In the 'Soester Duinen' - 2 (Netherlands)

 

The first week of January my husband and me were free from work, so we had a very short vacation dedicated to walking in our beautiful nature. The first walk we made was in the 'Soester Duinen' and I have posted some works inspired by that walk in the past few weeks. This is another beautiful view we had during the signposted walk around the area of shifting sand. This area is a Geological Monument because of that shifting sand.

During our walk, the weather changed a bit and instead of the clear blue sky we started with our walk ended under clouds. This view is towards the East, away from the sun so the trees are not back lit. They still are dark, as winter trees often are. The sand was almost grey and  a bit more brownish under the birch trees, where the remains of fallen leaves and small branches were still visible. 

This view inspired me to make a picture to be used as reference for a painting. This time the colour of the sand was the biggest challenge, but I managed to get it right very soon - mixing a brown and a blue did the trick here. The sand is not an evenly spread surface, there really are small dunes or differences in height and that was one of the things that inspired me. Painting this was nice, keeping the sand light where no shadow was found and suggesting the smaller dunes.

The result is what I hoped it would be.

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.

Please do contact me if you are interested in my work.

Green!

 

The October challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken'  has the same theme as the Children's Books Week: Gi - Ga - Green!

So a green painting is what we have to make and fortunately it is only the beginning of Autumn, so a green spot can still be found. This spot is in my home town Papendrecht (Netherlands) close to a very busy roundabout and a school. There is a small field of grass, some trees and a line of bushes in front of the school building, all the green I could wish for, because even the sky is not very visible.

On a small sheet of paper I did start with a blue-grey for the bits of sky that were to be seen and after that I used some blues and yellows to make the shades of green I needed to paint grasses, bushes and the foliage of the trees.

This is not my usual way of painting a landscape scene, but the theme of the challenge caused this compositional choice. In fact I liked working on this painting, so perhaps in the future I will paint a forest scene like this again: mostly ground, bushes and trees, only small patches of sky. Just like I practiced during my painting vacation.

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.

Now and later, waiting...

 

My painting vacation was great fun again and I have learned a lot. My subject this time was all about painting a forest landscape and I have been working hard all week.

The first day however was more about the direct surroundings of our location in Berg en Dal (Netherlands) with 'blind contour drawing' in the morning and painting in the afternoon. After I had found my work spot for the week - under trees, lots of shadow and a cool wind from time to time - I painted the view from that spot, a tree trunk, a bench and a tree. The foreground was a typical forest floor: grasses, leaves, acorns (there were oak trees), all dry because of the lack of rain in the past month.

At first the painting was higher, a portrait format, but the background was too empty. Our teacher and coach Ad van Aart had advised me to keep the background empty and fill it in later. So I added some branches and foliage above in the painting and that was too much. So the best solution to the problem was to cut off the upper part of the paper and create an almost square painting, as it is now. 

For this painting we picked the subject and composition, I made the painting and then we investigated how we could improve the result. In this case we just needed to cut off the excess empty space to get a good painting.

These first days on location are always an investigation of 'what shall we do this week and how shall we do it' so I did not expect much of this watercolour painting. The road towards  the final result of this day is more important than the painting itself. I have learned a lot in that short afternoon and used that the rest of the week.

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.

View towards Schoonhoven (Netherlands)

 

Our amateur art association 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' does not only have a monthly challenge, in the springtime and summer there are also days with plein-air painting. Today was such a Plein-Air painting day and we were located in the old town of Nieuwpoort. 

Nieuwpoort is at the river Lek and today I wanted to paint a river view and a part of the (also old) town of Schoonhoven was included in that view. I took a position on the fortress wall of Nieuwpoort, a nice high spot with great views to all sides of which I painted only one.

There was a lot of traffic on the river, but there were also a lot of quiet moments, so I could see the trees and the church towers on the opposite river bank very well. I also added the groynes of the river side I was standing on to create a foreground to my painting.

Later in the day these groynes were almost flooded, there is some tidal movement as far inland as Nieuwpoort. It was a bright sunny day and I had to adapt to fast drying paint and wetted paper, but  after I did that I finished my painting without any real problems.

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.

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.

Forest Edge

 

During our short stay in the Eastern part of our country, we also found a nice signposted walk near Bathmen. The walk was very informative about the history of this area as we passed several old buildings, some former barnyards and the stream that was used for transportation. There also were patches of what once were forest areas and near one of these forest edges we stopped for our lunch and to make some reference pictures.

For this work I have made a graduated watercolour under painting on smooth paper. Once this had dried, I started drawing the trees and the shadows on the ground with charcoal. After that I used my Graphitint pencils for the green grasses and mosses on the ground. A white Graphitint pencil was used for the sunlit sides of the trees. Some extra white was created with an eraser. 

