Africantapestry

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Late season hydrangeas in oil.

It feels so great to work in oils again! It is and will always be my first love. I neglect it far too much. In fact, there a lot of things I neglect too much. Anyway…

My hydrangeas are at the end of their summer colour. they were beautifully white and I had dark pinks. The whites turned to greens and the pinks to this beautifully seductive deep burgundy. Some really suffered from the hat and drought of August and crumpled into brown and black splotches among the greens and magentas. I love these colors…rich and old and weathered.

hydrangeas set-up in atelier

Hydrangeas 1

oil on linen, 55x45cm

hydrangeas-in-oil-001

halfway through hydrangeas 1

Hydrangeas 2

oil on linen, 45x33cm

halfway through hydrangeas 2

I am more impressed with the halfway through hydrangeas 2 than with the completed painting. At this stage I wanted to stop, but just wanted to do a touch more to the surrounding greens. Before I could stop myself, I added touches all over and the painting completely changed. So much for being happy with the painting before adding touches..

Until next time

Ronell

Posted by Myfrenchkitchen | September 26, 2016 | Categories: alla prima, alla prima oil painting, art, flowers, france, garden, hydrangeas in oil, Nature, oil, oil painting, painting, September, sur le motif painting | Tags: africantapestry, art, artist Ronelle van Wyk, arts, flowers, flowers in oil, france, garden, hydrangeas in oil, Nature, oil painting, ronell van wyk | 2 Comments

Watercolour for Sunflowers.

Some subject are painted again and again and they never look the same, like sunflowers. I have done sunflowers in 2007, then in 2010, 2011, 2014 and now again. they are just wondeful to paint/sketch…the colour alone gives me huge kick when slapping it onto the paper. Sometimes my painting/sketching didn’t work, but I enjoyed painting sunflowers every time. So, before the season runs out, I need to get some sunflowers done in oil…looking forward to that.

Sunflower 1: Watercolour and pen, watercolour block, 30x30cm

sunflowers 2016

Sunflower 2: Watercolour and pen, watercolour block, 3030cm

sunflowers 20160001

à bientôt

Ronell

Posted by Myfrenchkitchen | August 1, 2016 | Categories: aquarelle, art, drawing, Fabriano watercolour sketchbook, flower sketches, flowers, france, garden, Garden sketches, illustration flowers, pen, sketching, sunflowers, watercolour, watercolour painting | Tags: africantapestry, aquarelle, art, artist Ronelle van Wyk, arts, drawing, flowers, france, garden, Illustration, Nature, pen, ronell van wyk, sketchbook, sketches, sketching, watercolour | 7 Comments

Agapanthus in watercolour.

The agapanthus in my garden are blooming profusely and beautiful in their blues ad whites. To my amazement I realized yesterday i haven’t painted any agapanthus yet. I gave it three attempts. The first attempt is probably still the best , even though it is not what I am after. Most of the time that I try two or more attempts of the same subject, I find that the first attempt is the best.I have experienced it so many times. I think it is probably an instinctive reaction to what you see for the first time in front of you..in order to capture that is…and as we all know… first, spontaneous reactions are always instinctive.

Agapanthus 1: Not great composition, but the first attempt and probably the best of three.

Agapanthus -001

Agapanthus 2: The values way too dark and the overall effect too messy.

Agapanthus

Agapanthus 3: Third attempt and I think it turned out the second best of the three efforts. I quite like the lightness of the blooms, but the overall effect is a bit stiff.

Agapanthus -002

Until next time

Ronell

Posted by Myfrenchkitchen | July 25, 2016 | Categories: aquarelle, art, flower sketches, flowers, france, garden, Illustration, illustration flowers, Nature, painting, pen, sennelier aquarelles, sketches, sketching, watercolour | Tags: africantapestry, agapanthus flowers, aquarelle, art, artist Ronelle van Wyk, arts, drawing, flowers, france, garden, Illustration, Nature, pen, ronell van wyk, sketches, sketching, watercolor, watercolour | 9 Comments

Paris sketches in july.

When we drove into Paris last week and arrived at Porte d’Italie, I could feel it has been a long time since I have been there. I forgot the traffic, I forgot the speed, I forgot the taxis, the motos…but I haven’t forgotten how much I enjoy going in to Paris. I didn’t do any museums. The weather was perfect and I just wandered the streets, took in the summer ambiance…and I did some sketches of which only one or two were completed, the rest will be finished next time I get to Paris.

Paris 1: The ever recognizable presse kiosks of PAris. this one is in the tree lined Blvd St. Germain.

