A path in the Forest of Anlier - a charcoal drawing

 

The history of the Forest of Anlier is long. It is said that Julius Caesar wrote about this forest in his travel reports. The landscape is full of variations, from hillsides with fields through valleys with side rivers of the Sûre and forests with either trees that show the greatest autumn colours or conifers that stay thick and green all the year long.

This path is between such areas with conifers and there was little light when we walked here. The path is muddy, the sides are overgrown with mosses and behind the first or second line of trees there is only a grey shadowed area where the ground is covered with fallen branches. This area was planted for the production of nice straight trees that could be used in the industry. As the trees stand so close together only the top branches are green. Behind the curves in the path there is another area, where more daylight can reach the forest ground.

My husband Peter made several pictures of these muddy, dark paths and I chose this one for a charcoal drawing.  

More information about this drawing can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

In the Black Forest

On our vacation trip in the Black Forest (Germany) the weather was most of the time something between a light fog and a drizzle. 

Nevertheless we went hiking a few times and our first walk was directed towards the Sankenbach Waterfall. We could walk there from our vacation home so on a nice dry (not rainy) afternoon we went there. There still was a light fog between the trees that gave our afternoon something special.

The waterfall is very steep and maybe very spectacular when more rain has fallen, now it was really nice to visit but we could not really make pictures showing that there was much water falling.

Located at the top of the pathway down the falls is a hut meant to be a resting place. 

We ate our sandwiches there and made some pictures of the surrounding area.

In a curve in the path stands a small tree, partly hidden in the fog. 

I made several reference pictures with the idea to paint that scene.

I wanted to paint the special feeling of that autumn day in the forest.

The curve in the path that is fading in the mist, the little tree (on the lookout for hikers?) also not clearly visible and of course the foreground that can be seen much better - but not too well. And of course on the path the traces of the last rain, not so very long ago.

This was not really easy to paint, but I am happy with the result.

Maybe I will paint this scene again, using a different set of colours, sometimes a scene invites me to do that and this is one of those.

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