Fireplace

 

Last year we (my husband and me) were eating in a restaurant during a short vacation and a fireplace was lit. This was a gas fueled fireplace behind glass, but the idea of the scene inspired me. We both made reference pictures and I have used the best one as my inspiration for this watercolour painting.

The best picture means that I could see the fireplace and its surroundings better than on the other picture.

I used it as my inspiration, the whole scene has changed. I suggested a wood fire - the gas fire has blue flames - and the decoration is suggesting Christmas time, not the autumn decoration in the references.

This painting is made to be my Christmas card for this year.

The scene is suggesting the right season without being too much decorated. It still has to be my painting. 

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

Pendulum with shells - a watercolour painting

 

The drawing of the little pendulum with shells I made 'en plein air' in a nice garden last week inspired me to a watercolour painting. Using the drawing as my reference I made a painting with a bit more colour in the background, just like I sometimes do when painting flowers or mushrooms.

My palette is different from the landscapes or my tree scenes, I wanted to use the pinks I have for this painting. 

The dimensions of the paper are just right for this pendulum and I enjoyed painting it.

The information about the materials I used, the size of this painting and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog. If you are interested in my original artwork, please 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.

Sweet bliss - for a challenge

 

The month of June is the beginning of Summer and that inspired the theme of the June challenge of Goed Gezien-Goed Bekeken, as we had to make a work about Sweet Bliss.

The suggestions were about strawberries or cherries, but I thought of a nice large ice cream coupe and I only needed some inspiration about how to paint it.

Using a black background (heavy black cardboard) I painted my subject with white gouache and watercolour and added an iridescent medium on the glass of the coupe.

The result is what I hoped for and this is my contribution to the challenge.

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

Hat(s) in the lead role - for a challenge

 

The theme of the July challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken'  is 'Hats in the lead role' where a pun can be found in the Dutch title (lead role = hoofdrol and  head = hoofd).

I only have a straw hat that I mostly use when painting outdoors, to keep the sun from my eyes and still see the right colours - something sunglasses cannot do. This hat is in my possession for many years now and I have changed the decorations several times. This times it is a small ribbon and some crocheted flowers. The ribbon is not exactly in the angle between the brim and the bulb, it never is because I did only sew it in a few spots, afraid of damaging the straw.

So for this challenge I put on the hat, asked my husband to make a reference picture and use that picture for a small watercolour painting.

Because the hat had to have the lead role, my composition is all about that hat and both the background and me (the person wearing the hat) are mostly suggested. 

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

If you are interested in this painting or any other work I made, please contact me.

The Letter

 

The past months are all about Johannes Vermeer and the exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, so it was no surprise at all that the March challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' was about the letters in  many of the paintings of Vermeer.

We are challenged to imagine what the women depicted are reading or writing.

For my contribution I decided to imagine what 'the woman writing a letter' could be writing about.

The translation of the text is here:

Dear Godmother,

Thank you very much for your beautiful wedding gift.

My happiness knows no bounds, now that I have received such a beautiful present from your Silver City.

Receiving your gift was a highlight of the day, which could only have been surpassed by your own presence. Your covering letter made it clear that only a very unfortunate set of circumstances prevented you from handing over your gift in person.

I hope that your husband has since recovered from the unfortunate incident.

My husband is also very pleased with your gift and also sends his thanks.

Dear godmother, thank you for the salt and pepper set.

Yours,

Janneke

Added to the text I made a graphite drawing of an antique Silver pepper and salt set, using images from the internet as my inspiration. 

Our Silver city is Schoonhoven, not far from where I live. For the text I supposed that the lady writing (the newly wed one) lived in Delft, the city of Johannes Vermeer and her godmother lives in Schoonhoven.

The last line of the text is a hint to a comic scene/song that was popular in The Netherlands when I was much younger. I hope the other members of the association will understand.

The information about the materials I have used and the size of this work can all be found in my Tumblr blog.  If you are interested in my work, please contact me.

Shoes - for a challenge

 

The February challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about Shoe happiness. Are we happy with our shoes or do we buy new ones in pursuit of that elusive happiness? That is what the challenge is about and we (many of us are women) have to make it visible.

