The Forest Floor

 

After I had painted different seasonal moods using only one reference picture it was time for something different, still based on the 'forest' theme. 

Together with our teacher and coach Ad van Aart I selected a step-by-step tutorial about painting the forest floor in Pastel to use as my guideline for this watercolour painting. The result does not look much like the reference in the tutorial. What I have taken from the reference are a background, trees, a light spot and some growing plants on the forest floor. Making a watercolour painting is very different from making a pastel painting, so the step-by-step instructions could not be followed by me.

Because of the light spot. I had to decide the direction of the light to place my shadows and the dark sides of the trees. Some shadows are not included, these are behind the unevenness in the forest floor. 

The result is a mostly imaginary landscape and I am really happy with it. The experience of painting a landscape, using a reference only as a guideline was a nice one and I love to repeat this way of working in the future.

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.

Small mushroom in summer - a pencil drawing

 

During our latest walk in the forests near Rucphen (Netherlands) we noticed a small brown mushroom and of course I made some reference pictures. The little brown mushroom was standing on the dry forest floor, between pine needles, broken branches and old mosses. Some fallen leaves were there as well, they did give some colour to the forest floor at that spot.

The single mushroom was a bit too small for a watercolour painting, so I took my pencils and made a drawing on a small size sheet of paper.

For my birthday I was given a full box (a beautiful wooden box) with all 72 colours of the watercolour pencils I usually use for my drawings and I enjoyed the new colours I could use now. 

Again I have not used any water to bring out the watercolour qualities of my pencils because I love the way my paper still shows in the areas where I have not applied many layers of pencil. The hood and stem of the mushroom are saturated with colour, mixing my colours on the paper to get the result I am after.

Buying another set of pencils just for dry drawing seems to me a waste of money and materials, I know exactly what I can do with these pencils and I like the results I get. As an extra I can also use them wet if the drawing I am working on needs it.

The type of mushroom is unknown to me and determination is difficult (I tried and failed), so it's just a small mushroom this time.

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