Pine Cones in Aquarelle

 Michele C created these two 'Pommes de Pin' and I am so happy with her painting, it is so  transparent and strong at the same time !

 

The Aquarellistas (nowadays painting together on Tuesdays ànd Thursday afternoons) worked on a theme that is  representative for the time of the year, good for Christmas cards and also the perfect shape for a zentangle! We had pictures and real ones to choose from and actually everyone chose to just paint them beautifully! Enjoy these lovely watercolours, they are all created in around 2 hours!.

 This great looking set, has a great contrast. It is painted by Vanessa. Clearly a sunny day, you can see that in the shadow!

 Judith's pine cones have such a wonderful light. She used burnt sienna to create the warm and still neutral colour of the surface. Well done!!

 This wonderful set of three different cones was created by Michele F. I love the composition

Awesome standalone pine cone of Helene - painted using complementary colours, well done!

Brigitte was participating for the first time, she is a very good oil painter - and as you can see she instinctively knows how to use watercolours too! Excellent!

Same for Mona - experienced in Trompe l'oeils - very fine painting, she tackled the 'boules' and the 'pommes de  pin' in a short time with such a loose and spontaneous style. I can't wait for her next aquarelles!!

 And here are Diana's pine cones, they are so spatial!! The salt gives it just enough texture and the light does the rest. Lovely painting!

Many more paintings were started and finished, with other subjects. You can admire them in the next post or by clicking here

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...

 

The River Lovers in watercolours

Last summer, the Aquarellista group visited an exhibition in la Colle sur Loup of artist and Hangar member Jo Painter. She paints in oils, and on canvases that are quite large - very different from what we do - but we loved the craftsmanship and the warmth of the colours, the texture and brushstrokes of the oil. One of our favourites was the awesome painting 'River Lovers'.

While admiring it, Michele F wondered if it would be possible to paint something like this in watercolours. And I bravely said - Yes of course!

Then it was summer holiday, then I forgot it for a while, and then - we set to work. It is time consuming and not so very inspiring to create full copies of an existing painting, so we decided to do it the way we have more often made paintings together: we all paint a part, and then connect the parts. It was not at all easy, but we did it! I have to make a special mention of Brenda. She painted many parts, and kept the project going with her determination and enthusiasm...

 

 

Brenda, Carol, Hélène, Brenda, Marie-Claire, Michele F, Brenda, Brenda and yours truly together created a painting, in 12 pieces, on paper, flat, and transparent - that still comes close to the original:

Thank you very much Jo for working with us on this, it was a fun and informative project!

Lonely little buildings in watercolours

Last weekend I drove from Amsterdam back to Chateauneuf - and on the way through beautiful France, the inspiration for the subject du jour came easy... So many different landscapes - and often they had a little house or shed or church or ruin in them, which enhances the feeling that there is a 'story' behind it...

You will see below that it was a good subject - everyone had their own ideas, and there is an amazing variety of styles and 'stories'. Most of the artists need a bit more time to finish their work. But I am excited about the quality as well as the poetry!

 

Michelle C. with a stunning August landscape. And a little lonely yet comforting barn, where you can hide for a storm...

You need to enlarge this not-yet-finished watercolour of Leonie (click on the picture) to appreciate the texture of that little stone church on top of the hill. SO delicate.

The picture doesn't do justice to Anna-Karin's super-atmospheric Tuscan house. Next week I have new and better equipment and this painting will be finished, so watch this space!

It's been a hot summer day and now a storm is coming. The wind is already blowing - such good tones chosen by Michele F . Or maybe you see another story?

 Sylvie D. went for the wet-in-wet spontaneous landscape with what I call 'Chinese' mountains. And then on the left that little house... Incredibly atmospheric

 

 Judith's lonely house, Nordicc style, but with warmth despite the cold and that reflection is superb!

Glenn finished a lonely house in the snow, also a 'Nordic' image with such a charming simplicity - and then started number 2 in the series, a warmer and more southern one - Tuscan atmosphere

 Hélène has made such an impressive start with a small house in the endless fields. Before that she worked on the Corsican mountains, with the excellent wet-in-wet sky. And the sunbeams. Unfortunately  just lifting the paint (my advice I am ashamed to admit) to achieve that, didn't give the desired subtle effect. But still, a lovely and much-admired painting!

This is a perfect postcard, created by Diana. She really had to work to get to this result, the top half was fantastic immediately but the bottom didn't come out the way she wanted. She persevered, and look what it has become. Awesome! 

And then there were 3 other subjects

This is -as you may recognize- an exercise, and it is painted by Isa. There are so many versions of the picture and this is definitely in the top 3! Well done!

 Michele C finished her poetic still life by painting a dark background. The glass is now coming out spectacularly, and balances the composition...

 Maud has started a mixed media work with a 'Zen' character... The buddha is created in charcoal and crayon, the bridge in the background is watercolours