Maasvlakte 2 - After sunset

Going to the beach to see the sunset means returning home after sunset. As we were on the beach of the Maasvlakte, we drove to the ship spotters point to look at the sea after sunset before going home and on the way we stopped to make pictures of the moon hanging over the port industry of the area of Maasvlakte 2. On Maasvlakte 2 the industry is mostly loading and unloading of container ships (the very big ones) so the lights come from the huge cranes that are built there. 

As the sun had just set, the moon had a pink shade and I have tried very hard to make good reference pictures of that view. Of course that was not really easy, making a picture after sunset means there is not much natural light left, but I got some nice reference pictures. I combined these pictures of the moon with the ones that had all the lights of the industry for the composition of this mixed media painting.

For this painting I started painting a dark blue background with a lighter spot where the moon was. The foreground of grasses and a bit of the road was painted in watercolours over that dark background. There is not much detail in the foreground only the suggestion of the landscape.

The moon and the lights are painted using white gouache and watercolour. As I have written before, the moon was not white, but slightly pink so I added a hint of pinkish orange to the moon. This was painted in several layers until I got the moon I wanted to paint. The industrial lights have yellow and orange shades when they are further away and I have used the same layering as I did for the moon to paint them.  There are some reflections of all those lights in the water that are painted with watery gouache and some hints of watercolour and the lines on the side of the road in the foreground are painted with very watery white gouache.

This was the first time that I have painted with white gouache over a dark watercolour background - I usually paint on heavy black cardboard - and for me the experiment turned out well. I know what to expect the next time and this small painting is just what I wanted it to be.

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

Lit by the moon

 

In one of the Facebook groups I am in the February challenge is Moon (light) and I have been waiting to see the moon this month, but it stays hidden at night.

This forced me to make an imaginary landscape in moonlight. Of course an imaginary landscape is not really a challenge for me, but the moonlight is something new.

For this watercolour painting I have chosen the imaginary landscape I have used for a snow scene with the little German chapel in it and made a snow scene lit by the moon.

The paper size is small and I have used mostly Indigo and added some colours for the details and some highlights where the moonlight touches the trees, chapel and bushes.

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

Sallandse Heuvelrug - Starry night

 

In my previous post I mentioned that I live in a built-up area and the sunsets can only be seen well from a high place. In the area where I live there also is always light, from homes, from street lanterns, from industry and we can even see light from greenhouses that are far away.

So a starry sky is not visible where I live, only the strongest, brightest stars can be seen in the right circumstances.

When we were on vacation, that 'light pollution' was far away and we did take the shortcut out of the vacation parc to stand on the road at the edge of the field to watch the stars a few times. Of course there were clouds and we were close to some trees, but I enjoyed the view very much. We did not take any photographs, so this painting is entirely from memory and imagination.

In my painting I have included some trees as they are in winter. These trees help the viewer to understand where up and down are in the painting.

The clouds are placed behind the trees - so these are visible - and the stars can be seen through a hole in the cloudy sky. I have used my memory and imagination for the stars and what is in the painting is not a real depiction of the starry night in my country.

For this painting I have used a black paper for my background and painted in white gouache.

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

After Sunset - watercolour

This is the second 'After Sunset' painting, this time a watercolour.
I have used the same reference picture that was made by my husband when he was having a celebration in the city of Rotterdam. (see my previous post)

Of course there are differences compared to the 'white on black' painting, the used technique is very different and I really like to compare watercolour to one of the other techniques I use for painting or drawing.

This time the white of the paper still shines through my layers of dark blue for the clouds and the river. The city is painted in very thick paint, so there will be not much of a background colour visible. 
The buildings were painted after I had made my clouds and river and I have been able to give them some more depth by adding some brushstrokes in another dark colour. The city lights are added between the layers of dark grey and sepia and the result is what I aimed for.
The differences in colour are not only explained by the difference in background, I also use a different set of watercolour paints when I am making a watercolour painting. 
For this I am using Professional grade watercolours and for my 'white on black' paintings I am using a different palette with the white gouache on it so I cannot contaminate my other paints.

More information about this watercolour painting and the 'white on black' I am referring to can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

After sunset - white on black

A few months ago (last September) there was a celebration at my husband's work. The festivities lasted until late, very late at night and all took place in Rotterdam.
My husband had a great day of course, but he also found the time to make some beautiful pictures of the views he had from the Cruise Terminal, where the evening was spent.
He made pictures at the time of the sunset, some before and some after. The sky was beautiful and of course I had to paint this.

Usually I paint the night scenes on 'all black' paper using a mixture of white Gouache and watercolour paints and as much water as I think is possible. 
The black paper still shines through the painted scene, just like the white paper does when I am making a pure watercolour painting.
This quality is what I like about this technique and it really adds to the atmosphere I want to paint.
There are some limits to this, the paint will not flow as beautifully as watercolour does on watercolour paper, so I have to follow the direction of the 'movement' in the clouds with my brush. No vertical lines to define the buildings, these will always be visible and look very unnatural in the clouds. The buildings are not painted, only the light windows.

