Parc Vordenstein

 

Last summer we (my husband and me) went for a walk in Park Vordenstein in Belgium. The parc is on an estate and has nice paths for walking, woodland areas, fields, a pond and a small corner with cattle. After the walk there is the Orangery for coffee, tea or a lunch. We had a nice day.

Of course I made several reference pictures for later use and I did not do much with these until today. In one of the woodland areas we saw these two dead trees - there really are two of them, the smallest one is almost hidden in the background.

Of course I could make a charcoal drawing or a Conté drawing of the dead trees, but in this case I wanted to make a watercolour painting. They stand in the green bushes with green and 'red' trees in the background and I liked the difference.

For this painting I used some colours that are new for me and the sunlight on the leaves of the bushes is suggested by using fine salt on the wet (damp) paint.

I am happy with the result. The new shades of green are nice to work with and the salt did what I hoped it would do.

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.

Tree roots - a Conté drawing

 

Last spring we (my husband and me) went for a signposted walk in the 'Mastenbos' (Belgium) where I made several reference pictures for my paintings and drawings. Some have already been used to make nice watercolour paintings and this time I wanted to draw these tree roots.

The tree had fallen and the roots were exposed which is not usual, most of the times you see a large amount of soil and earth attached to the roots. That means all the soil had been removed - by rain or wind or both - from this fallen tree.

I made some reference pictures when we were there and I selected the best one for my drawing.

Only the roots are visible here, the sand that had fallen off and the tree trunk are not in the drawing.

That decision was made during the drawing process. I started with the roots and gave them as much details as possible with crayons and looked at the result. Nothing else was needed, so I signed the drawing, used fixative and called it finished.

The result is what 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. 

Tree stump, Mastenbos

 

A few weeks ago my husband and me went for a nice signposted walk in the 'Mastenbos' in Belgium. We passed by lots of large old trees, some remains from World War I and several dead trees and tree stumps. I did not make (reference) pictures of all of them, but this one I could not resist.

The colour of the dead wood that is still visible inside the remains of the tree bark is so bright orange-brown (like Burnt Sienna) that it stands out on the forest floor.

The surrounding landscape is only suggested, the tree stump is my subject here. That does not mean I did not make an effort while painting that suggested landscape, I have really thought about how much detail I had to paint and where I had to start suggesting shapes of trees.

The tree stump itself also was full of detail and a bit of a challenge, but I really like the result of my work.

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

Dead Tree, Sonnenberg - a watercolour painting

 

During our short vacation in Leiwen we made some nice walks in forest areas. During one of these walks I made pictures of a dead tree which I already have used for a Conté drawing. In my post about the Conté drawing I wrote that I would like to make a watercolour painting of that tree trunk as well. The details about the walk are also in my post about the drawing, so I will not repeat them here.

Here is the painting, made with a limited palette to make the dead tree stand out as much as possible. 

The dead tree did get some sunlight at the moment I made my picture and the pale colour of the dead wood contrasted beautifully with the darker colours of the forest behind it.

The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this painting and (if you are interested in my original artwork) my contact information can be found in my Tumblr blog.

A stack of trunks - a Conté drawing

 

During our walk in the Arboretum Trompenburg we passed by a stack of trees (in fact there were more of these stacks) surrounded by plants and I decided to make a reference picture for a drawing.

The drawing in only black, grey and white was a challenge because I also wanted to suggest the surrounding plants and bushes because these partially covered the stack of trunks. This background has mostly the same value as that stack of trunks, so my subject (the trunks) did not stand out any more.

That is why I evened the background, using the Conté that was already on the paper and added white to that later to take away a bit of all that black.

Now only the stack of trunks is detailed with a background in a gradient of grey. The darkest black is for the shadows and the really dark spots on the tree trunks and I have tried to make these stand out against the background as well.

Using fixative does change the intensity of the white a bit, so in between layers of fixative I added more white.

The result is not what I planned, but while I was working on this one I had to change my plans. In fact, I think I like this more.

The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this work and my contact information can all be found in my Tumblr blog. Contact me if you are interested in my original artworks.

Tree trunk, Sonnenberg - a Conté drawing

 

On the last day in Sonnenberg (Leiwen, Germany) we walked towards the Fünfseenblick in the morning. The walk was a nice one with lots of forest areas to give us shadow while walking. Where there are trees, there are also tree trunks, fallen trees and fallen branches.

