Tree bark with ivy - a pencil drawing

 

Some months ago during a nice forest walk I made a reference picture of tree bark with some ivy growing up the tree. There were a few branches of the ivy, a lot of the tree bark was still visible. This reference picture was made for later use.

Last weekend I prepared this drawing, by making the watercolour under painting first and after that had dried I made the lines of the branches of ivy, the outlines of the leaves and the structure of the tree bark.

Later, during my presence at the 'Af en Toe Kunstroute' (an Art route not far from my home in which I often participate) I had almost six hours to complete the drawing. Of course I had to talk to the visitors, give information about my art, the route and more but there was enough time to work on this drawing.

Only for the leaves I used a bit of water after the first pencil layer. After that had dried, I added two or three more layers of pencil until I was happy with the result.

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

On the high 'Esch' - Delden, The Netherlands

 

Last month we (my husband and me) had a very short vacation in the province of Overijssel (Netherlands) where we did stay in a hotel in Delden. Just outside Delden is a nice restaurant placed on an 'esch'. I found a definition of 'esch' and that translates like: In Overijssel, Drenthe and Gelderland a vast, fertile piece of arable land, uninterrupted by hedges or walls, surrounded by the building farms of the owners.

Near the parking place of the restaurant begins a signposted walk and in the field between that path and the restaurant were some trees that were pruned to get an umbrella-like shape. I made reference pictures of these trees, but as it was raining and almost sunset, my pictures are not so great.

Still, one of these pictures is used as my inspiration for this watercolour painting. Choosing a limited palette of blues and browns I changed the mood a bit, but not much. It really was dark, wet and desolate and that little tree was all alone compared to the other trees. The tree is still in its winter sleep, so all the branches and twigs are visible against the grey sky and I think I painted them all. As mentioned, this tree was pruned to get a desired shape.

The result is what I hoped it would be, showing the atmosphere of a rainy late afternoon at the end of winter.

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 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.

Near the 'Herikerberg' (The Netherlands)

 

This week my husband and me went for a short stay in the Eastern part of our country, close to the border with Germany. We made a nice walk over the 'Herikerberg' near Markelo (Netherlands) and made several (reference) pictures. For the reference picture of this watercolour I was seconds too late at every attempt, the sun just came through the clouds and disappeared again very quickly. So the light spot in the clouds is from my memory.

In fact I looked at the reference only briefly, mostly for the structure of the larch trees in the foreground. The placement of the branches and twigs  is different from any other tree. The larch trees lose their needles in autumn, so the branches were bare.

As it had rained the day before our walk, the trees were very dark and the fact that they were back-lit added to that dark brown colour. The rain had also left a lot of water, there was a light fog under the trees that would lift later that day.

The result of my painting is what I had hoped for, an atmospheric view of some woodlands in our country after a rainy day.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of the painting 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.

Rooted and tenacious (for a challenge)

 

The October challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' has Deep-rooted as its theme, with references to trees in the description. That subject is all I could wish for, trees are my most important inspirations. Though I had some difficulty in selecting which tree I would draw or paint for this challenge. It had to be a living one and this tree, in the 'Alblasserbos', very close to my home (walking distance) is the chosen one.

This tree and another one of the same kind are lying on the ground in a small section of the forest area that used to be an orchard. It looks like the trees have been pulled down when the orchard closed but tenaciously stayed alive and are still bearing their fruits in autumn - now for the passers-by to pick and enjoy.

It has been a while since I made a Conté drawing, so my contribution for the challenge is a Conté drawing of that tree as it is at the end of winter - when the reference picture was made.

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

Fields and a forest edge

 

This scene is what I wanted to paint when I made some reference pictures during our nice signposted walk near Bathmen. The second reference picture, about the details of the building has already been used for a drawing and this was meant to be a watercolour.

The building is still visible in the forest edge but as this is 'the whole landscape' and not a detail, the atmosphere is more open, with the fields in the foreground. At the end of winter, there are not many details in a field of grass, so the fields are mostly green with a few shadows. Later in the year there will be grasses that are higher, other herbs growing and some bumps in the field where animals have been rooting the ground.

The large trees are still bare, just like the little bush in the foreground. The whole fence is visible now, not much more than I had in my drawing.

Making this watercolour was as pleasant as the walk itself and did bring back the memory of this nice, open landscape not very far from the river IJssel.

