Tree Bark - Platanus

 

The structure of the bark of the plane tree (Platanus) is beautifully coloured and has a nice texture so I had to use that tree in my series about tree bark and other things as well.

On a watercolour under painting - not very strongly pigmented this time - I used my Graphitint pencils for the tree bark and used some water to 'awaken' some areas of the drawing.

Over that drawing I outlined the leaves - found on the ground after a windy day - and added the three major veins of the leaves. These lines were 'awoken' with water as well. 

I decided to stop here because adding more colour or structure would make this drawing a chaotic one and I really wanted the structure and colours of the tree bark to be visible.

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.

Autumn magic

 

The October challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about Autumn magic or enchanting autumn. The real challenge for me was trying to paint or draw something that I have not done before. After some thought I decided on my little oak tree (not yet two years old) and a drawing with a watercolour under painting.

For the under painting I used cling film for the effect - something I know about but have not done before. Not really much paint in two colours and let the cling film do its magic while the paint dries.

On the background I used my watercolour pencils. The picture is taken from above, with such a small tree this is almost the only way. For the top leaves I used water after the first pencil layer and added two or three more layers of colour. The other leaves are only pencil marks on the paper (no water used) and I used less layers of pencil for the lowest leaves. 

The stem (tree trunk is a bit too much yet) is added to show where the leaves come from.

This was fun, partly an experiment for the background but I really like the result.

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

Tree bark - oak

During this painting week I also wanted to do something with tree bark, like I have done before but now a bit more experimental.

For this one I made a reference picture of the bark of an oak tree and gathered some leaves. Our teached and coach Ad van Aart advised me about how to make my composition.

The watercolour under painting is as usual and I used a pencil for the structure of the tree bark, awakening the colour at the darkest spots with a touch of water. 

After that I started laying the leaves on the drawing and outlining them with pencils that will show bright colours when 'awakened' with water. By allowing leaves to overlap and using the nagative space between the leaves I got irregular shapes of colour. Only the red shapes might be recognised as parts of leaves. In the end I added some more colour to some parts of the structure of the tree bark.

Of course this is only a first experiment, there are many more possibilities I want to explore in the future.

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

Tree bark with ivy - a pencil drawing

 

Some months ago during a nice forest walk I made a reference picture of tree bark with some ivy growing up the tree. There were a few branches of the ivy, a lot of the tree bark was still visible. This reference picture was made for later use.

Last weekend I prepared this drawing, by making the watercolour under painting first and after that had dried I made the lines of the branches of ivy, the outlines of the leaves and the structure of the tree bark.

Later, during my presence at the 'Af en Toe Kunstroute' (an Art route not far from my home in which I often participate) I had almost six hours to complete the drawing. Of course I had to talk to the visitors, give information about my art, the route and more but there was enough time to work on this drawing.

Only for the leaves I used a bit of water after the first pencil layer. After that had dried, I added two or three more layers of pencil until I was happy with the result.

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 original artworks, please contact me.

Tree bark - 2 a graphite drawing

 

Last summer I made several reference pictures of tree roosts, tree bark and whole trees for later use. Of course I can always paint a tree and I have experimented with the tree roots during my painting vacation. These works were made as a start, to gain confidence for working with that subject.

The tree bark pictures are used now and I am experimenting with a watercolour under painting and combinations of pencils for the drawing. Using a small size watercolour painting I make an under painting in only one colour that can already suggest the colour of the tree bark. When that is dry I start drawing the patterns of the tree bark.

This time I have not only used a Graphitint pencil for the drawing, I also used a dark matt graphite pencil to achieve the dark shadows that are in the reference picture. The tree is another coniferous tree and again I do not know the species.

The reference picture is only used as a guideline for the direction of the lines in the tree bark and I have indicated the darker areas. After these were drawn I used my memory and my imagination to get the result that you can see, only looking at the picture when I really thought I was going the wrong way.

