Peacock - a pencil drawing

 

A few days ago the prompt in the Sketch A Day app was 'Peacock' and after looking for some references I decided to draw the head and neck of a peacock with my watercolour pencils on a black background.

As I did before, after the first layer of pencil I used a bit of water to 'awaken' the colours and after that had dried I added another pencil layer for depth.

I still have the idea that I am not really good at drawing animals, but with a reference for the proportions and overall shape I get nice results. 

My to-do list for the coming years is about getting more practice and building confidence.

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.

Eucalyptus - a pencil drawing

 

My first drawing in the year 2026!

The prompt 'fresh' in the Sketch A Day app had some photo inspiration with it and I picked the Eucalyptus branch to be my subject. Mostly because I have wanted to draw one of these branches for a long time but never had the opportunity. 

In a floral arrangement I got for Christmas was a small branch and I used that one as my reference.

My plan was to draw the leaves only and the stem would be suggested by the shapes of the leaves. This works very well with this branch.

After my first layer of pencil I looked at the result and decided to stop drawing. The black of the paper is still visible and that adds to the atmosphere I wanted to achieve. 

The 'experiments' in this drawing gave me the results I hoped for.

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.

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 

Painting mushrooms!

Somehow I always liked mushrooms, not only the ones that can be cooked with. So it's not really a strange thing that I started painting them as well.
These ones were growing a few years ago in the Sauerland (Germany) and my husband Peter made some nice pictures of them - and others that were standing close by.
In autumn the ground in a forest even more littered with branches, leaves and moss than in the other seasons, so I had to simplify that a bit.
For this painting I chose to work on a very heavy 'all black' paper using white gouache and some colours of watercolour paint. 
This technique worked really well for the white stems of the fly amanitas (Amanita muscaria) and the spots on the hoods, better than I would have managed with watercolour on white paper.
Making a good photo of a painting like this proves to be aquite a challenge. Using flashlight makes the background grey, sunlight does the same and when it's really overcast outside you can't see the painting. My daughter Mariska waited for the right moment and did capture my painting well!

More information about this paiting can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr