Fabriano artistice watercolour paper

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Myfrenchkitchen · 9 Comments

Sketching a streetscene in Beaulieu sur dordogne.

I sat on the terrace of Café Douceur this afternoon and while sipping my coffee, I sketched the street. My pen ran dry on my halfway through the sketch, which resulted in some thin, scratchy lines. I hope the colourful splashes watercolor make up for it..

..street in Beulieu sur dordogne – close up 1..

Pen and watercolor in Stillman & Birn, alpha series sketchbook, 22.9X15.2 cm

..street in Beulieu sur dordogne – close up 2..

..street in Beaulieu sur dordogne..

And lastly some people sketching..done on Fabriano artistico watercolor block, 27X18cm

à la prochaine.

Ronelle

Posted on January 30, 2015January 30, 2015 by Myfrenchkitchen · 3 Comments

Cream tulip sketches.

I still have 2 days left to capture some bulbs. Not that it means we are in spring. On the contrary, with snow forecasts for this weekend en cold to the bone weather and the fire burning high in the fireplace, it is everything but spring. Inside my barn though, I have forced bulbs everywhere and tulips in vases. Nothing can stop me from bringing some spring inside.

I used lots of different mediums and styles, just simply playing around, messing around. I enjoy working with gouache, I don’t do that enough, so it was great to do some sketches with gouache today. the last image is one of the gouache sketches..but I ruined it of course with that enormous name I signed…tried to be too artistic…

..Tulips..

..contour lines with black Lamy safari pen on Fabraino watercolor block HP, 18×25.5cm

..Tulips 2..

..watercolor and J. Herbin ink, café des iles in Stillman & Birn sketchbook, Epsilon series, 14×21.6cm

..Tulips 3..

..watercolor and in Stillman & Birn sketchbook, Alpha series, 22.9x15cm

..Tulips 4..

..gouache and black Lamy safari pen on Fabriano watercolor block, HP, 18X25cm

Posted on February 2, 2013February 2, 2013 by Myfrenchkitchen · 8 Comments

Umbrella, ombrelle, parasol, parapluie, they all say one thing…sketch me!

An umbrella is easy to draw..right? DING! Wrong!

So many things to consider: Convex, concave, round, shadows, transparency, folds, foreshortening, colour, patterns…

A good challenge!

..two half open umbrellas..

pen and watercolor on Fabriano artistico watercolor block, HP, 23×30,5cm

..wide open umbrella..

pen and watercolor on Fabriano artistico watercolor block, HP, 23×30,5cm

..two closed umbrellas..

pen and watercolor on Fabriano artistico watercolor block, HP, 23×30,5cm

Posted on November 17, 2011November 17, 2011 by Myfrenchkitchen · 3 Comments

Still life with quince.

I have moved on from autumn colours to still lifes, done in the atelier. Working in thin washes, laying wet washes over dry ones. not my usual way of working, but I am quite chuffed and will do a series of these watercolors.

I need to bring in a bit darker values and I want to have more informal compositions. I think my inspiration comes here from Cézanne, whose watercolours I love. There is currently an exhibit of Cézanne in the Musee de Luxembourg in Paris until 26 February 2012, for those who want to jump in their private jets for a visit…and a lunch afterwards, maybe at the Mini palais restaurant?

…Still life with quince…

watercolor and pencil on Fabriano artistico CP, 30,5×45,5cm

I’m posting a close up to show the layering of thin washes.

…close up…

Until the next post where I’ll be back with another still life…hopefully a better one with darker values, more expressive compositions…and one where my patience has reigned!

Posted on August 24, 2011September 4, 2011 by Myfrenchkitchen · 12 Comments

Sketch of a market day in Beaulieu sur dordogne.

I took today off…apart from making my bed, I decide I am doing nothing else today. In terms of working that is. So I dressed myself pretty, put on some make up, which I haven’t done in ages. A dash of perfume…well OK, that I do every day, even when feeding the horses. But you know what I mean. A day where I ignore all kinds of “must do” lists and let the day run free. Yes, I know, I’m fortunate to be able to do it.

…market day in Beaulieu sur Dordogne…

pen and watercolor on Fabriano watercolor paper, HP, 18x24cm

So I took off to Beaulieu, not to open my gallery, on the contrary, I hung a notice…”gone painting” on the door. which is of course not the truth. I had many coffees, chatted with friend and foe, shopped at the market, ate a delicious “flamiche au saumon”, I paged through the cote Sud and cote Est and Cote Ouest, found inspiration and new ideas, and yes. I caught a sketch. Of the market. While sipping my third coffee.

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Myfrenchkitchen · 8 Comments

Paintings from Provence

My week in Provence ended far too soon and it went by far too quick. I managed to do a few, not nearly as much as I planned, because typically Ronell, I forgot half of my art stuff at home. I left my very important oil canvases, boards and large watercolor pads by the door to pack them last and that’s where they still were while I as in Provence. Finding an art store proved to be harder than imagined and so I ended up borrowing two canvas papers from Katherine…can one borrow a paper/canvas…?

To start off with: all of the following are sketches done around Les Couguieux, where we stayed.

…the blue shutters of les couguieux…

watercolor and pen on watercolor paper