Parissketches 2016

Paris 2: Resting in the shade by la fontaine Sulpice, just opposite Annick Goutal, where I get my favorite perfume, Eau du sud.

Parissketches 2016-001

Paris 3: I can’t remember where I did this sketch, since I haven’t noted down anything. I could be somewhere where I stopped for a coffee.

Parissketches 2016-002

à bientôt

Ronelle

Posted by Myfrenchkitchen | July 11, 2016 | Categories: aquarelle, art, drawing, fountains, france, Illustration, Paris, pen, sketches, sketching, Stillman & Birn, urban sketching, watercolour, watercolours | Tags: africantapestry, aquarelle, architecture, art, artist Ronelle van Wyk, arts, drawing, france, Illustration, pen, ronell van wyk, sketchbook, sketches, sketching, wash, watercolor, watercolour | 3 Comments

February art: Café life.

February is a month in which many stores, restaurants and cafés close for a fortnight, taking their break before spring arrives with all its liveliness. Not much is happening in the mostly grey month of February. Everybody is cocooning and taking Prozac in front of their daylight lamps. Schools are also closed for a fortnight and the whole world goes skiing in February. Tradition. Except…this year is not a great skiing year with snow only on the highest peaks.

In the one café that is open during this month, I enjoyed my coffee and croissant. It is better than Prozac at least. It was stock full of people, being the only bar open in town, with everybody looking for a counter to lean on with their petit noir. I am not a counter girl, I prefer a table and a large one at that for all my clutter.

It is actually great sketching wise, when there are so many people in a bar. Nobody notices you giving him/her the infernal sketching glare, so drawing people is much more relaxed.

Streetview opposite café de la Poste in Bretenoux…Just a building across from Cafe de la Poste. I had my young German shepherd, Lindiwe with me who got impatient and I had to speed up the sketching.

Watercolor and Pilot Prera pen in Stillman & birn sketchbook, 22X14.5cm

Cafelife

sketching with Lindiwe

Café life 1, 2 3: In PMU, we all call it Cécile’s bar, life was busy and noisy and sketching went great. The only problem was that my pen got empty and it got more and more difficult to make nice dark lines.

Pilot Prera pen in Stillman & Birn sketchbook, 22×14.5cm

Cafelife-001 Cafelife-002 Cafelife-003

Cketching at Cecile

Posted by Myfrenchkitchen | February 19, 2016 | Categories: aquarelle, architecture, art, coffee sketches, drawing, faces, france, Illustration, pen, people, People sketches, Prera fountain pen, Prera pilot pen, sketchbook, sketches, sketching, Stillman & Birn sketchbook, watercolour | Tags: africantapestry, aquarelle, architecture, art, artist Ronelle van Wyk, arts, drawing, faces, france, Illustration, pen, People sketches, ronell van wyk, sketchbook, sketches, watercolor, watercolour | 5 Comments

February art: A celeriac in J. Herbin ink.

I had the good intention to go do some plein air painting today; The sun came out this morning with blue skies and although it was chilly,it was a perfect day for plein air. Then I got stuck in doing all sorts of nothings, so the day got older and colder and my courage weaker. To not feel completely useless, I grabbed this celeriac, already a week…or two, old.

I used J. Herbin ink, color café des isles. It is water soluble and along with some watercolor dabs, I bled the lines. So I think the cream, somewhat bland colored celeriac got a little red in its cheeks, giving it some snazzy attitude.

celeriac

J. Herbin ink, nib pen and watercolor in Stillman & Birn sketchbook, 15x22cm

celeri-rave

Café des isles cafedes isles

Posted by Myfrenchkitchen | February 16, 2016 | Categories: aquarelle, art, dip pen, drawing, food, food painting, food sketches, france, Illustration, Ink, J. Herbin ink, sketches, sketching, Stillman & Birn, vegetables, watercolour, watercolour washes | Tags: africantapestry, aquarelle, art, arts, drawing, france, Illustration, pen, ronell van wyk, sketchbook, sketches, watercolor, watercolour | 2 Comments

February art: kohlrabi and black spanish radish.

Vegetables are always a good idea. To sketch. The winter vegetables with their bland colours aren’t always that exciting to paint, but in that fact lies the challenge. It is easy to splash the reds and yellows in summer foods, but what with the black and beiges of winter root vegetables. for this exercise I chose kohlrabi, not a vegetable I particularly like eating and black Spanish radish.

Kohl rabi and black Spanish radish.

Mini TWSBI pen and watercolour in Daler Rowney sketchbook, 29X21cm

chou rave, radis noir