The bright colours of the Graphitint Pencils only showed after I had used the fixative that is needed to keep the charcoal in place, so the amount of pencil colour applied was an uncertain element, but the result is what I hoped it would be.

When I saw this forest edge, I knew that I wanted to make a mixed media work with charcoal and pencils. The scene is not really very exciting in itself, but I did see possibilities in the shadows and the patches of green moss under the large trees to make my work a bit more interesting.

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

High water near Deventer - a pencil drawing

 

We were on a short mini vacation (two nights in a hotel) in the beautiful old town of Deventer and as it is the end of winter, the water in the river IJssel was high. Some quays were flooded and on the other river bank a lot of land was flooded as well. These areas of land are designed to flood when the water is high so the towns and villages are protected.

We did go for a walk in the town, looking at wonderful old buildings and churches, but the narrow streets are not a great spot to make reference pictures. I wanted to paint or draw the skyline from the other side of the river so we went to make some reference pictures in the afternoon and I started drawing almost as soon as we got back in the hotel. On these very short trips I only bring my drawing materials, these are easy to work with and I can stop and start again when that is most convenient.

For this skyline drawing I decided to use graphite pencils for the buildings and my watercolour pencils for the nature that is in the scene. So the water, the trees in the town and in the foreground, the reeds and the strip of grassland that was not flooded are all in colour. 

The water reflected a very clear blue sky, but I have not made the sky blue in this drawing. The difference in the shades of blue are caused by the strong current of the river. The foreground is flooded grassland and there is not much current there. Many of the trees are standing in the water now, but that is not unusual in winter time, so they are expected to survive this. In fact the smallest branches were already changing colour to show that they are getting in springtime mood.

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

Along the river Waal - Conté drawing

 

Over the years I have collected a lot of different drawing materials and I don't use these as often as I should. So this year I intend to experiment with these materials a bit more, using free hours during the week to make a quick drawing or sketch or...  Making a drawing or sketch does not take the preparations that have to be made for a watercolour painting, so I can decide I want to work on my drawing skills when I have an unexpected hour for myself.

This scene is along the river Waal (Netherlands) at the spot where we came for inspiration during the painting vacation last summer. As I have written before, I have made several sketches during the time we were there and I am using these sketches now, months later for watercolour paintings or experiments with my materials.

For this drawing I have selected a nice blue sheet of tinted cardboard and used a white, a grey and a black Conté Crayon as my drawing materials. The blue cardboard is not exactly the right colour so I had to add some grey and white for ta better depiction of the summer sky and I used all three colours for the river, as the waves have a darker shadow. The riverbanks are done with all three colours and I hope I have been able to show some of the shadows in the bushes and trees. I know I need more practice before these shadows are what I want them to be.

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

View in Zwijndrecht (Netherlands)

 

This week I decided to make another reference picture for the contest of Project Rembrandt, this time from my mother's home. She lives on the eighth floor so the views usually are great. The Great Church of Dordrecht is in the painting, but there are a lot of buildings in front of it, both in Dordrecht and in Zwijndrecht.

The subject of the contest was a skyline or street view in black and white, emphasizing the dark-and-light contrast. That is what I have tried here, using only a black watercolour paint and the white of my paper. 

The Great Church is the most distant building. It is made in bricks and relatively dark against the sky, as the buildings in front of it are made of concrete, so they have a lighter colour. There are some more rows of buildings, mostly houses that are too far away for details. More near the standing point of the viewer is a line of (bare, it still is winter) trees and in front of those are rows of houses and some detached houses in the foreground. These have the darkest shades, the rooftops are almost black. There was a bit of sunlight reflected in the rooftop windows, giving a nice contrast. I have also indicated the fields, hedgerows and a small pathway on the left. 

The result is what I hoped it would be and I made this painting my second entry for the contest.

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.

Birch trees - winter

 

Last week we were walking in the beautiful forest area near Rucphen and of course I made some reference pictures for painting and drawing. Trees are a favourite subject, dead or alive and this time I decided to make pictures of a group of birch trees standing with dead grasses and fallen leaves all around them - it's winter so that is no surprise.

In the background is a group of pine trees providing a nice dark contrasting area for the white birch trees. At the moment I made the picture there was a lot of blue in the sky with some gentle looking clouds and I liked that very well.

I did not mask the trees, painting around them may be a bit more work, but working in this way gives me the freedom to use my hair dryer to speed the drying process of my watercolour painting. Today the hair dryer was necessary as the days are short in winter and I prefer to paint in daylight. The painting was finished before it got too dark and I even had time to make the picture that I show in this blog post.

Birch trees are not often my subject of choice, maybe because they seem to be a 'classic' subject in tree paintings, but as I love to paint trees, I must not avoid these. I am happy with the result of my work.

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