Amaryllis in watercolor

Joyeux Noël 2010!

Watercolor and pencil on Fabriano watercolor paper, 31×23 cm.

 

A few sketches in December

A few sketches of December…a leisurely walk by the Loire, some faces in a bar and a shed in a friends garden.

…a shed in a friend’s garden…

.. sketchbook 15,3×25 cm, watercolor and pen…

…bare tree at the loire…

..sketchbook 15,3×25 cm, watercolor and pen..

…faces in a bar…

..sketchbook 15.3 x25cm, watercolor and rotring pen..

Garden sketches in December 2010

I stuck my nose out in the cold today…just outside the atelier and sketched the Jack Frost plant, whitered from the frost and the dry iris sculptures and a tree and shrub, struggling to hold onto some last colour.

..whithering Jack Frost(Brunnera macrophylla)..
..Plum tree..

 

..Dry Siberian iris pods..

…à la prochaine…

Ronelle

Autumn sketches II..leaves and Marie-Christine’s cheetah.

Picking up leaves on my walk by the Loire resulted in autumn sketches number II during our art afternoon earlier today.  This is what I did, while Marie-Christine continued working on her cheetah.

All my sketches were done in pencil, pen and watercolor sketchbook, 19x20cm

…yellows in autumn…


…reds in autumn…


With her permission, I photographed Marie-Christine’s painting this afternoon, to show the stage where it is at now…far from finished of course. It is an old painting that she is reworking: keeping the cheetah, and started changing the background, wanting to work towards a warm African feel with heavy skies. Looks good to me already so far!

..Marie-christine’s cheetah in progress…

oil on canvas

Autumn sketches I..hydrangeas in an autumn garden.

I’ve cleaned my garden, prepared it for autumn and the colours are already turning beautiful golds and reds…and old colours, like the hydrangeas.

This afternoon was the first of my art afternoon with MArie-Christine. We do such different work, which is inspiring. I forgot to ask her psrmission to show her piece here today, but she will be continuing next week, and maybe even the week after, so keep an eye open on Thursdays to see how we progress on our pieces.

For today I only did two sketches in pen and watercolor, but from next week on I’ll also do more serious work…I was so fatigued today and didn’t have the energy to do an oil painting..

Sketches of the autumn hydrangeas in the garden just outside my atelier..

both sketches in pen and watercolor in sketchbooks.

…hydrangeas and greens…

…hydrangeas and urn…

Sketches of a future kitchen window an an apple tree.

Work is still continuing here at Coin Perdu. I made a sketch of my future kitchen window from the outside in. It will be one of my most favorite places in our mountain home, that is for sure. From the inside it has the most stunning view and I can already imagine the inspiration on my cooking!

On a  late afternoon, while the fire was crackling for our dinner, I stood at a little table with watercolor, black Indian ink and a charcoal stick and just scribbled down an apple tree down below. The paper was far too small for such an exercise but it was the only ones I have here. I’d like to do this again, but with large pieces of paper. the exercise was good though, bringing a bit of freedom to a stiff wrist.


The bottom sketch (to the right, apple tree 2) is upside down. I put down the tree trunk in ink with a big brush, left it to dry, took off to see to the salad and when I came back, the wind took it from the table. I picked it up and watercolored int he foliage, only to realize after a while I did it upside down. Well, it still served the purpose, not needing to be good art.

All sketches done in Indian ink with Japanese brushes, watercolor and charcoal sticks on CP watercolor paper, 29,7x42cm (11 3/4″x16 1/2″)