Sheepfold, Thülsfelder Talsperre

 

It's over a month ago that we were walking the signposted walk around the reservoir of the Thülsfelder Talsperre and made several reference pictures of the beautiful landscape.

Part of the west bank of the reservoir is adjacent to a beautiful moorland that even has room for a herd of sheep and - of course - a sheepfold. When we were walking there, the sheep were out, but the information panels were interesting as well. Of course I made reference pictures and today I chose to paint the sheepfold as it is in the moorland with some woodland directly behind it. 

On the left side of the path is moorland, with some patches of green because of the freshly growing herbs. The land on the right side is a bit different, more small trees and bushes and some wet areas as well. 

The trees close to the sheepfold are evergreen pine trees, but in the background are also deciduous trees, beginning to get their foliage.

This beautiful spot is just before the walk leads to the bridge I painted earlier.

The small trees on the right side of the path gave me some trouble, but after some corrections I am happy with the result.

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.

'Sallandse Heuvelrug' The sheepfold - a charcoal drawing

Most of the Natural Reserve 'Sallandse Heuvelrug' is heath, and where you find heath, there are sheep. Therefore we were not surprised that one of the trails we followed came by a sheepfold. In winter it is closed to the public, so we walked by and my son Martijn made some pictures for me, so I could gather courage again and paint or draw a building among trees.
That is something I like to do, for these older buildings are really picturesque in their own way but I really have to practice this kind of subject a lot.
When I make a watercolour painting after a scene like this the dark colours of the building always trouble me. For this drawing, I made the sheepfold not as black as it is in reality. This enables me to show the shapes and angles of the building.

This is a scene in winter, that makes the trees easier and we had foggy weather, so everything was dark because of the moist and there are no shadows. 
At this point, somewhere in between the trees, the fog was not as dense as it was in the open areas.

The sheepfold is protected by some woodland and the reference pictures were taken from the path we were following. More to the right (not pictured) and to the back were some meadows and directly next to the building is a path of fine stone chippings.

I liked doing this. Charcoal is nice to work with - if you don't mind black fingers - and sometimes you are challenged by the same problems that you have to face when working on a watercolour painting. 

More information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com