Norddeich, dark clouds - for a contest

 

When the new Revival Collection watercolours were announced, I got a bit greedy and bought as soon as possible the four colours I liked best. There are eight colours, so I could have done 'worse'. The colours were waiting a few weeks for me to gather courage to try them and here is my first painting using them.

The reason I painted this work is mostly because I wanted to submit it to the 2025 European Watercolour Contest that is restricted to the use of these special colours (and a graphite pencil for the initial sketch).

Finding out how to work with four new colours proved to be  a challenge but the result is really nice. The grey and ash colours are much lighter than I thought so I had to add the purple and orange for darkness. While doing so I was changing the atmosphere of the painting from a very dark one to a much lighter one, a result that was unexpected but not unwelcome.

The reference picture for this one was made last winter in Norddeich and I had used it before in a charcoal drawing setting the horizon a bit higher to show more of the water.

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

Wadden Sea, Norddeich

 

In the last week of December we were for a short vacation in Norden and Norddeich. We did have fog the first days, but our last day had clear weather. Lots of clouds and a very cold wind, but we could see much more of the town and the sea so we went for a walk twice that day.

In the morning we had high tide and the water was covering most of the sandbanks that can be used to cross the Wadden Sea at low tide. Of course you still need a guide when you wish to walk on the sand banks, but it should be possible.

During the morning we walked along the dyke from the 'dog beach' towards the harbour of Norddeich and back and during thar walk I made some pictures of the clouds and the sea.

The reference picture for this painting also shows the sand close to the dyke that was not submerged by the high tide - I made the reference picture just because of that. The dyke is so very straight and man-made that it was a nice change to see these sand banks with their irregular shapes.

The painting does not show all the people walking and enjoying the fresh air, but only the sea, the sands and part of the dyke with the 'dog beach'. We were standing on a higher dyke when I made the reference picture without many other walkers near and that feeling of being almost alone looking at the beauty of nature is what I wanted to paint. I think I succeeded and I am happy with the result.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this painting and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog. If you are interested in my original artwork, please contact me.

View on Dordrecht from Papendrecht (The Netherlands) made during a workshop session

 

The 'Teekengenootschap Pictura' from Dordrecht is 250 years old and that is celebrated with different activities. One of these activities is a series of workshops about drawing during the summer months. I have attended the first one and now also the last one. (the two in the middle were either booked full or inot possible to attend for me).

This one was all about the View on Dordrecht from my home village/town, Papendrecht. Following the Old Masters, we were to make a charcoal drawing of a view on Dordrecht preferably featuring the iconic buildings like the 'Grootshoofdspoort', the 'Grote Kerk' (big church) and less old, the railway bridge between Dordrecht and Zwijndrecht.

Because the weather forecast was not so great, we were on the terrain of the marina where we could go indoors if needed. So we did not have the 'classic' views of Cuyp, Willaerts and many more, but the view we had was still worth drawing.

We had a large sheet of paper and I folded it in two, so I could make two drawings on one sheet - and the smaller size did feel more comfortable to me as well.

The weather still was not bright, dark clouds were above us almost all the time and that can be seen in mu drawings. We were behind a row of bushes and these can also be seen in my drawings. The river was mostly behind these bushes and the view was limited, but I decided on two 'looking directions' that would give a view on Dordrecht.

The second, portrait format drawing is more a view on the 'Drierivierenpunt' (three rivers point) with the Water Tower of Zwijndrecht in view and the ferry from Papendrecht to Dordrecht waiting for its time to go.

Both drawings are to be seen in the Library of Papendrecht after September 26th in the exhibition of the works that were made during the workshop.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of these drawings and their availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Storm coming - two paintings, one storm

 

In the middle of our painting week a storm was expected in the evening. Thunder and rain were predicted and we sat at the dinner table when suddenly the wind started (what a relief from the warm and damp day) and dark clouds were coming in.

Most of us (painters) stepped away from the building to make pictures of these beautiful clouds and of course I did that as well.

The clouds were very dark but there were also bright spots of light, our pictures are really inspiring. In fact there was not much rain, just a few drops (there was more the next day) and even though we could hear thunder, the lightning was above the lowest clouds.

Of course I used my most impressive picture as my reference the next morning, painting on a large sheet of watercolour paper with a dark colour mixture that should result in dark grey or even black.

The painting is made with the picture as my guideline, but as our teacher and coach Ad van Aart always says, the picture may have inspired to make a painting, but the art happens on the paper. The painting almost painted itself, using my hands as a tool and I know that trying to correct what happened would have spoiled the whole image.

The result is even better than I hoped for.

After the first painting happened so easily and in very short time, I decided to try a second one, on a smaller sheet of paper, using a different kind of paint. This paint is made with two pigments and I hoped it would give me a nice stormy sky.

