watercolour – Page 9 – Africantapestry

Posted on September 17, 2015September 17, 2015 by Myfrenchkitchen · 4 Comments

Sketches of old Fench soupiere and plates.

I love my old French tableware…soupiéres, platters, plates, bowls and other dishware. Sketching them is quite challenging though, since they have such nice old patinas that I would love to capture. The only way for me to get that is to use different media. In the 2 sketches below, I used J. Herbin inks, De-Atramentis inks, watercolour, watercolour pencils, nib pen, pilot prera pen and gouache. I think I sort of got some patina on the dishes..

The sketches below are an old French soupiére, a Polish jug with my chickens’ feathers that I stick in at will.The second sketch is an old French platter and oval plate.

French soupiére and Polish jug

mixed media in Stillman & birn sketchbook, epsilon series14X21.6cm

Old French platter and plate

mixed media in Stillman & Birn sketchbook, epsilon series14X21.6cm

à la prochaine

Ronelle

Posted on September 16, 2015September 16, 2015 by Myfrenchkitchen · 2 Comments

Sketches around a cup of coffee.

Simply sketching in a tea shop in St Céré and having a coffee and croissant. No fanfare. Tout simple.

watercolour and pentel brush pen in Stillman & Birn sketchbook, 14×21.6cm

watercolour and pilot prera pen in Stillman & Birn sketchbook, 14×21.6cm

à bientôt

Ronelle

Posted on September 13, 2015September 13, 2015 by Myfrenchkitchen · 8 Comments

Hibiscus in watercolour.

It is raining outside, proper weather for a nice tajine, which I already have simmering on the stove. In my atelier corner, stands a vase with white hibiscus from the garden and in my Stillman and Birnsketchbook, a sketch of those hibiscus flowers.

After turning the sketch around several times, I felt finally that it looks better upside down, as in the image below. when looking at the top picture the eye wna&ts to get in at the top right corner and run down diagonally towards the bottom. Most of the time it feels uncomfortable to let the eye travel from the top to bottom. It feels more natural to travel from the bottom , upwards, over the painting and out, which is what happens in the upside down version, bottom sketch.

à bientôt

Ronelle

Posted on September 11, 2015September 11, 2015 by Myfrenchkitchen · 14 Comments

Books, books and books.

For those who don’t know..we are temporarily living in the barn , while we are restoring the main house. We have been here for already about 3 years..and yes, it does take that long to restore a house if you do everything yourself. In the meantime, in the barn, we a have everything we need to be comfy. That includes books. Many books.For the time, they are stacked on make-do shelves. Even if they were stacked on beautiful custom made shemlves, it wouldn’t look any better than it does now. somehow we are unable to keep bookshelves neat. It is just how it is.

..Books 1..

Watercolour and pilot prera pen in Stillman 1 birn sketchbooks, epsilon series 14X21.6cm

..Books 2..

Watercolour and pilot prera pen in Stillman & Birn sketchbooks, epsilon series 14X21.6cm

à bientôt

Ronelle

Posted on September 10, 2015September 10, 2015 by Myfrenchkitchen · 9 Comments

Beaulieu and people sketches

I am struggling enormously with my sketching lately. The whole process of art doing in my atelier is actually on the struggle. My art has taken a dive for the worse, but hopefully it will resurface with vigor soon. In the meantime I just follow the giant Nike’s advice: “Don’t think, just do it”. All in all, I felt better after doing these sketches.

All sketches done in the Stillman & Birn, Epsilon series, 14×21.6cm with watercolor and pilot prera pen.

I sat in the square in Beaulieu, first doing the Wednesday morning market and afterwards the view down the street.

I also did some people sketches while having a coffee. I find I have lately been moving into feathering again when drawing and I absolutely hate feathering. It always happens to me when I feel insecure in my art making. What I call feathering : I don’t draw a line in one go, I feather- feather in the direction I want a line to go, a lot of fiddling with shape and line…awful! It was good to get back into one line drawing, or rather sketching, by doing these people. they are wonky, but I feel good about the line work. More and more people don’t want to be the object of observation and I really try to respect that by being so discreet and unobtrusive as possible, making my observation a somewhat off the mark. I have to train my eye again to get to that discreet-drawing-level.

..pantalon rouge..