Near Vaals (Netherlands) - Winter fantasy

 

A few months ago we were on a short vacation in Vaals, where we made some nice signposted walks. 

The landscape with the highest hills in The Netherlands is picturesque for us (living in a very flat 'polder' landscape) so we made (reference) pictures of those hills and nice views. One of these pictures, made in a lush and green landscape, is now used for this winter fantasy.

Of course I only used the view over the hills and transformed the green of the grass to a white snowy landscape. The trees nearby and the bushes are for another kind of painting.

For this painting I selected a rough structured paper which makes the soft colour transitions you see in the painting very easy as it stays moist a little longer without being really soaking wet. Details are a bit more tricky, not only because of the water holding capacities of the paper but also because of the structure. But as I did not want details, but a nice Winter mood, this was not a problem at all.

The results are even better than I hoped for, maybe because I stopped early so I could not overwork this one.

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.

View on Monswiller - a winter fantasy

 

This time I was inspired to paint a Winter mood and - as it is not yet Winter in The Netherlands - I looked for a reference in my old sketchbooks. This scene, a view from a roadside restaurant on the small town of Monswiller inspired me.

Of course I had painted a watercolour inspired by this scene short after I made the sketch, but this time I wanted to change a lot, not only did it have to be a Winter fantasy, I also changed the format from 'landscape' to 'portrait' so there would be much more sky and a bit more foreground.

The church tower is placed at a 'good' spot in the composition (one third from below and one third from the right side) and I made the drawing starting from that place, adding some slopes to the foreground and leaving room for a nice cloudy sky.

Using some of the colours that are not my first choice I set myself another small challenge, but sometimes I wonder why these colours are not so often used - maybe it's about habit.

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.

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

Winter fantasy - Ondenval

 

During our short vacation in the small village of Ondenval (Ardennes, Belgium) I was looking for inspiration for the Christmas card for this year and I asked my husband for a picture of the church of the village, taken from a path we were walking at that time.

The picture was made with the camera, so the focus was on the village - not on the surrounding hills, forest areas and fields as my phone-camera would have done. 

The church had to be the subject for the card, so I selected a nice part of the reference picture for my painting. For a Christmas card the season had to be changed, so I added some snow, dropped the foliage of the trees and bushes and added light to the church windows.

The browns for the trees are chosen because there are no evergreen trees in this part of the village so there will be no green in winter time. In this village the roofs of the buildings are made with slate and the buildings are made using bricks and natural stones, all in shades of brown. That gives me a nice limited palette to work with, which I really like very much.

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.

Please contact me if you are interested in my work.

Wintertime

October has arrived a few weeks ago and there is a new challenge for the members of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken'. We have to make a work of art with the theme 'Silent night, white splendor' and there are other art groups involved in this challenge too.
Some of the works will be seen in the month of December in museum 'Het Stadhuis' in Nieuwpoort (The Netherlands).

Because I always make something new for a challenge I had to improvise a bit. Winter is not here yet and I had to imagine a snow scene.
For this one I took the watercolour I made on the plein air painting day that was organised last May (by 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken) in the area of Meerkerk (Netherlands).

The water tower may have some snow on its roof and on the ledge below and the row of bushes has got a different colour because they do catch a lot of snow.
The pollard willows have lost their foliage in autumn and the branches do not hold the snow so these trees are dark shapes now in a mostly white landscape.

The theme of the challenge is all about atmosphere - exactly what I want to depict in my paintings and the challenge for me was to find a scenery I had not done as a winter scene before.
There are some more landscapes I can convert to a winter scene, and probably I will paint one or two other watercolours that can be used for the challenge that continues until the end of November.

The details about paper, paint, size and availability of this watercolour can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Chapel, another winter fantasy

Another watercolour painting with the little chapel we saw close to Reifferscheid (Germany) in an imaginary landscape.
This time a snow scene with a warm feeling to it, like one of those days with sunshine and some clouds. The winter sun is low, so its light is really almost gold in these days.
The inspiration for the colours I have chosen comes from a step-by-step demonstration in one of the magazines I subscribed to. I decided to try this combination - as far as I have the colours that are used in the demonstration in my own palette. There is a small difference, but that does not matter for the result.

I have changed the location of the chapel, now it is a bit hidden behind a line of bushes and some snow. 
The winter trees are added and there is another hilltop behind the little chapel. 

The shadows on the snow, indicating uneven spots hidden underneath are a bit experimental, I still have to learn how to do this. We do not often have that much snow in The Netherlands so I cannot really work from observation. Once again I have looked at some tutorials for guidelines.

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

An invitation.....

The first time I was visiting the estate of Castle 'Keukenhof' was at the occasion of a Christmas Fair. That was a nice experience, the estate is a perfect setting for such an event. The tents were - as far as I can remember - the same as we saw during Castle Fest, so the scene I sketched could also have happened in winter.

So I decided to make a winter scene after my sketch, using my Twilight Colours and adding some warm lights to shine from the tents, as an invitation to come and see what is inside.
That is where my title comes from.

This had to be a real winter scene, so there is no foliage on the bushes, snow is falling and the trees are also bare. The path before the tents is trampled already - maybe by the merchants selling their wares inside the tents? There are no visitors in this painting, not even their shadows. 
It is an invitation, so the visitors are yet to come!

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