De Moerputten (The Netherlands)

 

Last month we (my husband and me) went for a nice signposted walk in Natural Reserve 'De Moerputten'. During that walk we made several pictures, for the photo album and for reference. Some of these pictures have already been used for drawings and paintings and here is another one.

The view point is high, here we are on the abandoned railroad and from that dyke we could see over the marshes below. As these marshes were used for peat harvesting there are some straight canals in the landscape, once used to transport the (dried) peat by barge to a road or railroad for further transport to the customers.

This also explains the horizontal lines in the landscape, that are remains of smaller canals that were also used for transport over water.

At one point we had an inspiring view of one of these canals with a very clear reflection of the sky (and some of the reeds) so I stopped to make a reference picture. The canals are not used anymore, so the banks are overgrown and at some points vegetation has taken over parts of the canal, but that irregularity is what attracted me to the view.

Making this watercolour painting was a nice experience, finding my way to recreate the atmosphere of the moment we were there.

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

Walking around the 'Naardermeer'

Last weekend we went for a walk around the Naardermeer - and 'we' are my husband, my son, my son's girlfriend and me. The walk is about 20 kms and we made lots of pictures. 

The Naardermeer is a very special area in the Netherlands, so I give some information I translated from the Wikipedia page: 
"Naardermeer is a protected area on the northwestern border of the Gooi, between Muiderberg, Naarden, Hilversum  and Weesp. It is a lake area with reeds, meadows and swamp. It accommodates many (unique) wetland plants and animals, such as cormorants. It was the first area that Natuurmonumenten purchased after its creation in 1906 to protect, and was the first Dutch nature reserve."
"In 1874, the Eastern Railway between Amsterdam and Amersfoort was inaugurated. This line cuts through Naardermeer from west to east."
Of course there is much more information to be found, but these quotes describe the area very well.

As I already mentioned, we made lots of pictures and a large part of those pictures have the railway and some trains in them. 
The weather was cloudy and after some time we were feeling windswept.

I had to choose a picture to be the first to be painted and this was my choice: clouds, fields, the railroad, water, reeds and even the remains of a gate are in it.

The landscape has much more variations and surprises, so there are more watercolour paintings to come.

More information about this watercolour (size, colours used, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.tk 

please note: my website's address has changed a bit due to circumstances beyond our influence.