Of course I could not stand still to make pictures of them all, but I did make a reference picture of a tree trunk that was partially in bright sunlight.

Today I made a Conté drawing of that dead tree, maybe in the (near) future I will also make a watercolour painting using the same reference picture.

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

Boomstronk - Conté tekening

 

This is not the first dead tree or tree trunk I have been drawing and it is not the last either. I like the idea of finding as much details in a dead tree trunk as possible and trying to draw them all. Of course I cannot draw all details on such a small sheet of paper - compared to the original tree trunk - but suggesting them in a credible way is good enough for me. Just for the fun of it and while doing this I am also improving my skills.

We (my husband and me) like to make a short walk in the weekend when the weather allows it - and of course only when we did not have the time to go for a longer walk in one of our beautiful Nature Reserves. During one of these walks I saw this dead tree trunk and made some reference pictures.

The drawing is made with Conté Sketching Crayons on grey paper, I often use these materials for dead trees or tree trunks.

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

Dead tree in 'De Moerputten' (The Netherlands) the watercolour painting

 

After our walk in 'De Moerputten' I made a drawing of this dead tree and I wrote in my post about that tree that I would make a watercolour painting of the tree in the near future.

The tree is now in the landscape as we could see from the abandoned railroad looking towards Vlijmen.

The grasses are called 'blue' as they have a blueish shade of green and they are very important to some rare insects. This is only one of the reasons that this lowland peat area is a Natural Reserve. 

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 artworks, please contact me.

Dead tree in 'De Moerputten' - a Conté drawing

 

Last weekend we (my husband Peter and me) went for a walk in Natural Reserve 'De Moerputten'. The walk was nice, partly over an old railroad that was made for industrial use, part over a boardwalk in the peat lands below the old railroad. We learned a lot about the history of the area and about the work that is done to preserve the nature.

At one point, on the side of the old railroad, stood a dead tree that just asked for a drawing, so I made a reference picture and a few days later I made this Conté drawing using the colour scheme I selected for dead trees.

Maybe I will make a watercolour painting of this dead tree as well, using the colours of the winter landscape that are in my reference picture.

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.

Dead tree - pencil drawing (Kalmthoutse Heide)

 

Months ago, end of summer 2023, my husband and I were walking a nice signposted walk in 'Grenspark De Kalmthoutse Heide'  (Belgium) and at one point there was a very impressive dead tree beside the path. It was on the ground in pieces and it looked like it had been huge. Passing by the tree, I made reference pictures from different angles, each showing different views of the tree. This drawing is after the first picture I made.

The tree was lying on sand, beside the path and before a field of heath (which gives the Natural Reserve its name as heath is 'heide' in Dutch) but for the drawing I decided to concentrate on the tree.

Using my watercolour pencils and a small sheet of paper I made the drawing of the tree and used a brush with a little water to 'awaken' the colours. After that I added the sand the tree was lying on and a bit of the grasses and rubble on that sand. That part was not worked on with water, to make clear what my subject is without letting the tree 'float' on my paper.

Thes reference pictures I made of this dead tree will be used for other works, drawing or painting them or even a combination of both techniques.

This drawing is even better than what I hoped for, the use of the water to make the tree stand out in the drawing is giving me nice results, I intend to do that more often.

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 artworks, please contact me.

Tree trunk - a Conté drawing

 

As promised (mostly to myself) another drawing of the tree trunk we saw a few weeks ago during our walk on the Herikerberg. At first I made a pencil drawing or study, using the materials I brought during our short stay in the area.

This time a Conté drawing, like I have made some more: using black, grey and white Conté crayons on a grey paper for a 'portrait' of a dead tree or tree trunk.

For this drawing I made a different composition, the trunk is more to the right side of the paper so the roots on the left side of the trunk get more attention. Only the tree trunk is in the drawing, the surrounding mosses and dry autumn leaves are not here. This tree trunk was in the middle of the path we were walking and maybe that is how the roots are so clearly visible.

The drawing is what I hoped it would be, these remains of trees are still impressive and I can show that in my drawing.

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

Tree trunk - pencil drawing/study

 

This week we (my husband and me) went for a walk near Markelo (Netherlands) and we made several reference pictures of the landscape. My pictures are mostly showing trees, including this tree trunk, in the middle of the path. We stayed a few nights in a hotel and I did only bring paper and pencils with me - and a water brush for extra possibilities.

