Swapping I

Not Picasso - but a combined effort of Ann Edwards and Helene van der Kroft!

To swap - a great thing to do if you are painting together, like we do... It will make you come out of your comfort zone, experiment, be triggered by something outside yourself and last but not least be less "result" driven. The Aquarellista's did it last week - and will do it again when we are getting together next time... Maybe it is an idea for you too!

A real prizewinner - started by Brenda Moorehouse, finished by Lies Timmermans

This the swapping principle:Stretch mouldmade arches grain torchon on large boards. Everybody starts a background - knowing that this painting will be finished by somebody else. There are no rules, and it is not forbidden to make it difficult -or weird- for the next person! Then you swap and you get that strange background, made by somebody else - and you let yourself be inspired by what you see...

Marianne van Wijngaarden did a great job on Hélène van der Kroft's pattern background

"Result" may not be what we were after - but the work has actually come out quite good! And we learned a lot from doing it. Sorry once more for the bad quality pictures - had to take them with my phone...

I proudly present my background - finished by Cathie van der Stel

Ann Edwards finished Cathie's background and made a Science fiction landscape

Cathie did another background - that was finished by Brenda Moorehouse into a very interesting and playful abstract composition...

And Marianne's background - with regular stamps in masking fluid, made into chinese wallpaper by Marina

Faces II

Last week we semi-finished the faces, leaving room for experiment and other subjects - but all related to "light". Here's an overview of the results up to now:

Girl smelling washing powder by Cathie van der Stel Two versions of a wedding portrait by Brenda Moorehouse
(one in Acrylics - one in Aquarelle, I know which version I prefer :-))

Girl reading music by Ann Edwards

Stage one and the finished product of Sandra Seymour Dale's "Nude"

Above... 3 stages of Marina Teding van Berkhout's Boys.

She will finish this and then I'll show you a bigger version!
And to top all this off, a subtle landscape

by Marianne van Wijngaarden

Tuesday we'll meet up again and we'll do a "swapping" session: I'll update you about it later, but the idea is that you create a background, knowing that it is for somebody else: after you finish you give it to another aquarellista... It is a very good exercise that helps you get out of your comfort zone, leaves room for experiment and makes the need for "result" a bit less strong. More about it next post!

Exhibition in Théoule

Both Marina's participated in a big show in Théoule sur Mer. The theme was "in the footsteps of van Gogh" and in total 79 (!!) Dutch artists that live in France showed their work... We were the only aquarellista's - there was much acrylic and oils, as well as sculptures and other techniques. It was very well-visited (it's the season!) and we (the Marina Artists team) got lots of commissions out of it for portraits!

Faces I

Lies Timmermans

Still working on and with "light", the aquarellista's have concentrated on faces last week. Very good results were made, not everything is finished yet (as a matter of fact we could call every post "work in progress") but here's a couple of good ones - hope you'll be inspired!!

Cathie van der Stel

NB: In September there will be a group-exhibition in the centre culturel in Chateauneuf de Grasse where at least a third of the space will be covered by the Aquarellista's!!

Sandra Seymour-Dale

And last but not least a picture of a work in progress of Marina Teding van Berkhout - she'll create a very dark background and experimented with masking fluid - which doesn't photograph so well! But I like the picture so much, it looks so mysterious and the little men so funny - update about how it turned out - next week!

Work in progress...

The Aquarellista's have been looking into "light". We have studied the work of Rogger Oncoy (see link on the right) and tried to copy some of his portraits. This led to interesting discoveries and the next step will be to use his expression of light in portraits of our own subjects...

More about that next time, and here are some interesting examples:
A particularly good Rogger Oncoy made by Marina Teding van Berkhout

And another "Oncoy" copy - of Cathie van der Stel. She is now deciding how to finish this, as a copy or use her own imgination and make it personal. If it works out we'll keep you posted...

Green Light by Cathie van der Stel

Sandra Seymour Dale added a bit of pigment to her Ochre Village: spot the differences! And decide for yourself which you like best...

Sandra also studied the light, with her own subject