Still Life painting with Aquarelle

 

Small group again last week - but we had a great afternoon, painting from an actual still life. We kept it simple, as it was a new thing to some of us but we are definitely going to repeat it! Above the still life from 3 angles

Denise painted her impression in just 3 colours, yellow, green and Payne's Grey. It looks like a silk screen, and she has understood the composition. I love it

Corine works fast and accurate - so she finished her still life in 1,5 hours. Admitted, she didn't paint everything, but still 😊She used the rest of her time well, painting one of the back-up teapots that I brought!

Here's the interpretation by Martine, she thought long and hard about a background and then daringly made it bright red. and painted the objects in a graphic way. It is such a good idea and I'd love to see more of her work in this style!

I also gave it a try and some things went wrong, like the blue background that was not doing it a favour - but I really like my flowers!

With such a small group there is space for some extra attention to an artist and this time it is Sandra. She always creates such interesting stuff - here are some examples:

 

So interesting as an image. Technique, composition. I have turned it around and this to me was the best angle. my brain recognises a flower, a fox, yet knowing Sandra it is possible that it is just an abstract. What do you see?

Here's a painting for the Hidden Villages expo (to be announced) isn't it wonderful? I love everything about it, the perspective, the colours, the misty atmosphere, the actual subject.

 

This one looks inspired on Venice, yet in an other way than most artists show it. Dark and threatening, the gondolas of...well, something not happy. Sandra is a remarkable artist who also dares to show the less pleasant side...

 

Next session hopefully everyone will have recovered from their respective flues, be back from skiing, Paris, Auvergne, Italy and Antarctica and have said goodbye to their visitors, so that we can show and create a better variety!
 

Spring time in Aquarelle

It is starting to smell of Spring around here, and that was our inspiration of last week! Different interpretations and I didn't take all the photo's, but here's the gist:

WIP by Sandra, a large size Tulip in Progress

 

Corinne had missed the Gerbera-day and caught up with us by using it as her spring-inspiration...

Martine created this amazing lamb, with wonderful colours and mark that background!!

WIP of the amazing Anna Karin. It is always such a pleasure to see her work with the really big pointy brush and generous drips of paint, exactly in the right place.

Roxane's cuter than cute ducklings. They are so fluffy and the sunlight is absolutely fabulous.

Charlie painted lamb twins in the sun. The glowing effect is masking fluid - what a sunny picture!

Janine created this very strong northern light -painting - not exactly Spring-inspired, but she really felt like finishing her pre-Paris project and did it - in style! Super cool.

 

Painting Gerberas in Watercolours

Because we had the Annual General meeting of our association Le Hangar before the Aquarellistas got together, ànd because I just returned from a weekend in Amsterdam, we chose a simple subject: Gerberas. They are straightforward flowers, the bigger, colourful sisters of the daisy. And we all loved it! There were all kinds of variations as you can see below:

   
Wonderful in all respects, this one, painted by Martine! The colours, the contrasts, the background, It is all so well done...

The other true Gerbera was painted by Charlie. Usually I am told that my photos are better than the original, but here that is definitely not the case, the original is much better. So sorry!


Glen brought actual flowers!! and created this sweet little still life from it. She also studied daisies...

And she finished with a lovely Morning Glory - The white variety! A production for a couple of weeks, which is good because she will be travelling for some time...

In the middle of all that Gerbera painting, Judith (who actually also felt somewhat inspired by the subject, see below) suddenly found the perfect gesture. It was breathtaking - I tried to make a video of it drying, but that is literally watching paint dry for an hour. It was much more exciting to see it happening. I summarize it with the double-picture above. And this is how it ended up looking, especially notice the lovely borders: 

 

And Judith also created some wild 'crazy paintings' (© Charlie) that had Gerbera colours in them...

Laura's beautiful wedding painting suffered an irreparable blow of a blue ink-stripe over the bride's face. What a pity! But hero as she is, she will start over in good Aqarellista tradition. She learnt from it and the next version will be much faster.

And last but not least, Martine's cabbage now finished. It is Absolutely Fabulous!
There was also a cabbage from Michele our correspondent in Bretagne - it has disappeared and I will try to get it again from her!

That was it folks! A pleasure as always and watch this space for more...

Portraits in Aquarelle

School holidays here in the South of France, many of us Aquarellistas are occupied with kids. But on the other hand, a teacher visited for a try out. She is interested in watercolours yet can only make it in the holidays. It was a pleasure to have her test the waters and she will return at another occasion. The 'regulars" painted portraits - there is a new Portrait Workshop with Marina Teding van Berkhout on Monday afternoons and this way they could bring their technical knowledge into practice.

I am also off to the kids, so I'll keep it short and leave the comments to you! Enjoy our work...

WIP by Roxane

WIP by Anne

WIP by Martine

Anna Karin picked some wild flowers outside the Hangar and built a small still life. WIP, very subtle, doesn't need too much anymore if you ask me.


Corinne II has experience with watercolours from ages ago - but still nailed the 'boules' exercise! One with an example (above) and one from imagination - and experimenting with Complementary Colours





And last but not least, Laura has started with a double portrait of a newly married couple. She managed the drawing and made a promising start. We may have to keep this a secret, but of course I will show you the result!!

                                                  

Painting Cabbages in Watercolours

Not everyone likes cabbage, I am one of the people who is not exactly fond of the taste, but I do appreciate their beauty! And so did the other Aquarellistas, as you can see below.

Martine's green cabbage for instance, is gorgeous, it looks like a strong green rose!


An amazing, abstract red cabbage by Charlie

Laura's brilliant red cabbage - we wonder if she should maybe leave the masking fluid on...

Work in Progress by Anna. It definitely deserves its' shadows...

Awesome abstracted, effect-full stuff by Denise, who experimented for us with sponges, cling film and salt!

I fiddled around with one too. WIP, to be detailed with lots of veins later. Maybe.


You may remember last weeks' painting by Denise. She added one tiny detail and created a lot more perspective with it!

And Laura finished her vase, and improved the painting so much!

 

Watercolour versions of a Weeping Willow on the River Bank in Summer

Some time ago I saw a breathtaking image somewhere on my laptop. It said "Saule Pleureur Sur La Rive Du Fleuve En Ete" (or Weeping Willow on the River Bank in Summer) by Claude Monet. It was a bit different from what I know but really attractive and since we were up for another 'paint your version of a famous painting' I thought this was a great candidate. I searched all of google, did an image search and I hardly found anything. Except for the 'painting' on Pinterest and professional hand-painted copies for sale. And I thought it is probably created with Artificial Intelligence. A good one - and we can paint our hearts out without worrying about copyrights or anything.

This is the painting, if you know more about it, please let us know!!

And here are our personal interpretations:

This is such a wonderful version, created by Charlie. She has given it her own swing, staying true to the subject and keeping it very simple. Loving the weeping willow in the right upper corner and the light on the water.


Denise's interpretation is also awesome. No weeping willow, but a fabulous river bank and beautiful water and atmosphere


Anna's water is gorgeous, and she has incorporated the summer. It works - and warms my heart.

Glenn's interpretation takes us further into the landscape. If you look at it a bit longer the river continues in the background. Very nice!

Martine has finished her geometrical  'Hidden Village' (see below) and used those shapes also as a guideline in this interpretation. It is very simple -and it works! compliment for the water!

Roxane has the whole title covered in her version, summer, willow, river bank - and I love all those colourful  flowers

Anne transformed the river into a lake, creating a very light-hearted impressionistic Spring version.

Michele also has a lake in the foreground. With wonderful waterlilies in it. And then a splatter of poppies.

Sonya painted this wet-in-wet version, and didn't agree with the bright red. She decided to create another one, work in progress, may have some flowers in it. I love it, especially the weeping willow and the mysterious dark shape in the foreground! What do you think it is?

Sue worked with a large flat brush and a toothbrush with a mix of white and yellow and it all ended up like this. Fantastic!! What a beautiful vibe!

Judith has first looked at the inspiration picture and then looked inside - and this came out. It is so original and very much her style, No weeping willow - she is in a pretty happy place by the look of it all. And the colours are wonderfully misty. Also check out the borders of the very wet brushstrokes. They are strong and cool and it is the paint that does that for her.

Martine's phenomenal hidden village, so much work and so well structured. There is also a fun element as all those houses have expressions. And there is sun and nature and there is so much to see here. Very well done!

Anna will create a series of carrot paintings, this is the second one. She used salt for the first time and look how wonderful that worked out! Plenty of pigment there to give the -fabulous- effect.