Unfortunately that did not go as I wished for. This paint works in one layer and adding more does not give me the possibility to make some areas darker. As I work on a tilted surface (both in my studio on a drawing table and on my field easel) the water that runs down the paper slowly takes the paint with it to the lowest point.

Finally I asked Ad van Aart for help, as this would never become a nice dark clouded sky and I was getting a bit tired. The suggestion he made was to let the painting dry and start drawing on it with charcoal or another drawing material. I decided on charcoal and started drawing in the dark parts of the clouds, using my fingers and a piece of eraser to get the result I wanted.

There was one last surprise, after using fixative for the charcoal, the blue pigment from the paint resurfaced a little and that gave just a bit more depth to the final result.

After all this I am really happy with both works, the watercolour that went so smoothly and the experiment that turned out great after I used charcoal.

The information about the materials I used in both works can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

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

 

Aekingerzand

 

Last weekend, during our (very) short trip to the Northern parts of our country, we walked in Natural Reserve 'Het Drents-Friese wold'. We passed by the 'Aekingerzand' and made several pictures. Of course we made a lot of pictures during that walk, but this charcoal drawing is made after a picture made at the moorland bordering the Aekingerzand.

The clouds were getting darker and the moorland is still brown in springtime - not many green leaves yet and the flowers will not be there before August. The horizon had some bushes and a lonely tree. This reference picture just asked for a charcoal drawing, adding a bit more darkness to the landscape to add to the atmosphere.

The drawing was made in our vacation home not long after the reference picture was made and I am really happy with the result.

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

Fagne de Poleur - 2

 

Last October, during our short vacation, my husband and I were in the Hautes Fagnes, Ardennes, Belgium, for a nice walk. The landscape is special for our part of the world and we enjoyed the walk very much. With us there were many others enjoying the great views of this Natural Reserve, but it was not difficult to make beautiful landscape pictures. In that landscape we all have to stay on the path, the peat moor is a dangerous place. Next to the boardwalks there is a lot of water, if you step down, you get wet and you never know how deep it really is. So pictures of the landscape will automatically have no other walkers.

The beginning of our route passed by the Fagne de Poleur and I have made several reference pictures there.  One of them is already used for a watercolour painting, and this painting is the next one. Looking West, the sky was really dark and cloudy - we did not have rain though - and I wanted to paint these clouds over the landscape.

The colours of the landscape are beautiful, the grasses are almost golden in autumn and with the light coming from behind, the bare trees and bushes are really dark. Amongst the grasses are some small bushes, but not much, as the plants here have to survive the acid water of the peat moor.

Painting this was a small challenge as it was about two months ago that we were there - and I am a bit in a winter/Christmas mood - and because of the weather conditions now, which are dark and wet. Of course a challenge is good for me, that is how I improve my painting skills. The result is even better than I hoped for.

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.

If you are interested in  my work, please contact me.

Dark clouds over...

 

Very often there are the most beautiful dark clouds in our sky, especially when you are inside. On one occasion there were only clouds (no rain yet) late in the afternoon and I went out to make reference pictures. The first picture I made also showed the light of the shed in the back of the garden and its reflection in the window of the shed's door. That light reacts to a motion detector and my leaving the house did the trick. I decided to use that picture as my reference for a watercolour painting.

Of course my pictures were not very good, the clouds are perfect, but the visible part of our (small) garden are only dark shapes. For the painting I looked outside for reference and combined that with the atmosphere of the reference pictures. 

Getting the fence right (perspective, vanishing points etc.) was not easy and I am still not confident that I did get it right, but as not many of those that read this post will be visiting my home to check I just post the painting as it is. The fence is old and weathered and I am happy that I did paint that characteristic as true to reality as possible.

The atmosphere created by those dark cloud are my real subject and the result is as I hoped it would be.

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.

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.

Behind the clouds...

 

After a week of clear skies we had a day with clouds, blue sky and sunshine. At the end of the afternoon, when the sun is lower in the sky the skyscape can be spectacular and that inspired my husband to make some pictures for me.

Of course I wanted to paint that and I found a sheet of white paper - I do usually use paper that is not completely or 'optically' white - and started my usual preparations.

This sheet of paper had been waiting to be used for over ten years now and the edges had lost some of the original sizing, so I had to tape the soaked paper with some extra tape, in order to mark the workable surface. While painting I noticed that I could not add water and paint and move all that around as much as I like to do, so I had to restrain myself a little. 

For the skyscape I marked the outline of the clouds with a watercolour pencil and started painting the sky first with some layers of blue. After that I mixed a grey using the blues that were already in the sky and added the shadows in the clouds and the sky. For these shadows I used several shades of the mixed grey, diluting the original strong mixture with water. The white linings were either left unpainted or lifted out with a damp brush. The shades of grey and blue were painted over with other mixtures where that was needed for the result I wanted to achieve.