Personally I love beautiful shoes, like the red one, but sometimes you just need something a bit more robust like the blue ones. Of course there is a superlative degree, even in shoes but I do not go hiking in mountains, so I do not have an example for my drawing.

For this mixed media work I first made the watercolour under painting and after that had dried I drew the outline of the red shoe, the drawing is life-size. Using watercolour markers, pencils and a fine liner I tried to show the different materials used for the red shoe. After that the blue shoe was added - again life size and the same materials were used to draw it. The results are not doing justice to the originals, but this was the best I could do with the materials I decided to use.

Who cares? If I do not show the reference shoes, this is a nice mixed media drawing of two very different shoes that can make the wearer very happy on different occasions. 

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

Cleaning - for a challenge

 

The new year traditionally began with cleaning - some people still have time for a thorough cleaning of the house and even do it. We (my husband and me) spread the cleaning chores over the year which we think to be a better way of fitting them in our working life. Opinions may differ 😉

The January challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about that cleaning tradition. We were allowed to take the traditional approach or decide on another kind of cleaning like cleaning up the mind, getting fresh ideas etc.

Nothing really inspired me much, but the traditional cleaning round, combined with the call for more natural methods of doing that resulted in this work. These more natural methods include using soda and household vinegar instead of more aggressive chemicals and that gave me some ideas.

For this work I made a drawing of a bucket, washing cloth, sponge, bottle of household vinegar and a bag of soda using two graphite pencils. A floor was added, wallpaper and a plinth was indicated so the equipment had a room to stand in. I washed that drawing with watercolour, only one layer of paint so the pencil drawing is still visible.

After that had dried, I added the chemical formulas of acetic acid (vinegar), soda, bicarbonate of soda and of course water using a fine liner.

This is what I had planned so I am happy with the result. Using pencil marks first and washing in colour with watercolour was an experiment for me (the pencil marks could have been washed away too) but all worked out really well.

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

Shards bring good luck...

 

The November challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is 'Scherven brengen geluk' which translates as 'Shards bring good luck' - a saying that means that after bad moments (shards) always better ones will come (good luck).

Inspiration did not come at once, but after some thinking I remembered the Japanese 'Kintsugi' tradition of repairing broken cups, plates, saucers, bowls etc with gold.

So I searched for a nice reference picture of a saucer - mostly to help me find the right places for the shadows - and used that for my work.

The saucer is painted in watercolour and the cracks are a combination of watercolour paint and a metallic pencil. After having finished this, I made a photocopy, cut out the shards I had indicated and placed these around the painted saucer. Using a pencil I marked the outlines of these paper shards. I used my pencils for the shards, so the difference is visible.

This still life was a change for me, I usually paint or draw landscape related subjects, but  did enjoy the challenge.

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

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

Light

 

Winter is coming, so the November challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is OverWinter(ing). That can be about going to a warmer climate for the winter months or about going out and coming back to hot chocolate and other comfort food or.... what may inspire us.

All those activities have in common, that we are looking for the light, because these are dark months with shortening days and grey skies. 

So I remembered a very old picture made by my daughter Mariska which shows a lot of candles burning in a church (or cathedral) in which the light and warm colours of the candles are a beautiful contrast to the cool colours and darkness of the building.

Of course I have simplified the scene a bit for my watercolour painting, but the idea is still there; the warmth of the candle light contrasted by the grand, dark building. 

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.

Sonic Screwdrivers, assorted

 

The last Weekly Challenge of this season is all about 'Britain' so I had to think of something original to inspire me. I do definitely not want to make the same kind of painting most other contestants will submit so I did not paint Stonehenge, Big Ben, the Monster of Loch Ness or any other obvious subject. 

Of course, there is no guarantee at all that I came up with an original idea for this painting, that will show in a week, when the results are published.

There are and have been lots of things British in my life and one of my childhood memories is the Fourth Doctor. When Doctor Who was reintroduced several years ago my children and me were watching every Sunday evening. We stopped that after my children moved out.

Searching for reference images on the internet I have chosen to paint the Sonic Screwdrivers of the Fourth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctor as they are the ones I remember the most.

This is a very simple still life, I started painting on the left side of my paper and added the other two screwdrivers one by one. I decided to stop there and the way they are distributed over the paper plane made me decide on the title which suggests an advertisement for sale the items.

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

Family

 

This week the Lockdown Drawing Challenge is about Family. In the announcement they mentioned portraits of family members, at home or far away, but I do not paint people.

That means I had to think of something else or not participate at all. Inspiration was not far away - in a picture made by my son or my daughter-in-law. Of course I asked their permission to use the picture.

This little still life also depicts a family so I made a small painting inspired by the reference picture though it's not an exact copy of the socks on the line. I made up some details and omitted some other ones, still hoping to get an impression of the socks that can appear on a young family's washing line. 

This was the first time I have been painting a washing line, clothespins and laundry and I did enjoy the process. 

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

Masquerade

 

The February challenge of 'Goed Gezien-Goed Bekeken' is 'Maskerade' or masquerade in English. The theme is inspired by the Carnival that always happens in February.

Of course I did not want to paint masks and I chose another kind of masquerade. I found my inspiration in the way we can hide our faces behind makeup like lipstick, mascara, eyeshadow, powder etc. 

I had hoped to make a collage from advertisements in folders and magazines, but these past week there were no ads for makeup. So I have gathered some of the things I own and made a still life with eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick. I have changed most of the  colours because it is hard to get the right shades of pink, the skin tones that are in the modern eyeshadow palette (for the 'nude' look) and the soft shimmer of my lipstick when painting with watercolour. 

The theme is added with a watercolour marker (in Dutch) and the background has got a very light shade of blue. 

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

Autumn in mixed media

 

The October challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is 'Against the rules' and the Dutch word for rules can also be read as lines.

So I had a choice for my work, because against the rules (of anything) has already been done, so I could not do anything original at all. 

I discussed this with my mother and daughter for inspiration and I combined the ideas they gave me with some inspiration that grows in my garden.

Against or crossing the lines is a nice option so I made a drawing of chestnuts and dried grape leaves, both from my own garden but not in the same spot and added lines from Autumn - related songs.

The text lines are not complete, I made them 'fall of the paper' and of course they are not written on the lines that are made to write on. I copied the idea of an exercise book used in school to learn writing and made lines using blue and red pencils - just like there are blue and red lines in the school notebooks I am referring to.

Unfortunately it was not possible to make the perfect picture - the lines I made are straight, as I used a good ruler and the paper is white. There is some change in colour and deformation in the picture that I cannot correct without losing the colours of the drawing.

The information about the paper, ink and pencils I have used, the size of the work and its availability can all be found in the link at the 'Galerie' page of my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Croissant with Blackberry jelly - for a challenge

The amateur art association 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' has for each month of this year a challenge and I am planning to participate in all of them.
The February challenge is 'Breakfast' and I decided to make a picture of my Sunday morning croissant with homemade blackberry jelly before I had eaten all of it and use that for my painting.

Of course there is more to my Sunday breakfast, like tea and some more bread but this is my bit of luxury every weekend and I take my time to enjoy it.

I have made a mixed media painting, adding metallic pencil for the knife and some Graphitint for the bits of jelly on the knife. There is also some iridescent medium on the knife and the edge of the plate. 
The iridescent medium does not really show in a picture like this, it is only visible when looking at the watercolour painting from a side.

Painting in answer to a challenge or a contest is always a good thing to do because in these cases I paint subjects I do not usually choose. In this case I have surprised myself, the croissant looks much better than I thought it would.
So now I am looking forward to the next challenge - March.

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

October pumpkin

The month of October has a lot of autumnal themes in it and many of these are used for online challenges. To paint the theme in the challenge and publish the painting is a nice way to go out of your comfort zone and I have been doing that several times lately.

This time the pumpkin was twice in a challenge and I like the subject, so I gave it a try.
As pumpkins are not a familiar sight in my country I had to imagine a scene using some reference pictures for the leaves of the pumpkin plant and my memory of some pumpkins that are for sale in vegetable stores in this time of the year.
I made up a scene with a pumpkin, some leaves and stems and as I was painting, more leaves were added. 
While painting I decided to make a dark background in shades of green so the orange of the pumpkin would stand out.

This painting was evolving while it was being painted, that happened because I did not have much of a plan when I started painting. The result is maybe even better than I hoped for when I started drawing my pumpkin and some leaves.

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

Autumn - hot chocolate and cookies

For this still life I have combined two of the prompts given by Doodlewash; cookies and hot drinks. After much thinking I have used the handmade cup that stands in my studio holding my sketching pencils and imagine some hot chocolate in it.
I have placed the cup next to my watercolour paper and made my drawing.
The cookies are from my memory. Placing fresh cookies in my studio would not be  a good idea as they would not last long enough to be painted.

The right colours for the hot chocolate and the cookies were hard to find. 
I have no problem getting my cookies in the right colour when I am baking them, painting them in the right colour was quite a challenge. I am not completely happy with the results but for a first attempt it is not so very bad.

For this painting I have also used Chinese White for the cookies and Iridescent Medium for the cup and I have suggested some vapour coming from the hot chocolate with the Iridescent Medium.

Autumn is not only about falling leaves, chestnuts, mushrooms and great colours but also about comfort food and this painting is all about that part of the season.

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

Autumn - apples and leaves

Autumn is here now, outside in nature and mostly in the shops with great food ideas, warming spices and lots of apples and pears.
Doodlewash is in autumnal moods also this month and I have combined two prompts into one still life painting.

I have made my composition directly on the watercolour paper and started painting wet-on-dry. Of course after that first layer of paint the next were done wet-on-wet and the colours of the apples and leaves were mixing as I had hoped they would. Well, most of the time they were doing as I hoped, I had to work a bit harder on some areas.

The paintings and drawings I make inspired by the prompts on the Doodlewash site are always 'something different' compared to my usual work. Here I have used some colours I don't often use and drawing a composition directly on my watercolour paper is also a bit of an experiment. There was no example and I made it up while drawing, adding leaves, apples and in the end the little branches from above while I was listening to my intuition.

The result of all those experiments is what I hoped it would be. 
This painting was made for practise and improving my skills and I am always happy when a work like this turns out nice. 

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

After the apple pie..

This little still life is the next one I have made after one of the prompts of WorldWatercolourMonth, Family Moments. As I have written in my previous post, I will try to make the best of this watercolour month by painting as much as possible.

As I do not have a dishwasher, washing the dishes has always been a bit of a family moment in my house.

For this still life I have sketched some empty coffee mugs, some cake dishes, some spoons coming out of the mugs and tried to find the right spot for the shadows.
After I have been drawing this sketch on my watercolour paper I have painted the shadows first with a mixture of blue and magenta. This technique is described often for still life paintings and I decided to give it a try. 
I have used rough paper again, so I worked wet-on-dry.
Once the shadows were dry I started to paint the dishes and the mugs, carefully waiting for each shape to dry before painting the one next to it. This is to avoid colour bleeding of course. 
The mugs and dishes have not been washed yet so there are some coffee stains visible.

There may be some mistakes with shadows, coffee stains or the shapes, but I really did enjoy sketching and painting this small still life. And mistakes are there to learn from.

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

Almost apple pie - just add water and lots of love

July is WorldWatercolourMonth and I always like to paint some extra watercolours during that time. There are prompts given by the organisation of this event, Doodlewash. I do not have time or inspiration for all 31 prompts but I really want to make the most of it.

One of the prompts is 'Delicious Food' and of course I can try to paint a nice meal before it is eaten but this seemed a better idea. As my husband's birthday is very near, I am gathering ingredients and recipes for cookies, pies and dinner dishes.
This is almost all you need for a great apple pie, as I have said in the title, add just a little bit of water and lots of love  and the result is an example of Delicious Food!

Years ago I wanted to try rough paper - usually I have cold pressed, medium texture paper - and I was persuaded to buy a block of a small size. I did not use it much, because my landscapes need 'a bit more space'. This little still life seemed the perfect occasion to try the rough paper and I was not disappointed.
This quality needs just a little bit of water, perfect for a still life and the texture is nice to work on. I have chosen to work with a balanced palette of orange, mauve and turquoise I have used before.

The texts on the packages are in Dutch, just like they are when I buy these ingredients.
I took great care to make the colours of the apples and eggs look as natural as possible with my limited palette. 
Unfortunately I cannot get the picture better than it is now, the background paper should be white. Both camera and computer do not cooperate as much as I would like them to.

More information (paper and paints used, size, availability, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com