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!

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!

Soap Bubbles in watercolours

The lightest, airiest soap bubbles by - Ilse

A big group of Aquarellistas got together in the Hangar last week, to paint 'soap bubbles! It is a truly difficult subject - we painted from photos because the still life doesn't last long enough for us 😜. The results are surprisingly good and we learned so much from it! The great thing about working from photo's, is that you start recognizing the basic 'rules' so with a bit of practice we will be able to do this more spontaneous. But here are some stunning examples to start with!

Liz's truly soapy foamy bubbles

Very strong light in this impressionist bubble work by Michele C

 Interesting bubble with refelcting highlight from Hélène 

 And another set of bubbles by Ilse

 Judith finished her broken plate and just started with these bubbles. You can already imagine how good they will look with highlights and a slightly darker background!

Luckily I already told Sylvie D. that exceptionally, the photo somehow doesn't show how good the painting is! The real thing shines and shimmers and has a beautiful mystery... more next time!

Diana painted this amazing set of bubbles! People were asking, is this a watercolour? YES it is. With lots of Payne's grey and Indigo... Diana then started a next one, with a more transparent approach. Needs some highlights here and there and then it will be very convincing as well!

 

This O-so transparent soap-bubble painting by Jutta was the inspiration for Di and she is right, this painting will be awesome when it is finished!

If Celina pulls this one off it will be legendary!!! I look so forward to the next step & finished painting! Love the little girl - somehow reminds me of aquarellista Bibi.

As always there was other artwork produced next to the 'sujet du jour'! Last week's lonely buildings were finished:

 Glen's 'birds view' on a Tuscan lonely farmhouse - great stuff!

Hélène let the sunshine in! Lots of stories imaginable here too...

And last but not least, Jutta's lonely little building - it is so cute!!

 

 Remote aquarellista Sandra has made real progress with her tangle of leaves, painted on heavy, paint-absorbing handmade paper. Exciting developments - I wonder what this will look like when it is finished!

 Liz also tweaked her silver beads - and they are ready to be picked up! (Maybe as a logo for a jewelry maker?)

The broken plate - now finished. Judith did a good job on the contrast, and I see a story here as well, because brokenn as it is, it looks so complete...

 

Maud a fait un travail formidable sur cette photo de vieille Grasse. Note qu'elle a utilisé du gesso pour lui donner plus de texture, aspect un peu 'antique' reussi!

And last but not least, Marie-Claire put her own beautiful cat in the misty flowy background. It will be refined and detailed next time - but it already looks like a good start!

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