I Conquered the Conkers

Or "Bonkers for Conkers" could have been great title too I guess. Here it is, at last... the composition I made with the Horse Chestnuts and some twigs and dried leaves from the tree. It's all in coloured pencil and a lot of fun to do. I'm very happy though that I now can do something else again... This weekend I found my vellum. So maybe.....

Conker

So... not reaching the target of 30 this year. Last year it was my arm and now the cold spoiled it. Oh well, I'll just continue with a few, just for fun. Here's a conker in coloured pencil. There might be more of them since there are still many on the trees. And they are loads of fun to draw.

Sterappel

It has been a while again since my last post. Partially because I haven't painted much since my last blog. At least, not very botanical anyway. BUT now I have finished something that's worth sharing.
Some weeks ago I went to a nursery ("De Vrolijke Noot") of fruit trees and bushes. The owner gave me a cutting from one of his apple trees. The apple is named "Sterappel". That means "Star Apple" if you translate it. Stars, because the apple has very clear bright lenticels on the very dark red skin.
I posted the end result on Flickr and Facebook already and was very happy when Rosie Sanders complimented me on the painting. Rosie made a few years ago the famous Apple Book. She knows a lot about the different varieties and asked me what kind this is. I didn't know the English name of it. I only know the German, French and Dutch name. Later Rosie sent me a bit of more information about the apple: "I've looked it up in the National Apple Register and it seems that it is Reinette Rouge Étoilée, first described in 1830, provenance Belgium or the Netherlands. Has lots of synonyms including Sterappel and Sternrenette. Interesting!". 
What I do know is that this used to be a very popular apple in the Netherlands but has become very rare now. The problem with these apples is that it falls too early from the tree. Often it hasn't got the deep red colour yet when it hits the ground. To give the apples the wonderful, dark colour the apples were placed on straw between the trees to get more sunlight and the cold from the nights. To save the apples from dehydration the apples had to be wetted. Also to get an even red colour the apples had to be turned after a while. Very intensive work if you have a large orchard.

Now, about the painting... I used for this Arches HP (I was out of Fabriano) and painted it first in watercolour. Using masking fluid to save the "stars". After that I put on layers of coloured pencil. And although I did get a very nice and rich dark red colour with the watercolour, the coloured pencils made it even more alive. I really loved this way of working and I think I'll use this technique more. The only thing I don't like is that the watercolours roughen the paper surface. I will have to find a cure for that. More experimenting is needed. 

The painting (only watercolour) with the masking fluid to protect the "stars".

Oh, and remember that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.... right? Not really.... I went to the doctor last week and it turned out that I have a very sportive right arm: a golfer's and tennis elbow (bilateral epicondylitis). With painkillers it's possible to work for about an hour a day. So the next project will take some time to get finished. But I promise, it will be a bit different ;)

Spring is coming!

The very first sign of spring for me is when the Hazel (Corylus avellana) in my back garden starts to flower. The large yellow-green catkins dangling in the wind always make me smile. So fun that the male (the large greenish worms) and female (tiny red fluffy bits) catkins flower on the same twig.

I wanted to paint a larger twig than this but got a bit bored by the catkins. To be honest, I started to paint it very detailed but soon got lazy. And since I was doing it for fun I made a bit impressionistic catkins. At the end I put in some sharper details and shadows. I think I got away with it :P

Playing with greens

Yesterday I was mixing greens. Just experimenting with my browns, yellows, blues and greens. I got some really nice colours but didn't do much with it. Rather stupid not to make something nice with it, I thought. So I started this little memory of a walk through the forest I took last year.

I used a reference photo too but didn't look too much at it. I think the greens I used are a bit more springtime than they actually were when I took that walk (October).
I never work this "free", it's a bit uncomfortable for me but sometimes it's nice to let yourself go and do something entirely different.

Quince

Yesterday Michiel Thomas, a friend I met on Flickr, came to my house to buy one of my drawings. He brought me a large branch from his Quince he has in his garden. On the branch were 3 quinces and I decided to draw one of them. I first made the sketch and today I added the colours. Here it is :)

Romantic

I'm feeling a bit romantic every time I see my Prunus blossom in my garden. I so very much love this little tree.... I made a drawing of it once and a watercolour too (blogged that here). Maybe it's because I just can't get enough of it.
Oh... btw... this is Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis' again :)

Magnolia

Last weekend I was in Breukelen to visit my parents. I always visit my parents at the end of March because my father is having his birthday. So every year I see the beautiful Magnolia tree in my mother's garden and I love it. I always loved it. It is a small one because they have a small garden but the shape is so nice and I love to sit under it. When you look up at this time of the year you'll see this:

It reminds me of a painting I loved as a child:


It's the "Bloeiende Amandelboom" (Almond Blossom, 1890) by Vincent van Gogh. I haven't seen the real thing for some years now. I'm not sure it still is one of my favorites.

Maybe I liked it because it reminded me of my mother's Magnolia :)

Hazel Catkins

This morning the weather was beautiful. A clear blue sky and a wonderful sun. Only the wind was cold and strong. I decided to take Bertus outside in the garden. My Hazel is full of dangling catkins for some weeks now and I really wanted to make a photo of it before it was too late.

Is spring coming?

They say it will come.... It's doesn't feel like spring is coming though.... BUT the snowdrops are starting to flower here and for that reason I wanted to show you this little drop:

I made this one a couple of years ago and it was a difficult drawing because it's white. White is always difficult. It was the first in a series of flowering bulb drawings (still working on it btw). This is made on Bristol paper (I don't work on Bristol anymore, but back then I only used Bristol paper).

Just a quick update on the Alder drawing:

Not finished yet, but I'm getting there. It is such a difficult subject. It has so many different directions, shapes and textures. I hope to finish it this week.

Yesssssssssss

Today I worked hard on the Alder branch. And it went well. But I must say it is maybe one of the most difficult subjects I've done so far.

Anyway... this is just the beginning. It's going to be a big drawing. I hope I'll finish it.

No progress today...

I am working on a large drawing of a branch of the Black Alder tree. It took me one day to make the sketch and get the drawing on the Fabriano. Today the drawing wasn't leading me anywhere. That's very frustrating. I used to keep on working, hoping it would look alright in the end. But most of the time that ended up in a ruined drawing and tears. So, having learned from my mistakes, I decided to stop the drawing for today. It's not good to mess the drawing up now (as if it ever is a good time to mess it up).

I thought I would do some crocheting instead. I am making a cat. And since it is a bit cold, the cat needs a scarf. I made her a grey spiral scarf but it was too dull for her. So now I've made another one. It's purple.... I guess I will have to make a second cat to match the grey scarf...

Aaah, life is hard.....

Winter Buds of Cornus mas

I first had no idea what kind of shrub this was but my friend Michiel Thomas helped me with that. It's a European Cornel, one of the Dogwood family. It was planted beside the road in our village and I liked it. It will get very yellow flowers soon, but for now it is still looking very pretty (I don't like very yellow flowers).

My first coloured pencil drawing after the surgery. Not a masterpiece. But I'll keep trying.

Coloured pencil on Fabriano designo 5 Liscia paper. 25 x 11 cm (the branch)

Check out the large size: View On White

Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis'

I made another watercolour today. This is a Prunus in my garden. It flowers from November until April. I made a coloured pencil drawing of it once and I like the tree so much, I thought I'd try a watercolour too. I love my Winsor & Newton "Opera Rose"....

Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis'
about 15 x 4 cm, watercolour on Fabriano designo 5 Liscia.

Lime

I try to walk Ward to school with Bertus at least once a day (or to pick him up). Bertus loves to play on the playground at school with all the big kids... Next to the school is a church with a lot of Common Lime trees around it. I love these trees. I love it when they flower and I also love their seeds. At this time of the year they start to drop their pretty seeds. They are a bit odd. It looks as if they come growing out of a leaf. But is not a leaf. The leaves have a very different shape. I guess the tree grows this on the seeds to use as some sort of a glider.

Yesterday when we walked Ward to school I found some very nice seeds and, that same afternoon, I made a drawing of it....Here it is:

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Common Lime/Tilia europaea/Hollandse Linde