The tree trunk was partially overgrown with mosses and there were the remains of autumn leaves on the trunk and on the path. The roots were visible between the autumn leaves, very dark brown because it had rained during the night.

For the drawing I chose my Graphitint Pencils, using the dry colours but also adding some water which activated the colours that are 'hidden' in the dry pencil marks. The water was mostly used on the areas with mosses and the remains of the autumn leaves. 

After I had used the water and activated the colours, I let the drawing dry and added more dry colour, repeating the process until I was happy with the result.

The reference picture is still inviting me to try this subject using other materials, so this might not be the last time you see this tree trunk in my works.

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 artworks, please contact me.

Dead tree, Kalmthoutse Heide - Conté drawing

 

Last weekend we were walking another signposted walk in 'Grenspark Kalmthoutse Heide', a Natural Reserve that is in Belgium and The Netherlands. Border-crossing nature it is called and we love to go there for a walk. 

This time we had a walk in a woodland area that is on the edge of the moorland (heide) that gives the Natural Reserve its name. Under the trees we had a nice cool walk with some great views. The reference pictures I made there will be used for watercolour paintings. 

This area has a lot of dead trees in it, either because of the fire that destroyed a part of the nature several years ago or because the trees just die and are left in the area to provide food for insects - who attract birds, who attract predators, etc.

This tree stump was standing in an empty field beside the path and I just wanted to draw it. So the picture was made and the drawing as well. Because this stump really is very dead, I used grey paper and the corresponding colour combination.  As written before, I have selected colour combination for dead trees and another combination for the living ones.

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 art, please contact me.

Dead Tree (another one) - a Conté drawing

 

This week we were in the North of Belgium again, for a nice walk on the Kalmthoutse Heide. That Natural Reserve is always worth the time for a walk, every season is different. We have made these signposted walks several times, sometimes clockwise, sometimes anti-clockwise and now I try to make reference pictures of the details of the landscape. The wide views don't change that much over the years.

This time we passed by several dead trees, many of them not really good for a picture, but in a bend in the path we found this one. Very dead for a long time and filled with small holes made by birds or insects. The bark was mostly gone and only some beginnings of branches could be seen. The rest of the branches were sawn off, probably for the safety of the walkers.

Again I chose my new grey paper and some Conté Sketching Crayons for the drawing, the last time I used these together I was really happy while working on the drawing and the result was better than I hoped for. So I wanted to draw a second dead tree using the same materials and I was not disappointed. Again the result is better than I hoped for so more dead trees, tree trunks or stumps will follow and I hope to get better with every drawing I make.

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

Dead tree - Kalmthoutse Heide

 

Last week, as we were walking a signposted walk on the Kalmthoutse Heide, I saw a dead tree that inspired me to make reference pictures. On the bark - what was left of it - were lots of colours, white, shades of brown and orange and more so I tried to capture that in my reference pictures. And I wanted a picture of the whole tree, standing alone against the sky. 

While I was trying to get that right my husband told me to try from the other side, where he was still standing. The colours that inspired me at first were not visible from there, but the tree looked great from the viewpoint he advised me. The sky suddenly looked more cloudy and dark and the tree did stand out beautifully.

Last week I experienced that it could be too dark to paint really early in the afternoon, so now I started my painting in the morning, choosing a large size paper for this scene. Still the weather was against me, something with the humidity, drying time, paper staying very wet and that stuff. The struggle was not very long, I soon found out what was the matter and I have used my hair-dryer very often for this painting.

After one layer was dried, I added more paint, dried it again and repeated until I was happy with the result. Normally I don't need to dry my paper so often in between layers and I can keep adding paint much longer. So today was different, but no problem.

After the sky and foreground (a piece of moorland in autumn) were what I wanted them to be I started painting the tree. As the tree was in backlight, there are only shades of dark and darker brown in the shape of the tree and the remaining branches. Many of the smaller branches have fallen off long ago and what is still standing may stay like this for a long time. Or not, the tree may be very weak by now and fall in the first storm that comes.

I am really happy with the result of my work, I tried to paint the loneliness of that dead tree and I think I succeeded well.

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 do contact me.

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.

Near Rucphen

During our walks in the woodlands near Rucphen (Netherlands) we did see a lot of young trees, new leaves, blossoms and other signs of spring.  
In our Natural reserves there is also a lot of dead wood, tree trunks standing or lying where they died and left there as food for insects, shelter for birds and small animals and in the end to fertilise the soil. Of course the dead trees that are hazardous will be removed and some are removed to give more open spaces in what once was a production woodland.

Near a crossroads there was a tree trunk standing and another one lying on the ground, both were pine trees, and just behind them was a young birch tree.
The contrast between the young tree and the decay of the other two inspired me to make some reference pictures.

For this painting I chose a larger size paper than I have used over the past months, to give the trees some space on the paper. 
The background is only suggested, as is the foreground. That bit of forest floor near the crossroads did not have any bushes or other plants. There are a lot of possibilities for signposted walks with dogs or horses and some paths for recreational bike rides so the sides of the paths are relatively 'clean'.

The information about the paper and paints I have used, the size and availability are to be found in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Tree trunk on the estate 'Huis ter Heide' - charcoal drawing

Last week we had a few days of really nice, warm weather and my husband and me also had some days free from work. So we enjoyed a wonderful day outdoors, walking in our beautiful nature. We revisited the Estate 'Huis ter Heide' and made another signposted walk. The landscape varied from fields to woodland and a bit of moorland, all during a walk of 6 kilometres.
Now it is the end of winter and after those warm days there is a little beginning of spring, but almost all the trees were still bare and there were as good as no flowers. We did see an early butterfly and heard lots of birds singing.

Amongst the reference pictures we made that day are a few of this dead tree trunk, beautifully lighted by the sun. Of course this one inspired me and I have made a charcoal drawing as soon as possible.

These last weeks we have been at work in our home, so I have been painting walls, doors and the sides of the stairs, they all needed some attention after all those years we are living in this house. 
That is the reason why I have not been doing much watercolours or drawings and after all those weeks I really wanted to go back to my studio for some artwork.

In a previous post I have written about the policy of our Nature Preserve association to let dead trees stand where they are, so I will not explain that again in this post.

This tree looked almost white with some dark shadows and crevices so I had something nice to draw. As it stands in the middle of some undergrowth I had some trouble to make my reference pictures and of course I had to include that in my drawing.

This drawing is what I thought it would be so I am really happy with the result.

More information (size, availability, contact information, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

The white tree - white on black

A few months ago we walked a long signposted walk in the area called 'Huis ter Heide' and near the end of that walk we spotted several white trees. This was the first and I quickly made a reference picture. Later we saw more of these dead trees, totally white, standing between the other trees and bushes, making a very special sight. These trees were at some distance of the path, so we did not get near enough to guess what kind of tree it was. This walk was before the dry and hot summer we had this year so the rhododendron bushes were in bloom and the fields had lots of flowers.

At the moment I made my reference picture I had already decided that I would use it for one of my 'white on black' paintings.
I have not only used white gouache and watercolour paint for this painting, for the tree I have been drawing with silver metallic and white (Graphitint) pencils.

The pencils are a nice addition to the gouache and watercolour, they allow me to show the details of the smaller white branches. 

Painting this dead white tree and the surrounding landscape was a nice challenge for me, especially because it had been a few months ago since I had painted a 'white on black'.

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

Dead tree at "Huis ter Heide" - a charcoal drawing

We love to go walking in the beautiful nature of our country (The Netherlands). Most of the nature is made up of small patches of forest, moorland or dunes and there are a few larger areas that are extra protected as Natural Reserves. This time we went to one of the smaller areas called "Huis ter Heide". There is a building that gives the area its name and used to be the 'headquarters' for the rangers that managed the area. Now the building has another function and is no longer accessible for the public.
Our signposted walk passed through the forest part of the area. These walks are not only signposted in the forest itself, but using an app on your mobile phone you get additional information about the special features of that walk. Most of the times the information is about the animals that live in the area or about the history of the place. 
A lot of information is given about the policy regarding dead trees. A few decades ago these dead trees would be removed so the walk through the forest would be more pleasant. Nowadays the dead trees are left where they are unless the endanger the visitors. Dead trees give food and shelter to lots of insects and birds and are indispensable for a healthy forest. The 'unpleasantness' of dead trees is now turned to a thing to be explored by inquisitive (young) people.

All these dead trees have light and dark areas, some of them have mosses or lichens, some have the bark partially fallen off. All that is a nice exercise for me, to train my drawing skills.

This time I chose a very dark tree with many curves catching the light or casting shadows - a nice challenge for a charcoal drawing. 
The result is as I hoped it would be, so I am really happy with this drawing.

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