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
Sunflower 2: Watercolour and pen, watercolour block, 3030cm
à bientôt
Ronell
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 2: The values way too dark and the overall effect too messy.
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.
Until next time
Ronell
Resketch the gargoyle and fountain.
I wasn’t satisfied with the gargoyle sketch 2 posts ago and even leaving it to the art fairy didn’t help. In fact the more I looked at it, the worse it got. So today I decided to redo it. I am still not in heaven about the sketch, but at least it is a bit better and I am tired of that spot in the garden. I suppose you can’t win all the time.And now I have to move on.
Gargoyle fountain
watercolour and dip pen with black ink in daler rowney sketchbook, 21X29.7cm
Every day in May – (1)a favorite food and (2)a tree.
“A favorite food,” says the list of the art group EDM for this month of May.. Only one favorite food? That is a huge punishment! I can draw a favorite food for a whole month and even beyond. How then to choose between all my wonderful favorite fruits, the colourful vegetables, the meat…(yes, you Greenies, I love my meat!) And then there are fish and shellfish and how about a slice of cake? Or a cookie. And dessert. I never skip dessert. I won’t even mention chocolate and that first cup of coffee in the morning. Only one favorite food?
However, I can sometimes play by the rules and this time seems appropriate enough to do so. So one favorite food it is. I confess my weakness for macarons. Those beautiful, sensual, romantic and utterly delicious delicacies our patisserie in Beaulieu so shamelessly flaunts in the display window. By just looking in my eyes, they know I am there for a box of macarons. Yellows and purples and pinks and reds which vary between red fruits and blueberry and strawberry and lemon and vanilla, chocolate, coffee, caramel and my big favorite, that green one, the pistache. I love them all. I leave the patisserie on an euphoric cloud and with my precious macarons gently tucked next to each other in a quaint box and artfully tied with a pink ribbon. All that is left now, is to nail this sketch, so I can retire with my box of macarons to my favorite chair in my favorite corner…..sigh. I rest my case.
..macarons..
watercolor and dip pen with Sennelier indigo ink in S&B alpha sketchbook, 22.9×15.2cm
***************************************************************
I can totally understand why there are nutcases walking around hugging each tree they come across. sometimes I am one of them. Cause a tree is not just a tree. It is a friend, it stirs our emotion, it is a refuge, that safe place under/or in its branches where we hide from all that scorches us..the sun, the world. The olive tree is all of that for me. I do hug my olive trees and talk to them, touch them, stroke them, care for them, love them. They make me think of sunshine and heat. They makes me hear the cigales. They bring me the scent of lavender and wild herbs in the fields and I see colourful vegetables drizzled with the golden oil from its olives, glistening with crystals of fleur de sel. That is my olive tree.
..olive tree..
watercolor and Prera pilot fountain pen in S&B epsilon sketchbook, 14×21.6 cm
à demain
Ronelle
November yellows
There are colours to wear and colours for the home and colours to just admire. I don’t wear yellow and I don’t decorate my home with yellow, but I love yellow in nature, especially all the autumn shades.
I played around with lines and brushes, brush strokes, splotches and of course colour.
Autumn coloured hydrangeas in aquarelle.
I adore the colours of hydrangeas in the fall. They lose that bright summer blues and pinks and become faded. Even the whites turn a faded green. Some dried brown petals turn the blooms into pieces of art in shades of all colours.
I did the the first sketch too stiff and controlled into a round ball, even though I am not too unhappy with the colours.
So I decided to do another sketch, this time much looser, maybe not immediately recognizable as an hydrangea, but I have never cared about likeness. Loose, fluid painting with personal interpretation is much more important to me.
à bientôt
ronelle
Dipladenia flowers in aquarelle.
We have a humid summer this year…hot and humid which isn’t normal for us. One can clearly see the effect on us humans. Our energy gets sapped by the humidity and many a day I , who adores heat, feel like a limp fish on these mucky days. The Mediterranean plants even more so. These Dipladenias enjoy heat and dry summers , so too they struggle with the heavy humidity. With not their usual abundance of flowers, they still bloom and show off beautifully, quite different from me, who struggled to stay focused on my sketching with no blooming and showing off in sight.
…dipladenia…
..watercolour and pen on Arches watercolor block, HP, 18x26cm..
à bientôt
Ronelle
