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.

To die for - for a challenge

 

The November challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is in Dutch 'Om je vingers bij af te likken' which translates (Google translate) as 'To die for'. The original phrase is about licking your fingers after eating something delicious.

And that is what I wanted to draw this time. A cat licking his fingers/paw after eating. Another cat is also present to suggest the food.

For this drawing I used examples from a book with tutorials about drawing cats (not much more than a line sketch and a result in grey shades) and I added the colours using my imagination. To be able to draw two cats I used one of my larger sizes of paper

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 artworks, please contact me.

Little white mushroom

 

During one of our forest walks last month we saw this little white mushroom, standing all alone. It was early in Autumn and this was one of the very few mushrooms we did see.

With my phone camera I tried to make a nice picture, even using the 'Macro' setting, but everything was sharp in the picture except the mushroom. That happened a few times and I kept the best as my reference pictures.

The background was full of dead leaves, patches of earth, mosses, small stones etcetera so I decided to only suggest a messy forest floor instead of showing all the details. The little mushroom is my subject so it has to stand out a bit.

Of course the mushroom was not completely white, some of the colours in the background are reflected on the white surface. These colours are used to paint the structure of the hood.

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.

Hills - landscape

 

During our short vacation in Vaals (The Netherlands) we made a few signposted walks, enjoying the weather, the hills, the views and the woodland areas we were walking through. Several pictures were made of the nice landscape and I intend to use some of them as reference for watercolour paintings. 

This is the first scene I painted and though the landscape was green under a blue sky, I adapted it to another colour scheme. Sometimes I just don't want to paint another blue and green landscape.

My limited palette has a yellow, two browns and a blue for making the grey-ish shades by mixing it with the brown ones.

This is one of those paintings that are started with a reference picture that is really good, but before all the trees or other elements are added, the painting already looks great, so  I decide to stop. 

I really don't think this painting would improve with foreground trees, it's all about atmosphere. 

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.

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.

Medlar - a pencil drawing

 

Last week we were on a short vacation, this time not only my husband and me, but also our children and grandchildren. That meant I did not have much time to make walks and/or drawings. Reference pictures were made, so I will catch up in the coming weeks.

This drawing was made during our short stay, from a reference picture I made during a nice walk near the 'Drielandenpunt' at Vaals (The Netherlands). We walked in the hills and passed through woodland areas, fields, crossed - or almost crossed - some borders and really enjoyed the walk.

This bush did attract my attention, I had never before seen these fruits. They look like large rosehips, but are in fact too large to be a rosehip. The plant is one of the 'rose' family, a medlar, Mespilus germanica. 

For the drawing I used my watercolour pencils, leaving the background only in one colour (in reality the leaves were still green) and adding water to the fruits, so the colours would be enhanced and so the fruits would be emphasized. This worked as I hoped it would and I am really happy with the result.

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

Rooted and tenacious (for a challenge)

 

The October challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' has Deep-rooted as its theme, with references to trees in the description. That subject is all I could wish for, trees are my most important inspirations. Though I had some difficulty in selecting which tree I would draw or paint for this challenge. It had to be a living one and this tree, in the 'Alblasserbos', very close to my home (walking distance) is the chosen one.

This tree and another one of the same kind are lying on the ground in a small section of the forest area that used to be an orchard. It looks like the trees have been pulled down when the orchard closed but tenaciously stayed alive and are still bearing their fruits in autumn - now for the passers-by to pick and enjoy.

It has been a while since I made a Conté drawing, so my contribution for the challenge is a Conté drawing of that tree as it is at the end of winter - when the reference picture was made.

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