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.

Dead branch - oil pastel

 

Over a month ago, just before our Christmas vacation, our country (The Netherlands) got in lockdown again. Not much of a problem, but I had waited for those weeks off to go and shop in my favourite art supply store. So I ordered online and with the order came a free set of oil pastels. Not the most expensive quality, but still it is something new to me and I want to explore the possibilities.

After watching several 'How to draw with Oil Pastel' videos on the internet I gathered courage for my first experiment - since I left school of course but that is a long time ago.

The dead branch, that was a subject for a pencil study a few weeks ago was a nice subject for this. I am familiar with the subject and it's one that needs layering colours for mixing and placing different colours next to one another. 

For this first experiment I did not use the black that is in the box, but tried to mix the shadow colour with brown and blue, as I do with my watercolours. Also the colours of the branch are layered, mixed (with my finger) and more layers added. The layering itself is also a way of mixing the colours. For the background I mixed only by layering and added some shapes of dead leaves. The grasses were made with a sgraffito technique using a small wooden skewer. I learned that I have to prepare this, for making all the grasses stand out the bottom layer should be a very light colour.

I learned a lot from this first experiment. As there are more colours in the box, I will certainly make more of these drawings, if only because it is fun to do.

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 branch - pencil study

We still have our Christmas Vacation, my husband and me both work in schools now. So we went for a walk in a forest area near Rucphen, where we had walked before. The walk was nice and being there in wintertime made it different from the previous time we made that specific signposted walk.

Lying close to the path were several dead branches, already stripped of their bark by - the animals, the weather, time or.. 

What I noticed were the colours of the bare wood that were showing. It had rained a bit the day before, so the moist conditions helped a lot but still, there were shades of yellow, some orange-red, greens and shades of brown. All that was inviting me to make reference pictures and make a (watercolour) pencil drawing showing as much of these rich colours as possible. Of course the reference pictures were not perfect, but I have used my memory as well.

 Using the pencils, I have layered and mixed colours until the shade I remembered was on the paper, adding the small bits of bark on the branch, some holes and the very small mushrooms near the middle of the branch. The branch was lying amidst dead leaves and some grasses. The leaves are only suggested by colour variations in the background and the grasses are 'drawn' with my eraser, trying the effectiveness of that technique.

While making this work I have learned a lot so the 'study' idea worked as it should. The result is even better than I hoped for at some point in the process.

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

 

 

The Trossachs - charcoal drawing

Twelve years ago we were in Scotland for a week of vacation. At that time 'we' meant my husband, son, daughter and me and we all had a camera, so that vacation was well documented with photographs. Two of the cameras were still analog, using films.
We did not go far into the Highlands, but we did see a lot of the area called The Trossachs, as we went for rides and signposted walks not far from our vacation home.
One day I was going through the album of that summer vacation and I was inspired by the pictures of the mountains and clouds we took that week.
There are lots of mountains in The Trossachs and at one view point we could make pictures all around us, so I just had to pick the most inspiring point of view. 

Working with an album full of photographs that cannot be replaced beside me is not very relaxing, so I decided to do a charcoal drawing. Charcoal is a dry material and it can be brushed off when an 'accident' should happen. 
With those precautions taken, nothing happened of course.

Looking at several pictures I came to this composition. One of the pictures showed more details of the mountains, another picture showed the clouds, a third picture showed the scene from another angle and more.

What attracted me here was the dark sky full of clouds and wide view of the mountains and the valleys between them.

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

Landscape studies - clouded sky using different materials

The last days of my painting vacation were dedicated to my own work, concentrating on my 'strong points' and trying to improve those.
Our teacher and coach Ad van Aart advised me to concentrate on atmosphere - in a landscape - and try to limit myself to atmosphere only without adding too much details. 
One of the mornings I had seen and photographed a very cloudy sky over the fields opposite our vacation home, Milonga and we decided that that memory would be the guideline for the next studies.

I had found a set of Conté Sketching Crayons, bought it and wanted to try that in my first studies. In that way I could 'explore' the landscape and the atmosphere I wanted to create and get used to working with these crayons.

