Night Moth - a pencil drawing

 

The June challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is 'small pearls' or 'little gems', those little bits of beauty that can suddenly inspire us. When I saw the theme, I immediately had to think about the night moth that was resting on the wall of our vacation home while I was painting a watercolour painting outside to have some shadow and a cool spot to work.

My husband made the reference picture for me after I had pointed out the little animal and that reference was used for this drawing.

I have used a small size black paper and my watercolour pencils without adding water this time. The little animal is done as detailed as possible (zooming in on the reference picture blurred the details a bit) and the corner of the wall it was resting on is only suggested.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this drawing and its availability and - if you are interested in my original artworks - my contact information can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Sleep well!

 

During our painting vacation we were visited and sometimes encouraged by the old calico cat that lives at the location where we stayed. We were surprised to see her again, she is 18 years old now. Most of the daytime she sleeps in a nice spot and so I made a reference picture with the plan to make a drawing somewhere in the near future.

The last day our teacher and coach Ad van Aart did not have a small/short exercise for me for the afternoon so I decided to make the drawing I wanted to do.

Using my watercolour pencils I made this drawing, only layering pencil colours and not using water - I wanted to keep my brushes dry to be able to pack them that afternoon as it was the last afternoon of our stay there.

As she is old and very skinny, her fur is 'fluffy' and I tried to draw that as well. 

This had to be a quick one, there was not much time left before we were to close the week with a discussion of the works we made during the week.

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

If you are interested in  my original artwork, contact me.

Pendulum with shells - a pencil drawing

 

In  my previous post I mentioned the day of plein-air painting and drawing with some members of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' in a large garden in the Alblasserwaard (The Netherlands).

Not only the bog oak inspired me, there were also some pendulums with shells, used as scarecrows in that garden. I never made a painting or drawing of shells before, so I decided to make a small size drawing of one of them.

My seat was close to the pendulum and I did the drawing without use of a reference picture, just as 'plein-air' is meant to be. Of course there is a reference picture just in case I want to do another drawing or painting about these shells.

The first layer of pencil was 'awakened' with some water, only the shells. After that more layers of pencil were added to the shells. The branch/stick that did hold the pendulum in place has only one layer of pencil, no watter added. The black cord that was used to tie the shells was drawn with a graphite pencil.

This little still life was made just for fun, 'because I can' and I an happy with the result.

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

Dead tree - pencil drawing (Kalmthoutse Heide)

 

Months ago, end of summer 2023, my husband and I were walking a nice signposted walk in 'Grenspark De Kalmthoutse Heide'  (Belgium) and at one point there was a very impressive dead tree beside the path. It was on the ground in pieces and it looked like it had been huge. Passing by the tree, I made reference pictures from different angles, each showing different views of the tree. This drawing is after the first picture I made.

The tree was lying on sand, beside the path and before a field of heath (which gives the Natural Reserve its name as heath is 'heide' in Dutch) but for the drawing I decided to concentrate on the tree.

Using my watercolour pencils and a small sheet of paper I made the drawing of the tree and used a brush with a little water to 'awaken' the colours. After that I added the sand the tree was lying on and a bit of the grasses and rubble on that sand. That part was not worked on with water, to make clear what my subject is without letting the tree 'float' on my paper.

Thes reference pictures I made of this dead tree will be used for other works, drawing or painting them or even a combination of both techniques.

This drawing is even better than what I hoped for, the use of the water to make the tree stand out in the drawing is giving me nice results, I intend to do that more often.

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

If you are interested in my original artworks, please contact me.

To die for - for a challenge

 

The November challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is in Dutch 'Om je vingers bij af te likken' which translates (Google translate) as 'To die for'. The original phrase is about licking your fingers after eating something delicious.

And that is what I wanted to draw this time. A cat licking his fingers/paw after eating. Another cat is also present to suggest the food.

For this drawing I used examples from a book with tutorials about drawing cats (not much more than a line sketch and a result in grey shades) and I added the colours using my imagination. To be able to draw two cats I used one of my larger sizes of paper

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

If you are interested in my original artworks, please contact me.

Virginia creeper - watercolour painting and pencil drawing

 

Last week we visited the Castle Ruin of Valkenburg (Netherlands) and one of the things that attracted my attention was this plant in full Autumn colours creeping over the walls of the castle. I made some reference pictures to make a pencil drawing.

The drawing was made but for several reasons I was not completely happy with the result

and I decided to use the drawing (second picture) as a study for a watercolour painting.

For the watercolour painting (first picture) the paper was given a hint of colour, using the colour of the 'mergel' or marl stones that were used to construct the castle. On top of that background I painted the leaves of the Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) and added the structure of the stones using a watercolour pencil. 

The emphasis of the watercolour painting is now on the plant and its autumn colours as I wanted it to be.

The information about the materials I have used for both the drawing and the painting, the sizes of the works and the availabilities can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

Medlar - a pencil drawing

 

Last week we were on a short vacation, this time not only my husband and me, but also our children and grandchildren. That meant I did not have much time to make walks and/or drawings. Reference pictures were made, so I will catch up in the coming weeks.

This drawing was made during our short stay, from a reference picture I made during a nice walk near the 'Drielandenpunt' at Vaals (The Netherlands). We walked in the hills and passed through woodland areas, fields, crossed - or almost crossed - some borders and really enjoyed the walk.

This bush did attract my attention, I had never before seen these fruits. They look like large rosehips, but are in fact too large to be a rosehip. The plant is one of the 'rose' family, a medlar, Mespilus germanica. 

For the drawing I used my watercolour pencils, leaving the background only in one colour (in reality the leaves were still green) and adding water to the fruits, so the colours would be enhanced and so the fruits would be emphasized. This worked as I hoped it would and I am really happy with the result.

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

Broadleaf Cattail (Typha latifolia) - pencil drawing

 

Our usual walk to the small park area close to our home and back passes by several ditches and small canals because we live in a very wet part of the country. This time of the year the reed plants are much higher than we are and we can also see these 'cigars' in between the greens. We always thought these were reed 'fruits' but when I looked for the English name I found out that these are not reeds at all, but something very different, the broadleaf cattail. Never too old to learn...

When we passed by these plants, I wanted to make a drawing, so some reference pictures were made, I thought about composition, materials and the best time to make the drawing for some time and I made the drawing.

I wanted to use the paper my daughter gave me for my last birthday as the shade of the paper is almost that of the reeds that were also in that patch of water-plants. Using my Graphitint pencils I started drawing and made up the best composition while working. The 'cigars' were the most important parts of the drawing, the leaves thar were the closest to them were also drawn in almost as they are in the reference picture and the other leaves are added where the drawing needed them.

The 'cigars' were given some extra emphasis with a little drop of water to 'wake' the colours of the pencils. 

Making a good picture of the finished drawing was the biggest challenge of all. Either I could see the light on top of the drawing or I lost the colour of the paper completely. Finally I went outside in the shadows and made this picture, not great, but the best I could do. I do refuse to install a professional photo studio in my home (where do I get the money to buy the stuff in the first place) to make pictures of my paintings and drawings when making the paintings and drawings is where my heart is.

The drawing is what I hoped it would be, so the result makes me want to draw more - and more.

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

If you are interested in my work, please contact me.

Parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera) - a pencil drawing

 

Last week we (my husband and me) went on several signposted walks during our short vacation in The Ardennes and it is the season for mushrooms, so we made some pictures of the most beautiful ones.

This large Parasol Mushroom stood in a field, close to the path we were on and as it was so tall, my husband made a picture from the side, so the whole stem is visible. The mushrooms that do not grow that tall often cannot be photographed like this without special equipment - which we do not have.

As I had my pencils with me, I used the picture as a reference for a drawing. The large mushroom had to fill most of the paper for my composition. I added the grasses and a few of the fallen leaves to make a small scene out of it. If I had not done that, it would have been a 'portrait' of the mushroom and that was not what I wanted. 

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

Please contact me if you are interested in my work.

Small mushroom in summer - a pencil drawing

 

During our latest walk in the forests near Rucphen (Netherlands) we noticed a small brown mushroom and of course I made some reference pictures. The little brown mushroom was standing on the dry forest floor, between pine needles, broken branches and old mosses. Some fallen leaves were there as well, they did give some colour to the forest floor at that spot.

The single mushroom was a bit too small for a watercolour painting, so I took my pencils and made a drawing on a small size sheet of paper.

For my birthday I was given a full box (a beautiful wooden box) with all 72 colours of the watercolour pencils I usually use for my drawings and I enjoyed the new colours I could use now. 

Again I have not used any water to bring out the watercolour qualities of my pencils because I love the way my paper still shows in the areas where I have not applied many layers of pencil. The hood and stem of the mushroom are saturated with colour, mixing my colours on the paper to get the result I am after.

Buying another set of pencils just for dry drawing seems to me a waste of money and materials, I know exactly what I can do with these pencils and I like the results I get. As an extra I can also use them wet if the drawing I am working on needs it.

The type of mushroom is unknown to me and determination is difficult (I tried and failed), so it's just a small mushroom this time.

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