The results are what I hoped for and of course I will make more of these drawings in the future. Maybe one day I will make a watercolour painting of tree bark, but first I need to get more familiar with this subject.

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

Tree bark - a graphite drawing

 

The patterns of tree bark are beautiful! Last summer I have been drawing and painting the bark of a redwood tree, this time I have made a drawing of the bark of another coniferous tree - I do not know which species.

The reference picture was enlarged so I could concentrate on the structures of the tree bark.

For this work I used a small sheet of watercolour paper and made an under painting with a nice granulating colour and let this dry naturally. After that I picked a Graphitint Pencil and started to draw the lines and shadows of the tree bark. Because I only used one pencil, I had to think about the values, the original reference picture has more colours in the tree bark than only shades of brown.

The darkest shadows were touched with a brus with a little water, to 'awaken' the water soluble graphite tint of the pencil and darken the shadows even more.

This experiment has turned out nice, at least for me. The results are what I expected and in the (near) future I will make more works concentrating on the structures of tree bark. 

Maybe I will be a bit bolder in my colour choices and add more techniques and materials after a while, but I will have to find out what I really want first. And that can only be achieved by making more drawings or paintings.

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

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.

A Winter's friendship - for a challenge

 

On the last day of the challenge of one of the Facebook groups I am in I found inspiration and time to make something for the challenge. We had to make a work in winter mood, including a snowman. 

So here is my contribution: a winter's friendship between a snowman and a scarecrow. 

They are in a field that has only some stubbles left after the harvest. A line of low bushes gives them some protection against the wind, but not as much as they would like. Even the crows are gone, so the scarecrow is happy with the company of his new friend - though the friendship will end after the arrival of spring.

For this work I have started to make the drawing of both friends, then I painted the background with watercolours. For the snowman and scarecrow I used my pencils. 

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

As free as....

 

A few months ago we saw three storks in the sky while we were on the road to.. (that I do not remember exactly) As my husband was driving, I took the camera and made two reference pictures from the driving car before they were too far away.

The drawing is made for the May challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' which has 'Animals in the lead' as its theme. I really had to think about that one, wait for inspiration to hit me.  And then I saw another May challenge, in a Facebook Group with  'Freedom' as its theme.  Also not one of my most favourite themes. But then it happened...

The proverb 'As free as a bird in the sky' gave me the inspiration I needed and I combined both themes in this work.

Using the reference pictures I made a new composition, enlarging some of the stork images and keeping some other small. This drawing is made with several types of pencil on a watercolour under painting, made up with two shades of blue in the hope to reproduce that very blue sky we had that day.

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

Peat Moor, Molbergen (Germany)

 

Not far from our vacation home lies the Peat Moor of Molbergen. This used to be exploited, but now it is turned into a Natural Reserve with an educational twist. There is a 'learning path' with information signposted in the first, dry area of the Moor. We walked that path, learned some things we did not know yet and made several (reference) pictures. The area is beautiful and as there were some darker clouds that day, the reflections in the water were inspiring me to paint and draw.

As I did only bring drawing materials and some watercolours for an under painting, I started with a dark greyish blue and made my drawing with charcoal. Pencil was added in the foregrounds where some light coloured grasses were important for the friendly atmosphere of the drawing and in the reeds on the other side of the small peat lake.

The reintroduction of high water levels did cause some trees to die and the remains of those dead trees are reflected in the water which had not even the smallest hint of a ripple that morning.

Even though I have used heavier paper for this drawing, the watercolour under painting is not as nicely graduated as I hoped it would be. As I have used a very dark shade of blue, I could not hide the imperfections of the under painting with the charcoal  - a lesson learned for the next 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.

A walk in the forest, Dwergter Sand (Germany)

 

Last week we (my husband Peter and me) were in Germany for a short vacation. As usual we went on Monday and returned on Friday so we had only a few days to explore the landscape, views and restaurants.