These crayons work almost like charcoal and it was easy to get to know the material.
The atmospheres of both my drawings are different and I liked doing both of them.
The foggy effect on the horizon is made with the grey crayon, that was a very nice surprise for me.

The next day I was going to make one large watercolour study but there was a bad spot in the paper, so after I had started the cloudy sky I decided to divide the paper in two parts, sticking tape right over the bad spot. In this way I had two studies, beginning with a lightly clouded sky, a green horizon, some bushes and....

The largest one became darker and darker, adding gray to the sky and to the bushes and fields. You don't want to be outside in this weather!

The smaller one had to remain lighter so I used a different brown and less gray colours. I also suggested more details in the fields by adding shadows. This suggest that you have a chance to get home before the rain starts to fall.

There was time left, so I tried the same study, now with a very different palette. The heat of the day was not in my favour, so the paint would not flow as nicely as it had done in the morning. The fields changed into a lake, the cloudy sky into a clouded sunset and the whole picture is friendly and nice now. 

Doing studies of the same landscape for more than one day was a great experience. Every version did teach me another lesson and I really think I can continue on this path when I am painting at home, without guidance of a teacher. I do still remember the tips I was given and will use these advices to my benefit - and the benefit of my art of course!

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

Apple tree study

My painting vacation was all about learning. The workshops were meant to awaken our creativity and the time for 'free work' was to improve our skills. Our teacher Ad van Aart gave us the encouragement we all needed and guided us to better paintings.

One of the things I wanted to improve was my skill in painting trees, especially in placing the shadows in a tree with summer foliage. The garden of our residence for that week, Milonga was perfect for my purpose.

For this study I chose a branch of one of the apple trees and started out to draw it. There was not much time, so I took only one branch, not the whole tree.
After the drawing - or sketch - I took a piece of watercolour paper and tried to paint with only the drawing as my guideline.

This study was a nice experience. The drawing took most of the time I needed and after I had done that it was not hard to remember the difficult areas of the branch with apples  while painting the watercolour version.

More information about this study (paper and paint used, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Study of tree trunks - watercolour, charcoal and ink

This year my painting vacation was in Milonga, in the Northern part of France.
Our teacher and coach was Ad van Aart who really did a great job.
The first day we started with an exercise in 'blind contour drawing', a difficult thing for me. We were finding our subjects in the beautiful garden of Milonga.
After a discussion about the results and a lunch we started painting, using one or more of the drawings we made that morning.

This is the first one I made, only watercolour. (the white edges are caused by the tape)
The background was made quickly, wet-in-wet and soft. The tree trunks were added after the background had dried. I have taken care to suggest (not show) all details of the cracks in the dried wood and the structures of the little mushrooms that were on the right trunk. The left trunk is the one in front, so I have chosen another, lighter mixture for the browns and greys of the wood.

On a background of bright colours I have been drawing the tree trunks with charcoal for my second study. This time I have added more details to the drawing, as charcoal has only one colour. This study does have a different atmosphere than a watercolour painting and I like the contrast between these two.

This is the third and final one for this week. I made it one day later than the previous two so there was a bit more time to think about my approach of this one.
Our teacher suggested a background in only one colour and I wanted to paint the tree trunks a little different, not exactly as in the first study. 
I placed the tree trunks a bit to the left on my paper and used a pen and calligraphy ink for the details of the cracks in the cut off edges where the branches used to be.

I really liked doing this and it was a good start for the rest of the week with more and more challenges, lessons and coaching to come. I will write about that in my next posts.

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

Our chestnut tree in Springtime - a watercolour pencil drawing

A few months ago I made a charcoal drawing of some of the branches of our chestnut tree in winter. At that time I promised (myself) that I would try to record the budding of the leaves and flowers. 
The first weekend after Easter the leaves were starting to show just a little bit. So I made several reference pictures because the process of budding usually happens when I do not have much time for painting 'on the spot'. 
There are some more pictures waiting to be used, but I had to start at the beginning.

