Inside the Oceanium

 

Not every time we visit Diergaarde Blijdorp we go to the Oceanium, the large aquarium with species from everywhere in the world visible in a very good imitation of their natural habitat.

Last December we did go in to see all the changes that were made over the past few years and I asked my husband to make some reference pictures for me. I really like the little Cownose rays (Rhinoptera bonasus) but it's really hard to make a picture as they are constantly on the move. My husband succeeded to make several nice pictures and in one of them the other fish that live together with the rays were visible very well too. These reference pictures waited for me to get the courage/inspiration needed to paint from them.

For this watercolour painting I started with a dark blue background on cellulose paper and added the Cownose ray and the fish later. I have used white watercolour paint - which is not completely opaque - for the ray and the fish. Where it was needed I added several layers of paint to get the shade of white that I wanted. 

For the other colours of the ray and the fish I have made the colour mixtures on the paper, using as little water as possible and a little of the blue of the background is also included in the final mixture. I am happy that I got the colour shades I wanted using this technique.

The fish were almost transparent, that may also be caused by the light conditions in the building, but I thought it best to suggest that transparency by painting (semi-)transparent layers of paint over the dark background and I painted the 'colours' of the scales with my iridescent medium.

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

Croissant with Blackberry jelly - for a challenge

The amateur art association 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' has for each month of this year a challenge and I am planning to participate in all of them.
The February challenge is 'Breakfast' and I decided to make a picture of my Sunday morning croissant with homemade blackberry jelly before I had eaten all of it and use that for my painting.

Of course there is more to my Sunday breakfast, like tea and some more bread but this is my bit of luxury every weekend and I take my time to enjoy it.

I have made a mixed media painting, adding metallic pencil for the knife and some Graphitint for the bits of jelly on the knife. There is also some iridescent medium on the knife and the edge of the plate. 
The iridescent medium does not really show in a picture like this, it is only visible when looking at the watercolour painting from a side.

Painting in answer to a challenge or a contest is always a good thing to do because in these cases I paint subjects I do not usually choose. In this case I have surprised myself, the croissant looks much better than I thought it would.
So now I am looking forward to the next challenge - March.

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

Autumn - hot chocolate and cookies

For this still life I have combined two of the prompts given by Doodlewash; cookies and hot drinks. After much thinking I have used the handmade cup that stands in my studio holding my sketching pencils and imagine some hot chocolate in it.
I have placed the cup next to my watercolour paper and made my drawing.
The cookies are from my memory. Placing fresh cookies in my studio would not be  a good idea as they would not last long enough to be painted.

The right colours for the hot chocolate and the cookies were hard to find. 
I have no problem getting my cookies in the right colour when I am baking them, painting them in the right colour was quite a challenge. I am not completely happy with the results but for a first attempt it is not so very bad.

For this painting I have also used Chinese White for the cookies and Iridescent Medium for the cup and I have suggested some vapour coming from the hot chocolate with the Iridescent Medium.

Autumn is not only about falling leaves, chestnuts, mushrooms and great colours but also about comfort food and this painting is all about that part of the season.

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

Mushrooms again - trying out a new watercolour paper.

The last few days I have been free from my job, so after all the household chores were finished I wanted to paint. For these occasions I have an album with lots of mushroom pictures made by my husband or my daughter during autumnal walks. I just have to select one, think about how I want to paint this and get started.
Last year I bought a small block with Canson Montval paper, because of the convenient small size, ideal to bring with me on vacations. I did not need it last vacation so I decided to try the paper now. This time I used a reference made by my husband Peter.

The first - dark - painting is made in my usual manner: soaking and stretching my paper and then painting with a lot of water. The paper did not take that very well so I put a note on the block reminding me not to soak the paper before using it. After soaking it looked like the paper was pilling and I am not used to that.
I have tried to paint the background first and that too was a challenge, but after several stages of adding colour, washing with water, spreading out the colour and repeating where possible the background may be overworked, but it could be worse. Then I added the colours of the mushrooms and used a wooden pricker to draw the lines on the hoods of the mushrooms. 

The second painting was made on dry paper that had not been soaked and stretched. I started with the mushrooms and added the background colours later. having learned from the first painting, I did not try to make a dark, dramatic background but just added some colour variations by changing the mixture of blue, yellow and some Burnt Sienna that gives the green of the mosses under the mushrooms. And even here I had to be careful not to use too much water. For extra texture I splattered over the green mosses with the mixture I used for the mushrooms.
To make the mushrooms stand out I used Calligraphy Ink for some of the outlines and the lines on the hoods.

I have learned a lot about this watercolour paper - at least what I can not do with it and I will use it again of course, probably with the wash-and-ink technique or watercolour pencils.

More information about these paintings can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com