For the final touch I added the treetop with a dark green.

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

Port-en-Bessin, October sunset

Last October we had one bright day in Port-en-Bessin (Normandy,France) and we enjoyed it from the first until the last moment. During our stay there I have already painted the sunrise, this is the sunset of that day.
We did not see the sun set in the sea, there were the cliffs on the horizon that were hiding the view we hoped for, but the colours of the sky were great.
My husband made a few pictures and today I have painted that scene.

I have chosen to do a 'portrait' format so I could paint a lot of sky. The cliffs are really far away and not much detail was visible in this light and the sea was looking calm so I decided to let these elements be of lesser importance. The clouds  behind the cliffs on the horizon are only suggested here, I remember they were very hazy.

The details about paper and paints used, size and availability can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com  

Normandy - sunrise

 

Last week, in Normandy, we had a vacation home with views on lawns and a golf court, which means lots of grass on all sides. The view on the little church was on the front side of the house, this is the back side.
The first morning I was awake and dressed (it is cold outside in the mornings) in time to make some pictures of the sunrise.

The view is showing the lawns and golf court I mentioned earlier and the apple trees that were everywhere. This is Normandy and there are apple trees wherever you look, to produce all that cider, Pommeau and Calvados for which this region is famous.

I have chosen to make a small size watercolour, just to show the colours of the sunrise and the remainder of the morning fog that could be seen just above the grass and between the trees.

The details about the paper and paint I used, the size and availability can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Église St Pierre, Port-en-Bessin - evening mood

Last week we (my husband and me) were in Port-en-Bessin, on the coast of Normandy (France). We had found a nice vacation home there and we could see the little church of St Pierre just across the lawn in front of the parking place. 
The first evening we were in need of a walk, after two days in the car so we made use of the good weather and walked towards the church, made some (reference) pictures and walked some more streets in the direct surroundings of our vacation home.
We returned after sunset, in the last light of the evening.

There were some nice dark clouds when we were outside and they did give the church and its tower a great background. Because it was really late and the light in the house was not great to paint by (a bit yellowish), I decided to make a charcoal drawing. That does not give any problems with colour matching so the shade of the light did not really matter.

Of course, in broad daylight the church does have a foundation, a churchyard with a fence, a house nearby and some trees behind it, but this evening, with night falling, dark clouds and a hint of fog on the ground there was an air of mystery that I wanted to capture in my drawing.

There are some more pictures of this little church, so maybe one day I will make a more detailed painting.

The details about size, paper, availability and contact information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

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 

(Behind) The fence

A short vacation of only two days in the east of our country is not enough to paint on the spot, but of course the camera was in our luggage and we used it very well again.
As we were with a group of eight, including three generations, we were a bit limited in the choice of walks, excursions and sightseeing tours but we did all have as much fun as possible and I have some great pictures to paint from.

One of the places we saw was the estate of Singraven, although we did not visit the main building as it was closed for public during the weekend. 
There was a nice path for all of us to walk and beside the water mill on the other side of the road is a nice restaurant where the food is great. 

The view towards the main building has some nice wrought iron fences and I have made some pictures of one of them. The fence does not stand in a road or path, it just marks the border of the estate. It ends in the bushes on one side and in a small pond on the other side. The road towards the main entrance of the building is different, with lantern posts and of course there is a road in that scene.
The absence of a road or path is what attracted my attention in this scene.

This painting is composed with the elements I have mentioned, the main building, the grass, bushes, a small pond close to the building, branches of a nearby tree hanging over  and the fence. 
The scene is almost imaginary and I have tried to paint the atmosphere of the evening of a nice day in springtime, when the light starts to fade away and the view grows a bit misty.

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

Inspired by Rembrandt: The trees

This year is a special year as we remember that 350 years ago the great Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn died. The Rijksmuseum has started an online contest for (amateur) artists that are inspired by Rembrandt. We were asked to submit one work of art and write a short text about how we were inspired by Rembrandt to make this.

Rembrandt is famous for his self portraits and portraits of other people, groups and group scenes, like the Nachtwacht (Night Watch). As I am not good at painting people at all, I have thought for a long time that this contest was not for me.
But then I saw a - not so very good - reproduction of the etching 'the three trees' (De Drie Bomen) in a magazine and I decided to use that for my painting.

This scene is about everything I like to paint: a landscape, trees, clouds and a great atmosphere. I really thought I could make my own version of this  famous etching.

The prints that Rembrandt made of his etchings were black and white of course and I decided to paint a monochromatic watercolour using sepia. Rembrandt's oil paintings have a lot of brown colours, so this choice was easily made.
I have also thought to add reds, yellows and other browns to the monochromatic painting using watercolour pencils.

So I started my painting. First a sketch using the reproduction in the magazine as my reference and then painting in sepia. Before I knew it my painting was finished, nothing to be added by using pencils.
So a second version was started, I deliberately stopped painting much sooner, added the pencil colourings and this was the result:

I compared both versions and could not really decide. The first version seemed to be the best. So I asked the opinions of my husband, children and mother and they all thought the same. Version one was to be submitted.

Writing the text about why I painted this, how I was inspired by Rembrandt, was the next thing I had to do and my brother and sister-in-law reviewed my text for me.

The entry forms were filled with all the needed information, texts and the required pictures were added, the whole thing was submitted and the waiting started.

Yesterday the message came that out of 8390 entries I was unfortunately not chosen for the next round. Of course I regret this, but making this painting, trying the second version and writing about it (in a limited amount of words) was really a great learning experience.

The painting is framed and hanging in my home now and I am still proud of the result!

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

Chapel - another springtime fantasy

In the streets close to the one I live in are trees planted next to the footpaths. These small trees blossom in springtime with beautiful flowers that disappear within a week.
Some of the trees have creamy coloured flowers and and one of them has pink flowers.
I have made some reference pictures and combined them for this painting.

The little chapel that attracted my attention last autumn in Germany is my chosen background for this spring scene.

I have created another imaginary landscape with the chapel in it, usually I try to create a landscape that is a good background for the subject of the painting, this time the branch with the blossoms. The subjects are chosen to fit the season, dark clouds and mist for autumn, snowy scenes in winter and flowers or blossoms in springtime. I have to think about summer yet, but no doubt inspiration will come together with the season.

More information about this watercolour painting ant the other 'Chapel' paintings I referred to can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

I have to add a note here: I have found the name of the tree I have painted here during our visit to the Tree Museum. It's a Magnolia Kobus (Latin name).

After Sunset - watercolour

This is the second 'After Sunset' painting, this time a watercolour.
I have used the same reference picture that was made by my husband when he was having a celebration in the city of Rotterdam. (see my previous post)

Of course there are differences compared to the 'white on black' painting, the used technique is very different and I really like to compare watercolour to one of the other techniques I use for painting or drawing.

This time the white of the paper still shines through my layers of dark blue for the clouds and the river. The city is painted in very thick paint, so there will be not much of a background colour visible. 
The buildings were painted after I had made my clouds and river and I have been able to give them some more depth by adding some brushstrokes in another dark colour. The city lights are added between the layers of dark grey and sepia and the result is what I aimed for.
The differences in colour are not only explained by the difference in background, I also use a different set of watercolour paints when I am making a watercolour painting. 
For this I am using Professional grade watercolours and for my 'white on black' paintings I am using a different palette with the white gouache on it so I cannot contaminate my other paints.

More information about this watercolour painting and the 'white on black' I am referring to can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

After sunset - white on black

A few months ago (last September) there was a celebration at my husband's work. The festivities lasted until late, very late at night and all took place in Rotterdam.
My husband had a great day of course, but he also found the time to make some beautiful pictures of the views he had from the Cruise Terminal, where the evening was spent.
He made pictures at the time of the sunset, some before and some after. The sky was beautiful and of course I had to paint this.

Usually I paint the night scenes on 'all black' paper using a mixture of white Gouache and watercolour paints and as much water as I think is possible. 
The black paper still shines through the painted scene, just like the white paper does when I am making a pure watercolour painting.
This quality is what I like about this technique and it really adds to the atmosphere I want to paint.
There are some limits to this, the paint will not flow as beautifully as watercolour does on watercolour paper, so I have to follow the direction of the 'movement' in the clouds with my brush. No vertical lines to define the buildings, these will always be visible and look very unnatural in the clouds. The buildings are not painted, only the light windows.

I have thought about painting this scene in pure watercolour (on a white background) and now I am already planning this in my mind. Painting it will come later.

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

The Signpost

As I wrote in my previous post, we made some signposted walks during our short vacation in Reifferscheid (Eiffel, Germany). Only the second (and last) walk was signposted not so very well. 
We were happy that my husband made a picture of the information board that had all the signposted walks drawn on the map so we could find our route with the help of that picture and a navigation app.
We came upon this signpost, showing lots of destinations, but our route was not indicated. 

Despite that little fault, the signpost itself was a perfectly placed element in the landscape, the white of the indicating signs contrasting with the dark bush behind it.
I made some reference pictures and painted this scene in the afternoon when we were back in our vacation home.

I do not use rough paper very often, grain fin (or cold pressed) is my usual choice.
For this small scene I decided to try something different and I had a bit of a struggle of course, but the result is nice. 
There are some unexpected qualities to the structure of this paper and I will have to explore that a bit further - and I guess I will enjoy doing so.

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