Because this subject is great for experimenting with all the materials I have available I decided to use my watercolour pencils and my Graphitint pencils. 
I started working dry and added some water when all the pencil work was done. I already know the colours that will emerge when water is applied to the Graphitint pencils so I only had pleasant surprises in these areas. 
I have been mixing the colours and the different types of pencil and the result really pleases me.

More information about this drawing and the other works I have made in which our chestnut tree is my model can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

The hazel trees are in bloom! - a watercolour pencil study

These days are a bit strange, it looks like spring but the temperatures are below 0ºC most of the day. Last weekend the sunshine was inviting us to a little walk so we went outside, warm coats, shawls and stuff and on the way I made some pictures of the hazel trees (Corylus avellana) that are in full bloom right now. The little catkins were standing out against the blue sky and I really wanted to use that image.
As I have written before, for me springtime is about what happens in the trees. The catkins, the flowers, the light greens of the new leaves are all signs of spring.

This is a very 'small' subject, I cannot fill a large sheet of watercolour paper with it. 
I decided to make a drawing using my watercolour pencils and giving accents with water to the branch that has the leading role in my composition. In that branch I have used several colours and the catkins are more detailed. The other branches and catkins are treated with less attention.

For this little drawing I have used the Canson Montval paper, examining how the paper works for pencils and a little bit of water. The structure of the paper did help with this subject.
I have gathered a selection of Derwent Watercolour pencils in the past years and I have used some of them in this study.

This was a nice experiment for me, I am getting more and more comfident to make more detailed drawings compared to the sketches I am using for my watercolour paintings.
More information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

'Allerheiligen' waterfalls - a second attempt

Last autumn we were in the Black Forest - in Germany - for a short vacation. During that trip we visited the ruins and waterfalls of Allerheiligen. 

The ruins have been painted (and will be painted again) and during the vacation I already painted the waterfalls once and I promised myself that I would paint them again.
Waterfalls are not an easy subject for me, because I have to go on vacation to visit them. In our flat country there are no waterfalls to be found. At least nothing over a meter.

As I have written in my first post about these falls, the Allerheiligen waterfalls are a series of falls cascading down around the mountain. To visit them safely there are stairways and platforms beside the falling water.
At that time my knees were giving me messages about 'age' and 'not in shape for this terrain' so I stood sketching some of the falls as my husband went down a bit further to make lots of photographs. This painting is made after one of my sketches.

For this painting I chose to do a small size using only two colours. This enables me to focus on the falls; how to paint them in a way that they can still be recognized as waterfalls. On top of the scene is a small waterfall, which is mostly in the shadows of the rocks and trees surrounding the falls and the path beside them. 

As it was my goal to make a recognizable waterfall, I think I have succeeded with this painting. Of course I will have to paint much more waterfalls to improve my skills on this subject.

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

Still time for mushrooms!

I am still in the mood for painting mushrooms so this is the second painting after a picture my husband took in the Sauerland. As I said in my previous post, there were lots of mushrooms in lots of different colours in that forest.

This is a group of brown mushrooms growing close together and all in almost the same shade of brown. I decider to use calligraphy ink to outline the mushrooms and then try to fill them with the correct colour. That shade of brown was not easy to find at first, but mixing my Burnt Umber with Indian Red gave the perfect final touch.

For the background I worked with two shades of green and a sprinkle of salt over a brown background. After that all had dried and the salt was rubbed off I used some darker shades of green for shadows and a bit of texture in the landscape.

This was fun to do and I am happy with the result.
These paintings of mushrooms are experiments with materials and colours and they give me the experience I need to introduce something new in my landscapes.

More information about this painting (colours, ink, paper etc) can be found at my website  www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Colour study - Dark Clouds..

As I wrote before, one of my good intentions for this year is to get to know my palette a bit better. This is a study I made in order to get more acquainted with one of the colours that I rarely use: Antwerp Blue.
I used the scene from Bentheim Castle to make a watercolour with a very limited palette, only Antwerp Blue and Burnt Umber. I already knew that by mixing those two colours I could get shades of green, perfect for the trees.
Of course those dark clouds are not so dark anymore but I did learn a few things about Antwerp Blue.

More information about this watercolour (materials used etc) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr