aquarelle – Page 13 – Africantapestry

Posted on November 8, 2014November 8, 2014 by Myfrenchkitchen · 2 Comments

Café sketches

For figurative oil paintings, I use my people sketches for references. Sitting in a café, trying to hide behind a coffee and sketching with subtlety, is always difficult for me. I always feel like intruding, so I really try hard to be quick and get it over with.

The following sketches were all done in Stillman and Birn sketchbook, alpha series, with a Prera fountain pen. Here and there I have added some touches of watercolour(the lunch which was first done in pencil, then the watercolour and then the pen lines were added) and with some I just added slight water touches to bleed the ink.

..enjoying a lunch at Café douceur..

…Two ladies at the coffee counter…

..a soloist performing away(I am very excited about the figurative oil painting from this one)

..a few more faces..

à la prochaine fois

Ronelle

Posted on October 7, 2014October 7, 2014 by Myfrenchkitchen · 5 Comments

Autumn acorns and walnuts…in aquarelle

Autumn is the time I take long walks in the forest/woods and gather mushrooms, and chestnuts, walnut, leaves and everything else that take my fancy. Back in the atelier it gets spread out on every available surface, pinned up on a board, hung on a chandelier, stuck in a vase….and painted or sketched or drawn. However much I love being outside, being in front of the drawing table in the atelier, gives me just as much pleasure.

..walnuts in aquarelle..

watercolour in Daler & Rowney artiusts sketchbook, 21×29,7cm

.walnuts in aquarelle..

watercolour in Daler & Rowney artiusts sketchbook, 21×29,7cm

..working in the “barn atelier” in autumn and winter”..

à bientôt!

Ronelle

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Myfrenchkitchen · 2 Comments

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

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Myfrenchkitchen · 2 Comments

August sketching 14: a red roof in Beaulieu

My august sketching have slipped a little from under me and I lost a few days. The constant rain we’ve been having added to the difficulty of getting out. today’s sketch is just a large simple house with a impressive red tiled roof…I love these red roofs..

..a red roof in Beaulieu..

watercolor and Prera pilot fountain pen in S&B sketchbook

à demain

Ronelle

Posted on August 6, 2014August 6, 2014 by Myfrenchkitchen · 6 Comments

Agust sketching 6: A church and a house in le Pescher.

Le Pescher is a quaint little village not far from us…when our daughter got married there in 2012, we all walked to our cars through the little village from the church, past the bassin, filled with enormous fish! My sketching for today was the church where they got married(well, only the tower, since I ran out of paper for the rest!) and a house opposite the pond on the route we walked.

..a house across the large pond, bassin..

..the little church of Le Pescher..

I received 2 sketchbooks from Stillman & Birn and did my first watercolor in the Epsilon S&B sketchbook, 150gms. It is really too lightweight for my watercolor, but then it isn’t really meant for watercolor, only for drawing with ink and pen. It is very very smooth with no tooth at all, and I don’t even like it for drawing, for that reason. I like a bit of tooth which grabs a medium, whether it is watercolor or pencil or charcoal or whatever. But it is still early days and I only got started with the book, so there is still time to get used to the paper.

One can see the buckling of the paper, which doesn’t bother me too much, but the watercolor makes hard edges and there is no granulation, something I love in watercolor. It is all very flat and smooth. A sketchbook not fit for watercolor, even though I read comments on internet which convinced me to get it for watercolor sketching.

What is nice about these books is that it folds open without the spiral in the middle, allowing one to paint across two pages if you want to. But if I compare this book to my Daler Rowney, (satin finish, 160gms) that I have been doing the latest sketches in, it totally falls short. I personally prefer the Daler Rowney even with the spiral in the middle.

.. The S&B sketchbook and my brass palette with its 16 colours..

à demain!

Ronelle

Posted on August 3, 2014August 3, 2014 by Myfrenchkitchen · 4 Comments

Sketching in august 3: Market scene.

Sundays we spend either at a brocante or at the market in St. Cér2..and coffee and croissant of course! Today was market day in St. Céré with coffee. It was a crazy rainy day with the sun coming out every hour for 10 minutes before it came pouring down again. We sat at the corner café and while I sketched, mon chéri worked(played chess, I think!!) on his computer. I was happy with the sketch I did in pencil. I should’ve only added pen and be done with it, but I couldn’t resist adding watercolour and it all changed…pity.

..pen and watercolor in Derwent artist’s sketchbook, 140x210cm..