Daffodils

In our garden is a patch of daffodils that grows bigger every year. These are a small variety of daffodils and the bulbs stay in the ground all year long. 
In springtime they bloom with a nice warm yellow colour and this year I was inspired to paint them - again.
My husband made some reference pictures while there was some sunshine and I used these to make a composition sketch.

I wanted to make a yellow painting so the background was painted first and dried  completely before drawing the daffodils using a watercolour pencil in a colour that is also in the background.

The daffodils were painted carefully, using colours that are yellow or very close to yellow and I suggested some stems fading away in the background.

After all the storm and rain we had here these yellow flowers brighten our garden and I wanted to paint that feeling. So there are no dark shadows, no dark earth beneath the flowers, only the flowers that tell me about sunshine - long after the sun has gone from that part of the garden.

The details about paper, paints, size, colours used and availability can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Thread of Thoughts

This mixed media work needs a lot of explaining, because it is my submission to the February challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' which was 'Hersenspinsels', a Dutch word that cannot be translated very easily.
I came up with 'thread of thoughts', because that can explain the webbing a bit.
The Dutch 'spinsel' is the result of 'spinning' - a thread. And it can be a spider's web.
The Dutch 'hersen' is 'brain' and the combined word 'hersenspinsel' usually means something you think about, imagine, a train of thoughts, things that are not real.

My thoughts are very often about nice food, so here is my 'thread of thoughts': 
In springtime there will be blossoms, bees and after some months there will be apples, first on the tree, later in my home. Together with ingredients like eggs and flour and the use of the oven I can make apple pie. Which is good with a cup of coffee.

All these elements were drawn, a violet background was painted with watercolour, the elements were coloured with water soluble pencils and all that was secured with fixative.
I have made the lines of a spider's web with silver thread and the line connecting the elements of my 'thread of thoughts' with red embroidery yarn.

The details of the paper, paints, pencils I used and the size, availability and contact information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Waterfall - charcoal drawing

A few years ago I decided I wanted to learn how to paint waterfalls and I started out really good, but after a few watercolour paintings I got distracted and started painting other things.  This is a new attempt at a waterfall and at a mixed media technique I have used a few times.

The reference picture I used was made in October (a few years ago) and the landscape was still very green with grass, moss and the green of a pine tree hanging over.

On a piece of watercolour paper I marked the places that really had to stay white and made an under painting using two shades of green. After that had dried completely I started drawing the scene with charcoal.

The structure of the watercolour paper is important for the result and I have tried to make the very best use of  it.

The broken lines that are created when charcoal is used on this paper help me to suggest more details than I am actually drawing. 

The technique of making a charcoal drawing on structured paper with a watercolour under painting is a nice one and I have to remember to use it more than I have done up to now.

Today's results are what I hope for and I have spent a few hours in my little studio enjoying myself - what more can I wish for?

The details about paper and paint used, size and contact information are at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

In my garden - Helleborus niger

This year I could not resist  the temptation to paint my 'Christmas Rose' or Helleborus Niger. I have made my reference pictures when the flowers were not even completely opened and made up a nice composition with three flowers and some of the leaves that are surrounding them.

A few weeks ago I have bought a new colour and I wanted to find out what I could and could not do with it. 
The new colour (Caput mortuum violet) is in the background and I have also used the background colour in the mixtures for the stems and leaves. This is not only to bring unity to the whole scene, but also because this colour really is in the stems and the darker spots on the leaves of the plant.

I did not want to make a really dark background to make the white flowers stand out, that is something I have done several years ago. I wanted another approach to the theme of white flowers so there is just a little of the background colour behind the flowers. They still do stand out enough to be seen and the atmosphere of the whole scene is just what I wanted it to be.

The details about paper and paints used, size, availability and contact information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

De Biesbosch, winter sun

During our last walk in Natural Reserve 'De Biesbosch' we had a lot of morning fog, but for a few moments the winter sun was strong enough to break through the fog and the clouds. At one of these moments we were close to one of the creeks and of course the sunlight and the clouds were reflected in the water. 

As there was not much colour in the whole scene (except many shades of grey and some green in the fields) I decided to make a charcoal drawing, like I did with the other reference pictures that we made during that walk.

This is one of the first times I tried to make a reflection while working with charcoal and having to think about black and white only makes it easier to place the reflections, but using colours (like in a watercolour painting) helps making the locations of the sun, clouds and their reflections in the scene a bit more obvious. 
I will have to work on that - and I am looking forward to it.

The details about size, paper used, availability etc can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Reeds in winter - a charcoal drawing

This is the second drawing I made after the reference picture my husband made during our short walk in 'De Biesbosch'.
The first is in my previous post and after I had finished that drawing I asked my husband whether he would like me to try how this scene looks in charcoal - and the answer was a positive one.

So this is the second version, in charcoal. I have used the picture for my reference again and started drawing the reed plumes after I had made a light grey background. 
The plumes were standing out too much against the background so I have added the suggestion of much more reeds. If I had not done this, the reeds would be standing alone in an unnatural way.
This was not so strong in the first version, possibly because of the softer colours of the watercolour pencils that were used for the reeds. 

This charcoal version has a very different 'feel' to it compared to the pencil version and in fact I like both results. 

The details about size, paper used and availability can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com  

Reeds in winter

This January our regional Amateur Art association 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' chose 'Blue Monday' as its challenge. 
Next Monday, the third Monday in the new year is thought to be the most depressing day in the year. All good intentions have failed and the weather is usually grey.

Normally that does not bother me so much. I choose my good intentions a bit better (I never did smoke, I know losing weight takes time and so on) so they cannot fail in two or three weeks and the weather....  

This year I had to think about a painting or drawing for the challenge and it took some time before I had decided on this scene.
The reference picture was made by my husband during our recent walk in Natural Reserve 'De Biesbosch' and I would have used it for a painting or drawing anyway, but now it is in time for the challenge.

I painted a blue-grey watercolour background and for my drawing of the reed plumes I used my watercolour pencils. The structure of the paper helped me in the drawing of the plumes, especially where the seeds and the fluffy bits are.
The result is what I hoped for and of course I will continue experimenting with this mixed media technique.

The details about paper, paint an pencils used, size and contact information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com