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.

In the forest edge

 

A few weeks ago we were on a very short vacation and made a nice signposted walk near Bathmen. During that walk I have made several reference pictures and this is the second one I am using for a drawing. In fact, the picture used for this drawing was an extra reference, zoomed in on the building in the forest edge. I planned to make a watercolour painting with the sky and much more of the surrounding landscape visible and thought I might need some extra information on the building.

Today I had some free hours and wanted to make a drawing, using my Conté and a sheet of coloured cardboard. There was a nice green colour for the background so I decided to use the 'zoomed in' picture with only trees, grass, the building and a bit of the fence.

Like I did in an earlier drawing, I limited myself to three colours of Conté with the shade of the paper as my fourth colour.

These drawings are a bit of an experiment, as I am still learning how to use the Conté Crayons on different surfaces. Of course I want to end with a nice drawing with a good colour scheme even though the colour of the paper is an important part of the result. Or is it 'because' the colour of the paper is so very important instead of 'even though'? Maybe the last, because I am a watercolour painter and we watercolourists are used to let the white of the paper be an important part of the result.

About this drawing I can only say that it was fun to make 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.

Moors

After a lot of rainy days we had one day with sunshine and so we went for a walk in the Natural Reserve "Kalmthoutse Heide", which is on the border of Belgium and The Netherlands, not far from where I live.
Of course there was a lot of water on the paths and in the moors and I made some reference pictures of these (almost) flooded moors. 
The first picture I took was just water and grass, no horizon, just for the reflections and what was below the water surface. During the rest of the walk I thought of how I would paint this scene and I made a plan.

On heavy black paper I painted the blue background of the water with the reflections of the sky and I indicated the grasses with some dark colours where the shadows and the wet areas are and light colours where the grasses are growing.
After that dried completely  I used watercolour pencils and a Graphitint Pencil for the blades and for extra texture in the wet areas of the groups of the grasses. This was the stage where the painting started to look right and I am really happy with the result.

The scene is almost abstract and I liked to do this painting - for a change. Usually I paint landscape scenes with a horizon, this time I focussed on a detail.

The description of the paints and pencils I have used, the size of the painting and the availability can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

On the banks of the lake - Oisterwijk

A few weeks ago, during a nice warm sunny day, my husband Peter and me went for some signposted walks in our beautiful nature. 
The first stop we made was in Oisterwijk, at the Information Centre of the Natural Reserve which is the beginning point of several nice signposted walks.

This time we chose a walk of 3,5 kilometres passing by three fens or forest lakes. The biggest of these three is called 'Kolkven' and on the banks of that fen we made some pictures.
The sun was shining brightly and some of the pictures were very back lit, some other had the 'flare' that often appears on pictures when the sun is reflected in the water.

The sun is just left of the camera on the reference picture for this painting, but I had to 'correct' for the flares and reflections of the sun. In other words, I used my artistic licence here to paint the sky and its reflection in the water of the 'Kolkven'.

The seed fluff of the reeds did stand out nicely against the background of the distant trees and their reflection in the water, the reeds themselves were partly back lit but the light colours were showing at the edges of the plants.
The few reeds growing higher than the rest of the plant and appearing above the background trees completed the composition.

As this is the end of winter, there are mostly dark colours in the vegetation, with the exception of the yellows of the reeds and the light colours of the seed fluff.

More information about this watercolour (size, materials used, availability, contact information, etc) can be found 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 

In the Dunes

 

The reference picture for this painting was made by my husband Peter during a walk in the dunes with colleagues - so I was not there and only saw the pictures afterwards. 
The pictures stayed 'in stock' until inspiration would hit me. 
I am still trying to paint according to the advise I was given during my painting vacation - atmosphere first, details only when needed - and this scene is perfect for such a painting style.

A few days ago I have made a visit to my art supply store and I bought some Winsor&Newton Watercolour paper and of course I had to try that. Only after I had opened the plastic protecting the block I found out that this is a cellulose paper so I had to adapt a bit, as I usually paint on cotton paper. (W&N also has cotton paper)
This paper is different than my usual quality but I like the differences and they are not hard to deal with. 

These Dunes at the end of winter are showing only the dark branches of the bushes (that will be green in summer) and the sand in between. While working I changed the scene a bit to get a better painting and I am really happy with the result.

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