I have thought about painting this scene in pure watercolour (on a white background) and now I am already planning this in my mind. Painting it will come later.

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

Chapel - Conté sketching crayons on black

After having painted a lot of watercolour paintings I was looking for a change, a different technique and if possible, an experiment.
My Conté Sketching Crayons are relatively new to me (I bought them last summer and have not used them often) and I thought I could try these on my 'all black' heavy paper that I usually paint on with white gouache and some watercolour.

As the Chapel is a subject I can sketch by heart now I have done another imaginary landscape with it, now a night version. 
While I was drawing I could see the composition needed the clouds and moon for balance. 
These make the scene a bit more friendly - as I wanted this to be. 
I have tried to place the highlights in the right places and the light in the Chapel is also where it usually can be found.

The picture was more challenging than the drawing itself. I have tried to show the right colours and contrast but I fear I haven't got everything as it looks in reality.

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

Confidentials

A new one in my series about lamps.
This is a garden light from my own garden and there are crocuses in my garden now. 
I combined them to make this scene and I enjoyed composing this painting even more than painting it.
I have used the Canson paper again and struggled with it - again. It seems as if the paint does not bind to the paper at all so adding a second or third layer of paint to deepen the colour of an area is not easy, because the first layer is on the move when a moist paintbrush is used. I have been using my hairdryer very much for this painting.
After I had the dark background / night sky as good as how I wanted it to be I did not have the courage to paint the lamp with a brush so I used my Watercolour Markers to draw it in place. The crocus could be painted with a brush because I had kept the area where it was to stand untouched. 

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

Howling to the full moon

When I was thinking of scenes that can be painted with lamps, the idea of street lanterns howling to the full moon also came up. So this was to be my next project!

For the background I used the darkest colours I could find and with these I tried to create a night sky with clouds and a full moon. There had to be a street level somewhere and I thought that leaving light spots would suggest pools of water - as if it had been raining.
Making these dark colours flow and stay on the surface is not easy, most of the background is more or less painted. Using more water would have washed away the paint that I had already applied.
The lanterns were 'lifted' with a damp brush. That was easy as expected after my efforts for the background.  The moon was shaped with the aid of a small candle holder and I painted in some clouds and of course the shadows on the moon.
After that all was really dry I used two shades of red to shape the lanterns and some white to show the lights.

As I am using the last bits of study-quality paper this time I chose a square format. This also gave me the space I wanted for this scene. Now the moon is in the painting, not on the edge of it. The street lanterns are at a nice level now and there is some suggestion of a (wet) pavement on the foreground. 

For this painting I have had a lot of very helpful feedback from my daughter Mariska. This type of painting is fun to do, but I am relatively new to it, so a little help may be asked and given. Thank you very much Mariska!!!!

More information about this watercolour painting (size, paper and paint used, etc) and my other lamp-paintings can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Hong Kong - by night

Hong Kong (by night) has been painted before and will be painted many times more. 
Some years ago I made a watercolour showing a very, very rainy day and this time I used a nightly scene.
The reference pictures for both paintings were made by my son Martijn, who visited Hong Kong while he was in South Korea for an internship. 
The pictures for this painting have been 'waiting to be painted' for almost four years now.
I am not very at ease with a cityscape but over the last few years I have painted them more often and I am learning to really appreciate them.
Working like this, with white gouache and mixing it with my watercolours is really fun for a change. I also have to work with a different painting technique so I learn a lot while working like this.

More information about this painting (and the watercolour I mentioned) can be found at my website  www.jannekesatelier.co.nr 

In the parking lot at night

This is not just any parking lot - it's the parking lot at our hotel on the Veluwe, last October. By day it was just a parking lot with trees and bushes surrounding it, but at night in the light of the lanterns those birch trees really did catch our attention.
So the first evening I was standing next to my daughter holding equipment while she was making lots of beautiful pictures. One of those pictures had not only the trees but also a bush in autumn colours and I decided to paint that one.

This is a scene that asks for white gouache on a black background. For the colours I just mixed in some watercolour paint, that works very well for me.
More information about this painting (size, colour and paints used etc.) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr 

Abandoned Sanatory - by night

An abandoned sanatory is an intriguing subject to paint, so I decided to make two different scenes with one reference photo my daughter Mariska made. 
She made the photo at night looking out from the windows of Sanatório de Valongo in Portugal.
This is the night scene and it depicts the situation as it is now. 
There was a strong backlight so the structure of the building was not to be seen, only the light coming in from the windows and the reflection it made on the floor.
This scene inspired me to paint on very black paper, so the contrast between the dark and light are increased.

More information about this painting - and the daylight version - can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr