Branches in the wind

 

During my painting vacation I have worked as much as possible and that means that sometimes I used a spare hour for a charcoal drawing. This drawing was inspired by a question our teacher and coach Ad van Aart asked me. In my previous work there is a movement as if there was a lot of wind and so I was asked to do a charcoal drawing of wind in the branches.

Only branches in the wind, so that is what I put on the paper. Some loose twigs suggest a lot of wind, almost storm (but not yet).

We decided that the connection to the tree trunk had to be visible to make sure which side of the drawing had to be 'up'. 

Making this drawing was fun and the result is what I hoped for.

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

If you are interested in my original artwork, please contact me.

Autumn leaves in the wind

Of course I have to paint autumn leaves because I like their colours. I have not gathered any fallen leaves for a nice reference, so I made this scene from my imagination.

I started with dropping three colours on wet paper and waiting for that to dry (with a little help of my hair dryer)
Then I took a watercolour pencil and started drawing a composition. I looked at my 'leaves and apples' painting for some help with the shapes and then I added fallen leaves.
After this all was painted, I added some more branches and leaves in places where they seemed to be right. 
I wanted to do it this way because at first I could not predict the results after all paint had dried. Adding some branches and leaves is better than being sorry to have painted them and the composition does not work.

For this painting I have used some of my study - quality paints, because I still have  some of these and letting them sit on a shelf is not the way to use your paints.

This was fun. I have been playing with paint and water and then for the composition of the branches and leaves I have tried to react to the results of this background painting.

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

Texel in winter: the Dunes of 'De Muy' - charcoal

On our short trip to Texel I brought my drawing materials, as I have already written in my previous post. My charcoal was packed also and I have made some charcoal drawings.
This is the first one, after a reference picture I have made in the dune landscape of 'De Muy', a bird reserve that is only open for the public outside of the breeding season. 
There were a lot of birds in the area who were busy staying warm and sheltered because of the very cold wind we had these days.

I was inspired by the vastness of the area and because we were on a relatively high spot we had a wide view to all sides. For a short time the wind was a little less strong so I took the camera and quickly made several pictures to all sides.
Back in the hotel I selected the picture that would be most suited for a charcoal drawing and set to work.

Of course I can draw or paint a scenery like this showing the vastness and the signs of winter, but I cannot really draw the cold wind that forced us to walk on and withheld me from making much more reference pictures.

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

Walking around 'Naardermeer' - 2

The walk around our Natural Reserve Naardermeer is about 20 kms long and there is a nice variety in views, landscapes, vegetation and animals.

This time I found some information on the site of the owner of the Naardermeer: Natuurmonumenten (Natural Reserves) an organisation for the protection of our nature.

"The reserve of Naardermeer consists of several lakes, such as the Great Lake and the Wijde Blik. Around it lie swamps and marshy meadows with shallow ponds. Numerous animals and plants take advantage of these wet conditions."

The reference photo for this watercolour was taken (by myself) from a lookout point overlooking the lake called 'Naardermeer' (which the reserve is named for) where it is about to flow into the 'Grote Meer'. (The Dutch word 'meer' means lake.)

I was attracted by the clouds, the reeds, the water and the bushes nearby to show the depth in the scene.

More information about this watercolour and the other one I painted after our walk around the Naardermeer can be found at www.jannekesatelier.tk 

My website had to change address due to circumstances beyond our control.