Between Christmas and New Year's Eve my husband and me went for a short vacation to Saarburg (Germany). I have already painted the beautifully frosted world we walked in but we did do more than that.
The first day of our vacation we started very early and made a stop in the ancient town of Trier and walked in the old city centre for a few hours. That day was already foggy and frosted, but inside a city it is always a bit warmer so we had no frost there.
Without frost Trier is still a beautiful old town with lots of buildings that have a special history. We enjoyed our walk and made many pictures that also show a lot of other tourists. These could not always be avoided.
We visited the Cathedral and did not have the time to see everything in there, but outside it is also a very special building, as there were chapels and crypts added to the original building over the past centuries. That can be seen behind the Cathedral, where the different architectures meet.
I made the reference pictures for this painting because the bare tree attracted my attention. It's standing in an open spot in the pavement, completely surrounded by 'city elements' and no other tree in sight.
The tree is bare because of the winter but that adds to the somewhat alienated atmosphere I felt in that little square.
It took me some time before I started painting this watercolour painting, I needed to have a plan for the Cathedral first. There is a lot of architecture to be seen (and painted) even in this very small part of the building, but the Cathedral is not my main subject so I had to simplify. I think I have simplified enough here, I wanted the Cathedral still recognisable without all the details.
More information about this painting (materials used, size, availability, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
Although I keep naming the paintings 'White World', there is a lot of colour to be seen in the landscape I am painting. That is of course because the white colour in the landscape is frost, frozen fog that forms ice crystals on the branches, grasses and tops of the humps of clay in the fields. There has been no snow in this landscape.
All the reference pictures I have used so far were taken during one walk of five kilometres in the hills above Saarburg, as we walked from our vacation home to the village of Ayl and back. Down in the valley there was no white at all, the temperatures were just above freezing point there.
The views were great in spite of or maybe because of the light fog we had in the beginning of the day. Taking good pictures was not easy, the camera saw too little contrast between the foggy, grey sky and the white bushes.
This contrast could be seen with the eye so I have added my memory to the pictures when I was painting the watercolours that I named 'White World'.
Once again I have chosen a small size paper and I have used a limited palette of three colours. When we were walking the world seemed to have only two colours, white and gray but closer observation revealed browns and greens as well. I have tried to reproduce the atmosphere of that lightly foggy, cold white landscape without losing the colours that were really there.
More information about this watercolour painting (materials, size, availability, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
The many pictures we made last week, walking through a wonderfully white world are not to be wasted. Of course a selection of these pictures will appear in our albums, but they are also made to be my reference for painting.
This foggy landscape is made to be painted with watercolour. At this point of our walk we were having a bit of back light so the white branches are a bit darker than the sky. There was a bit more fog here, that did change according to our location as we were walking into the valley where the village of Ayl is situated.
Once again I have made a small size painting, mostly because it matches the first three I have painted in our vacation home. The scene is not very complicated and due to the fog there is not a broad view to be painted so a small size 'fits' the subject.
More information about this watercolour painting (materials used, size, contact information, availability, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
Last weekend we were near Saarburg (Germany) and we found ourselves in a beautiful white world. This was because the temperatures were low and the fog had made ice needles on all the branches, humps of clay, grasses, wires, and many more things.
My husband and I were walking in the hills surrounding our vacation home and made many pictures of this beautiful white world. The day after this the weather was warmer and all the ice had gone.
In the afternoons I painted in our vacation home and these pictures were my inspiration. After the first painting I had chosen another beautiful scene, with some pine trees in it. Their darker shapes make the white trees and bushes in the foreground stand out even more.
The tree trunks were dark against all that white and that gives depth to this scene, together with the hilltop in the background.
In this painting I have used paint from one of my watercolour sticks. The result is of course exactly the same as the results from paint in pans or from tubes, it is an extra that the sticks can also be applied like crayons.
More information about this painting (materials used, size, contact information, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
This past weekend we were on a short vacation, to the German town Saarburg.
We were in a vacation home on a hill above the town, surrounded by vineyards and some cornfields that are now bare.
The weather was a bit foggy and as the temperatures were low, everything had a layer of frost. We really were in a white world, or almost white. The fact that the original colours of the trees and fields were still showing made this landscape extra beautiful.
We made lots of pictures while we were walking over the hills to the next village (Ayl) and back to our vacation home.
The afternoons were for painting, my husband Peter was enjoying the swimming pool so I could do as I pleased.
Because I never painted a landscape like this before I chose a small size paper and I decided that only a few colours would suffice to paint the atmosphere of that slightly foggy day.
Everything just seemed white, as I said before, the original colours of the fields and trees were visible. The fog made everything that was a bit further away into a gray mass. The pure white is only at the ends of the branches and the tops of the clay in the fields. This means I had to paint much more than just a few outlines. Of course i was prepared for that and I enjoyed painting this scene.
This is just the first one, I have painted more of this white world in the next days.
More information about this watercolour painting (size, materials used, availability, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
The little chapel I have painted in an imaginary winter scene now returns in a November mood.
These days the sky is gray, the leaves have fallen and there is always a slightly foggy atmosphere. The colours of all things outside are darker than usual because of the moist air. Influenced by all that I have made a November painting.
The chapel is standing on the top of the hill and this time I have not changed that.
The fog is thick enough to let the spire fade away a little. Everything is a bit out of focus.
To achieve that I have loaded a brush with clean water and used that to make the shapes I had already painted a little blurred.
The little chapel will be starring in more of these imaginary landscapes when I will try to paint a special atmosphere. One day - later - I want to paint it as it really is and I hope that will not be too much of a disappointment.
More information about this watercolour painting (materials used, size, availability, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