Monday afternoon, after several hours in the car, we went for a walk just behind the Parc, in the Dwergter Sand. When leaving the parc, you enter the forest area, so that is really great. We did buy a map with several walks to select from and we used that map well during our stay.

The first walk was 'close to home' and we did see a lot of the landscape, fields, patches of forest and a little stream nearby. Of course several pictures were made for reference.

This scene was selected because the sunlight was really highlighting the small hill in the foreground while the trees all were very dark - perfect for a charcoal drawing.

For this drawing I started with a watercolour under painting made with a few colours and left to dry overnight. This approach is perfect for the bright, sunlit hilltop to stand out in the final drawing. 

In the morning I added the charcoal and after I used fixative once I also added pencil colours (and a second layer of fixative) because I was not really happy with the foreground.

The drawing was now what I hoped it would be and looking again after several hours I was even more pleased with it.

The paper I have used did not really react very well to the wet watercolour, next time I will use heavier paper for a watercolour under painting.

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

(Easter) Bunny

 

In a week from now it will be Easter and the Easter-themed challenges or painting ideas are appearing on Facebook and other media. I do not make entries for all of them, but the challenge on one of my Facebook Groups was too nice to resist. Paint or draw an Easter Bunny or another Easter - fun themed work.

As I have never before been drawing a bunny I looked for references and found a line drawing to work from. There are no eggs in my final drawing, instead I added spring flowers.

A sheet of watercolour paper (cellulose based) was used and an under painting for the sky and grass was made and left to dry. Next step was a graphite pencil drawing of the bunny, using the line drawing I found as my reference. Usually the result of this procedure just looks like the original, I never can make an exact copy. It looks like a bunny and that is all I need.

This pencil outline is used for an oil pastel drawing. The oil pastels are new for me, I got a student grade box for free when I ordered art supplies last winter and I have used them only once before. I have layered and blended the colours until I was happy with the result or knew I had reached the limit of the materials. To place the bunny in a real field I added grasses and flowers with the oil pastels as well.

The result is even better than I hoped for, not a great work of art, but still a nice springtime scene.

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

Forest Edge

 

During our short stay in the Eastern part of our country, we also found a nice signposted walk near Bathmen. The walk was very informative about the history of this area as we passed several old buildings, some former barnyards and the stream that was used for transportation. There also were patches of what once were forest areas and near one of these forest edges we stopped for our lunch and to make some reference pictures.

For this work I have made a graduated watercolour under painting on smooth paper. Once this had dried, I started drawing the trees and the shadows on the ground with charcoal. After that I used my Graphitint pencils for the green grasses and mosses on the ground. A white Graphitint pencil was used for the sunlit sides of the trees. Some extra white was created with an eraser. 

The bright colours of the Graphitint Pencils only showed after I had used the fixative that is needed to keep the charcoal in place, so the amount of pencil colour applied was an uncertain element, but the result is what I hoped it would be.

When I saw this forest edge, I knew that I wanted to make a mixed media work with charcoal and pencils. The scene is not really very exciting in itself, but I did see possibilities in the shadows and the patches of green moss under the large trees to make my work a bit more interesting.

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 walkers

 

A few weeks ago my husband and me were walking in a nice forest area and I got inspired by the shapes of our shadows on the forest floor. I made a reference picture 'for later use'.

This month the challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is 'the Walker', inspired by the fact that many people started going out for walks during the pandemic. (We already were frequently going out for walks in our beautiful nature, so nothing changed for us) The picture of our shadows on the forest floor was the ideal reference for this challenge so I started planning my work.

On a small piece of watercolour paper I made an under painting using the colours of the forest in autumn, brown, orange and shades of yellow and green. After this had dried, I added splatters of the same colours and let that dry again. Using two shades of brown Conté I added the shapes of the shadows that were cast by my husband and me but also the shadows of nearby trees and overhanging branches.

The structure of the paper is still visible in our shadows, I have blended the Conté into the paper and tried to create the blurry lines of the shadows cast by the trees and branches. 

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