Common Broom

 

The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is "Hello Yellow", so we have to make something with the colour yellow. Last weekend, on the moorlands of the province Drenthe (The Netherlands) we saw the broom (Cytisus scoparius)  covered in flowers, so there I found my subject for the contribution to that challenge.

My husband made a nice reference picture for me and I made this watercolour painting, showing the flowers and only suggesting the rest of the bush. On a yellow background I made a light drawing of the flowers, added the greens of the bush and after all had dried, I painted the flowers, using two shades of yellow and hints of green for the petals and some brown for the stamens.

The result is what I hoped for.

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

(Common) Broom

During our last walks in our beautiful nature we did pass by some broom bushes in bloom and I made some pictures for reference. Of course the broom has lost its flowers by now and the seed pods have replaced them but fortunately the pictures do last a few weeks longer.

On a yellow background I painted the branches in the foreground first and added a background with some shadows and another little bush further away.
Bushes of the common broom seldom stand all alone in nature so I have suggested some more bush-like shapes around them. These could be blackberries or even very young trees, I leave that to the imagination of the spectator.

For the flowers I have used some of the colours that were chosen for the background. The two greens were mixed with two different shades of yellow and only one blue. 
I could have made the flowers stand out more by choosing a very different colour for my background, but that is 'not me' and I am really happy with this result.

The information about the paper and paint I have used, the size and availability are all in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Springtime on the moors

A few weeks ago we were going to a place somewhere in the middle of The Netherlands and we passed by a patch of heather with the common broom in bloom.
The heather plants were still brown - with a hint of purple - and the bright yellow of the flowers of the common broom were contrasting nicely.
As we were driving about 100 km/h making a reference picture was not possible, so I made up an imaginary landscape with the idea to show what did catch my eye there.

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