Kasteelpark van Brasschaat - a Conté drawing

 

The May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about the colour red. After I had painted poppies for my first submission I wanted to do something with red paper as my background.

From three shades of red (all in a set with a lot of colours) I picked the darkest one and made a Conté drawing of a landscape. Because of the red background I limited the palette for my drawing.

In fact this is in a parc area where my husband and me went for a walk, the Kasteelpark Brasschaat which is a public place now and a great place for a walk. 

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

Wild teasel

 

During our painting vacation, our teacher Ad van Aart took us to a natural side stream of the river Waal for inspiration. The views of the river, the riverbanks and the side stream were great and I made several pictures and some drawings for future reference, but I also saw a large Teasel plant and I made a reference picture to use with one of the abstract backgrounds I was working with during the week. 

For this mixed media work I made a relatively dark red background in which the earth pigments are dominant. This was done as a wash and the background dried quickly, so I could use it the same afternoon.

Using my watercolour pencils I made a drawing of the teasel plant, using the reference picture as my guidance. I could not fit the whole plant on the paper so I used the shapes of the stems, the flowers and the leaves to make a good composition. The large leaves and the flowers have several layers of colour, the stems and the smaller leaves have only one or two layers. 

The plant was already withering and some leaves had a dry straw-like colour on the edges. The small flowers were already gone, only the large flower heads remained. I have always loved this plant and wanted to paint or draw it, so I took my chance and enjoyed making this mixed media work.

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

Ragged-robin

Last weekend we went for a walk in our beautiful nature. Because of the restrictions we left home really early and arrived almost first at the beginning point of the signposted walk we planned to do. After the walk there were a lot more cars in the parking area so we ate our lunch and returned home.
During the walk we enjoyed the fresh air, being outside, the nature and we made some pictures - of course.
These flowers were on the side of a ditch and my husband leaned over the fence to make some reference pictures for me. It took some effort to find the name of the flower, but I found it in a book that has been given to me by my parents over fifty years ago. The English name was found using Wikipedia.

The flowers are a nice shade of pinkish violet and I wanted the background to be warm, not green. On this part of the plant are no leaves, so I did not need any green at all. 
The stems and flower buds are dark red or almost violet.
Because the flowers have a light colour I painted the background first and modified that - after I painted the flowers - where needed.

The information about the paper and paints I have used, the size of the painting and the availability can be found in the link at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com