Branches in the wind

 

During my painting vacation I have worked as much as possible and that means that sometimes I used a spare hour for a charcoal drawing. This drawing was inspired by a question our teacher and coach Ad van Aart asked me. In my previous work there is a movement as if there was a lot of wind and so I was asked to do a charcoal drawing of wind in the branches.

Only branches in the wind, so that is what I put on the paper. Some loose twigs suggest a lot of wind, almost storm (but not yet).

We decided that the connection to the tree trunk had to be visible to make sure which side of the drawing had to be 'up'. 

Making this drawing was fun and the result is what I hoped for.

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

If you are interested in my original artwork, please contact me.

Branches - made during a workshop session

 

The drawing society 'Pictura' is 250 years now and that means there are many events this year. Of course I am not a member of such a society (I never visited an Art Academy) but there are workshop lessons for amateurs this summer. During those lessons we can learn to work with materials that are new or work on subjects that are unfamiliar.

The first day was all about drawing the old trees in the garden of the 'Dordrechts Museum' using inks, water-soluble pigments and crayons. I learned a lot about using materials that are new to me, the teacher was very helpful and the instructions were good. 

We were allowed to follow our own inspiration, so I tried the water-soluble earth pigments (a green earth and a red earth) combined with two inks. All using water and a brush to apply these mediums on watercolour paper.

Looking at the results, we (the teacher and me) decided not to add anything else, besides, the time was running out.

Of course this is not the only work I made during this session, the other work(s) will be shown in a separate blog post.

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

Branch patterns

 

This is the last work I made during our painting week, still using an abstract background and painting on top of that. Our teacher Ad van Aart asked me to paint only branches on a background, in a way that the trees would not be in the painting - going as abstract as possible for me after this week.

This time I chose a blue background, simply because the other colour choices did not seem 'right'. The branches had to have a contrasting colour and yellow or orange do limit the choices in contrasting colours very much - only a very dark blue or brown are options on such a background. Using a blue background I could still chose brown, but also a dark red or violet and even a dark green.

For this painting I decided to use another earth colour with a violet shade that could be light when using a lot of water or very dark and opaque with just a little water to paint easier.

Because the trees were to be out of sight I painted large branches coming in from all directions and added smaller branches - using a smaller brush - to the composition of the large ones. While at work I decided to use one of the lighter spots of the background to show a glimpse of that background - or sky - and make the branch pattern a little less dense around it.

While painting I have used other line patterns for my branches than I used in the 'Trees in the foreground' paintings (which have sharp angles), the branches in this painting have rounded curves and angles.  Filling the whole paper like this was a lot of work, in the end it became almost meditative and I enjoyed working like this very much.

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

Heat

 

The August challenge of Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken was 'heat' and we have had a lot of that.

Of course I had to find a way to paint that and during the week of my painting vacation I did see leaves falling from the trees and bushes, as if it were already autumn.

The inspiration was there, now I only had to paint it. 

The monochromatic indigo watercolour of a branch I made in my vacation week had the image I wanted, but it was not 'hot' enough, so I decided to make a fiery red version using a red and two orange shades.

The leaves are almost shaped like flames and I added some falling leaves to emphasize the effects of the hot and dry weather we were having these past weeks.

The information about the paper and paints I have used, the size of the painting and the availability can be found in the link at the 'Galerie' page of my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com

Blackthorn in autumn

Last autumn we walked by a large bush of blackthorn, the branches almost falling down over the slope of the hill where our path was dug out. For several meters there were branches, berries and leaves and I could not really decide which view was the best, so I made a lot of reference pictures.

These past months I think about composition before I even start to make the sketch I will use for my reference to paint from and I compared the pictures I made to pick the branch that attracted me most. This one was hanging down in a nice curve and I could use the background to suggest the other branches and leaves that were in the vicinity of my chosen branch.
The grey background was inspired by the rocky slope of the hill where this scene can be found (near Reifferscheid, in Germany).

I have studied a step-by-step guide for a botanical painting of a blackthorn and looked at the colours used for reference. This was not very elaborate for a step-by-step guide, but I only needed to know a few things.
The blue of the berries was my biggest concern, but now I knew to start with Cobalt Blue, a colour I do not often choose. The berries were given their colour, shadows were suggested and I left it to dry to get an overall look of the painting.  
I decided that a second layer of colour would be too much, I also wanted to paint the atmosphere of an autumnal walk.

The details about paper, paint, size and availability of this painting can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

 

View from the Churchyard - Reifferscheid

Last October we were for a short vacation in the small German village of Reifferscheid, in the Eiffel region. On the day of our arrival we went for a walk around the high part of the village, mostly to stretch our legs a little after the drive from home. The high part of the village is the ancient castle area, surrounded by walls and on a high hilltop. Our vacation home was close to the old gate, a few minutes walking brought us to the other end where the white church was. 
As it was autumn, the days were short and our walk was made at the hour of sunset. The light was beautiful and I really enjoyed being outside at that moment. We made a lot of pictures and I started painting that same evening after dinner.
The reference pictures I made from the church and churchyard had to wait a little longer, but today I wanted to paint this view.

I was inspired by the shadows on the building, the almost random placement of the graves and the view on the hills opposite the village, all in that wonderful evening light.
Painting all that was a bit of a challenge for me, especially the graveyard with the graves. Because there were so many shadows the shapes were to be guessed in some cases, only the difference in colour made the gravestones stand out against one another.
I have (again) chosen to suggest most of the shapes of the stones, some graves and the plants between them.

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

The groceries!

The June challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' (the amateur art association of which I am a member) is Father(s day) and that meant some thinking for me.
Painting or drawing people is not what I really want to do so I had to think of something else. Animals are not my best subject either, but I am a bit more confident about my skills with that.

As it is springtime now, there are lots of father birds having to feed their young or a breeding mother bird so that was to be my subject for the challenge.
The scene is made up with a breeding mother bird and the father bird bringing in a nice fat caterpillar or something she would like to eat.

The whole scene is imaginary, I have used a photo reference for the silhouette of the father bird and I have given the birds the colours I like. The mother in brown shades to be camouflaged in her nest and the father has some violet, my favourite colour.
I emphasized the branches and green of the tree they chose for their home not as much as the birds, because they are my subject and I wanted them to stand out a bit.

Again I have used a challenge to get 'out of my comfort zone', and even though I did not 'get out' far, I did have some thinking to do here and I had to find a reference for the bird before I had the confidence to draw it. 

More information about this small drawing (paper and colours used, contact information, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Our chestnut tree in winter - charcoal drawing

In front of our house is a small chestnut tree. It came as a just budded little tree and is now almost eighteen years old. The last few years we have lots of flowers in springtime and chestnuts in autumn.
From my kitchen window I am watching the leaf buds grow thicker in springtime, and I cannot wait for the leaves to sprout.
This year I am trying to capture that process in drawings and paintings and I have started now, in winter. The leaf buds are already visible when the autumn leaves have fallen off and I have chosen a nice angle to work from with the help of my camera of course.

The days are grey, a cold wind blows and sometimes a chilly drizzle falls.
To show that feeling in a painting is not easy, so I chose to make a charcoal drawing. I started with the outlines of the branches and wiped the charcoal to the right side of my paper as I was trying to give the illusion of wind and movement. The branches were filled in with some dark colours from my box of Tinted Charcoal Pencils and I think the feeling of winter in The Netherlands was captured on my paper.

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

Weeping ash - my first charcoal drawing

I like the idea of trying something new, especially when it's about my art.
This time it's charcoal drawing, something I don't remember having done before.
Looking for a subject I found a weeping ash in a courtyard. The branches were pruned down last year but the tree was doing all the better (I was told). As a result of that work all the curves that had grown in the branches in the previous years were visible. 
Those forms really can be intriguing and I decided to select a nice one to draw. 
After a first sketch in my sketchbook I started to work with charcoal on a large sheet of paper. While drawing I decided to add some of the leaves that were visible on the tree. After adding some background I was realyy happy with the result.
It was a nice change to be working this way and I will certainly do more charcoal drawings in the (near) future.

More information about this work (size, material) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr