Chess, Crystals, Christmas Cards, a Clock and Canines - in Watercolours

Anna-Karin finished her chess pieces. She bravely added a transparent (Schmincke) orange to the background and darkened the black fields. The finished picture has a warm and classic atmosphere yet has not lost its spontaneity

Liz finished her second chess board, again a slightly estranged one with it's folded corner... is the opponent unhappy? Or is it just a very good idea of a paper chess board (light and easily transportable).

In the previous post (below this one) you can read about all the watercolours we created with pine cones as subject. But of course there were also Aquarellistas who worked on other beautiful and interesting subjects:

 

 Isabel for instance, who finished her tree as one of the first! she loved the exercise that she cleverly combined with zentangle patterns, and the exercise loved her right back as you can see 😊

After her excellent pine cones Judith had time left to do a portion of her moomin' Zentangle

Marie-Claire's creativity also grew using the Zentangle technique! Look at these soft delicately moving plant-like shapes...

And after finishing the tree, Isabel started a Christmas card, again in Zentangle style!

Michele C. finished her snowflake - it is SO good in every way, well painted, spontaneous, mysterious and a fantastic sparkle!

And here is another awesome icy work, Sylvie D. painted it. It is quite abstract but it tells me a deep story about being little in the winter and looking through the frozen windows

And how about the gorgeous New Years card by Marie-Claire - also snowflake-themed. She used candle wax, salt and white felt pen and it turned out so well!

  

  Violet finished her beautiful still life with pumpkins. It is a present for a family member - who will be delighted no doubt, because it is terrific! The little cute penguin toddler below is also Violet's...

 

 Jutta continued with her cards for friends and family. They will love them no doubt. here you see 4 out of an impressive stack, full of experiments of which she learns a lot. Sounds like clear win-win!

Work in progress: These 4 original cards, designed by Anna-Karin.Mars Black over colours gives depth and feels as if you look through something...

Maud travaille sur un tableau d'une horloge ancienne. Elle a travaillé si dur et au début, la peinture semblait vouée à l'échec - mais maintenant, elle est si belle et je suis très fière de ce qu'elle fait!t!

 Carol finished her awesome group of Norfolk Seals. They are so gorgeous, slowly enjoying themselves on the sand... And se started another animal - a funny -and lovely looking- dog. What a character!

Snowflakes in watercolours (& Zentangles & Christmas card ideas & more)

The snowflake Judith created has it all - the cold, the transparency, the imperfection of the real (not plastic) crystal and the smoothness of freshly fallen snow in the background

Snowflakes or Ice Crystals was the subject of this week. Good for interesting watercolours, with possible use of making fluid, candles, fatty pastels (white) and salt. But also great subject for Christmas cards, and zentang-ling. Results as always creative, original, very different and hopefully inspiring!

Celina's imaginary snowflakes - wonderfully zen and good composition with a lot of depth!

The beautiful snowflakes by Hélène - the amazing background is achieved with different shades of blue and then adding salt

 Michèle C. used a little bit of masking fluid for this fantastic crystal that shines like a star and wll be even more delicate when it is finished...

Here a combination of candle wax, salt and different shades of blue paint, spontaneously combined by Marie-Claire. Next time she will add a couple of stars in white ink to perfect the picture...

Diana combined the snowflake with zentange patterns and created a lovely looking square...

 Diana's crystal is the bridge with the Zentangles that were produced and finished - a great way to spend the last 10 minutes for instance like Judith did last Thursday:

  

The start of another Zentangle by Judith, so early stages that  it is not yet completely abstract! 

 Marie-Claire's production. Her zentangles - although very different, both in colour and pen - look like aquarium- or deep sea pictures, very zen and inspiring!

  

Michele C.'s funny zentangle cats now have some starrs and balls in the background to make it all come together...

 Of course there are also the aquarelistas who paint their own subjects. Here's what they achieved this week, we start with the animals:

Carol is looking for 'bleak skies', something we don't have here in the South of France, where the sky is (almost) always blue. These Norfolk seals are so gorgeous - even when they don't have a sky yet! Watch this space for the next stage...

And how about Cathie's sheep?! Two strong and independent characters well-painted with a lot of humor - and the one-hair-brush 😊. Fantastic Cathie!

 

 Maud wasn't happy with the cat she painted last week, and started over. She was right, this one (below) is so much better & cuter! Above a portrait of Hedwig, Harry Potters' cat. Special is the use of gesso on the wings, which gives an interesting structure...

 After finishing her first robust Chess Game painting, Liz felt like doing another one. More about that next time. The large, stone pieces on the rocks are finished and the addition with a part of the black and white fields is excellent

Sandra has created these tulips in a freestyle way with a big brush. lightly inspired by Carol Carter (who will come back in this blog one day- an interesting artist!)

 Vanessa has started the portrait of her granddaughter, the lovely and funny Esmé. Drawing is the difficult part and that's now done! Very well done even . Can't wait for the next step: Adding the colours!

And last but not least: the ongoing Christmas cards-production is going pretty well ...

 (The first batch of Jutta's cards)

Michele  - Vanessa - Violet and  Diana created  some good-looking cars

Like Jutta, Leonie started a whole series of cards with different ideas...

 

From Chess to Chat - A wide range of subjects in Watercolours

 Jutta's fabulous chessboard, I absolutely love the 'loose' style!

The Aquarelistas are more and more productive - especially now that we also have a session on Thursday! And a post with too many paintings won't get the attention it deserves, that's why I seperately show you the overview of what was done next to the Zentangles in today's other post 😃. Starting with the chess boards and pieces, ending with Maud's Chat - and everything in between

 

The finished board by Michele C. It is astonishing! I am so happy with what she has achieved in such a small period of time!

 Liz's large stone Chess painting is getting sturdier and the composition has fallen into place...

 Anna Karin has added the board underneath. It gives her painting such depth

 

Sylvie D. was away for a couple of weeks. Once back she finished her soap bubble-inspired painting. I think it is seriously awesome

Isabel D. worked on the forground-background exercise and finished with zentangle in the tree.The result is really great!!

 

Carol tweaked her already-gorgeous lonely wind mill on the water front. It is now perfect! We all love it to bits

 

The gorl with the blue scarf by Marie-Claire.Very beautiful, in colour as well as shape! Well done...

Sylvie let herself be inspired by Modigliani for this fabulous nude.

 

Maud a mis le dessin sur son papier, en couleurs Si vous regardez à travers vos cils, vous pourrez distinguer un chat blanc dans une poussette rose et des nombreux jouets: un commande!

As you can understand I am so proud of our group - both by the quality of the painting and the hard work... Especially impressive if you know that we are also working on Christmas Cards... In a next week's post I'll present some of those!

Aquarelle Chess

In last week's sessions (we also own the Thursday afternoon now 😊) the Aquarellistas used Chess pieces and boards as their inspiration... As always, the difference in everyone's styles makes it very interesting to look at the paintings.There are so many ideas, interpretations and perspectives - and everyone gives their best!
I am very proud of our group, and here's the work - for you to enjoy:

Celina's Knight, Tower and Bishop, on an unusual board. (The marble effect is achieved by sprinkling a bit of coarse salt on the wet paint) It is somehow very calming to look at and I am curious about how it will look when finished!

This still and determined set is painted by Anna-Karin and her big pointy brush. She also used salt and the effect (always a surprise) is awesome!

 Glen had to leave earlier so she must have worked hard on her chess board, it is almost finished! She will paint the background a soft blue so that the highlights are the only white and will come out a bit stronger.

This is the subtle start of a beautiful painting by Michele C.The white pieces in the background have blue masking fluid on them and that creates an interesting effect! When they are black it will be a different look -- but no doubt very good.

Liz is going for a huge stone chess game, not placed on a board but on pebbles. Still a lot of painstaking paintwork to do, but knowing Liz she will pull it off!

 Judith carefully constructed her chess pieces using masking fluid for the light parts. She came back on Thursday and finished it. Best she's done up to now! It has great volume, light and shadows on and below the pieces. Perspective improved and salt on the black for a marble effect. Well done!

 

 Helene's Queen - a monumental shiny chess piece. It is obvious that it is not finished - and I look forward to seeing the reflection of the black and white on it!

Jutta first finished one of her soap bubble paintings, but I want to show you the drawing, because of the exciting perspective. The colours will come next week!

News from the 'bubble' project:

  Both Jutta's soap bubbles now finished!

 Celina's soap bubbles - and where they come from - now completed. The girl is not the focal point - but she is so cute - and there's a story there...

 Judith's soap bubbles finished and I think we can say she nailed them!

No painted soap bubbles but marbles - and how! First exercise, well-done by Katherine

And here some inspiring 'other creations'.

 Isa works on the background (bluish)- foreground (reddish)-and-details-tree.

Inspired by the 'lonely houses', Carol started this lonely mill. It is not yet finished, but it already has so much character. As does the painting of the girl with her brothers - version2!

 

Sylvie M could make it last Thursday, we were happy to see her again! Her arm is still hurting but that doesn't keep her from making wonderful watercolours. How about this girl with the pearl earring!

  Maud a terminé son Bouddha. C'est une commission pour une salle d'attente et je suis sûr qu'il va jouer un rôle important pour réconforter et calmer les personnes qui attendent ...

Reminder: a Zen Watercolour session will also be organised every Thursday from 2 - 4.30, same subject, same structure...