Dahlias in Aquarelle

 Catherine has not been for a while (5 years?😝) - but as you can see she still has what it takes.

Not yet finished - but already exciting, her wavy pink dahlia!

As a first subject after the holidays, the Aquarellistas worked on Dahlias. A strong,colourful flower with a shape that is recognisable, yet varies from an almost mathematical regularity to a spontaneous, waving lightness. We had so much choice - everyone picked the dahlia that appealed most - and the interpretations and results are awesome! Here are my remarks - we had no time to do them 'live' as there was a board meeting right after our session...

 This amazing watercolour was created by Michele C. I am impressed - it is both technical and poetic. Looking forward to seeing it finished!

 Another really good representation, by Isabel! She was so good at the Zen tangle stuff that I completely forgot she is still in the starters program - and she did it again! Big Hurray!

Again a completely different style, this one is painted by Liz. Loosely and spontaneous as always, I love it! Not finished, there is still a bit of masking fluid on it but can't go wrong if you ask me!

So gorgeous, Judith's purplish dahlia... A cross between the zen-tangle regular ones and the super spontaneous. Amazing effect of the granulating ultramarine that 'pushes away' the crimson leaving a beautiful red line... She was having fun here and even more with the second, just playing with colours and the natral flow and mix of aquarelle:

Michele F painted a wild Dahlia - that needs a darker background to show it better. Below a simple photo montage to show what it would look like. Just a little change, so much effect

 

Helene finished her yellow Dahlia and she balanced the brownish orange and the green, the light and the shadow, into a perfect, delicate flower with a lot of volume. I love it. Well done!

Jutta's dahlia not yet finished - yet very promising. She used a spontaneous wet-in-wet technique, combined with a more defined shape here and there. Can't wait to see it finished!

This lovely light pink dahlia was drawn so very well by Marie-Claire and the first wash worked out too. Looking very lovely already. Now the challenge to insert the darker pink shapes and maybe a background. I am confident that it will be stunning when finished...

And this last stunning creation is from Sylvie (who else?!). Still needs some work, but not too much. Great idea to do a detail! Love it!

 Of course 'my' subjects are only suggestions, Aquarellistas who want to paint their own subjects are also very welcome - and most of the time they are very inspiring! Here are some of the other creations of our two sessions (Tuesday and Thursdau 2 -- 4.30pm)

Glen fully particiated in the flower thing but dahlias are not her cup of tea/piece of cake, so she decided on daffodils. How Springy and lively they are, well done!

Sandra also created 'other flowers', namely tulips - and it is such a fantastic start, generous and strong and daring colour-wise. Same for the painting below (click on it to see the details) full of the depth and watercolour surprises that you don't see in any other medium...

Maud worked on a distinguished building in Grasse. With a lot of windows, not easy at all in a loose style, but she bravely did it anyway and it is beginning to look good!

Not even finished, but everybody drooled over this sweet dog, with a lot of expression and character.that Cathie is working on. Awesome eyes and love that fur, done in such a delicate way (with the three-hair brush)

 I laugh every time I see Carol's dog-painting. He looks like how I imagine Marmaduke. The background has a colour (green) but that doesn't come out very well on the photo. The duck below, also by Carol, is a strong little guy! Love the picture, love the way he balances his feet - and it definitely tells a story.

Hélène's abstract is a little bit less abstract but even more colourful. If you want to know what it is, read on - or else skip it and let your imagination work...

It is a rope in the water -- with high waves and sunshine, reflection and foam

And last but by no means least, these gorgeous and sexy red ballet shoes by Sylvie M. I love the satin glow and want to see more of that next week - plus maybe a bit of reflection!

Spring Flowers

Dancing flowers by Helene van der Kroft

Last week I brought a bunch of irises from my garden... here's an impression of what the aquarellista's made out of that!

Wonderful still life with Irises and other wild flowers, composed by Anna-Karin Fast in her characteristic direct style

Very subtle Iris painted wet-in-wet by Marina Teding van Berkhout

Brenda Moorhouse, back from the Isle of Man created a biggee - and considers it as a work in progress. But now that I see it, I wonder if it is not just right as it is now...

Lovely and happy bunch of irises by Lies Timmermans: Mysterious background to be added next session!!

"Newvby" Horst gave the iris a try too - and everybody agreed that it looks promising - very promising!

Cathie van der Stel felt like painting from the top of het head - and painted several, amongst them these poppies...

...and these...

...and a couple of gorgeous pink roses, that by the way look as if they are drifting in the water...

>> Scroll down for more aquarellista posts

Flowers & Faces

While some of us were having permanence in the "Poetic Portraits" exhibition in Casablù in Valbonne, the other aquarellista's had their regular Tuesday meeting in the Hangar! We just did what we felt like, no theme, and this is what we came up with... not bad eh?!

Flowers by Ann Edwards, note the fabulous combination of ochre tones and Payne's grey

Tulips by AnnaKarin Fast, aren't they a bunch of happy flowers! Very subtle composition too...

Very interesting work of Sandra SeymourDale. Everyone present had their own thoughts about this, varying from flowers, to footsteps. It is by the way inspired on microscopic potato cells (or so... help me out here Sandra! To me it is an origin, a cosmic soup from which a life form appears... Very explosive and fascinating!

And then there was Bibbi, she let the brush do the work and this is what happened! Fantasy, combined with recognizable shapes in the usual great Bibbi tones!

And Bibbi also started a new painting, it has already progressed much further than this but I didn't take a picture. Another face full of expression...guess what she is thinking... More about that in next post

Above three stages of "Cathies evil twin sister" as we called it. Very well done, and you can clearly see that "contrast" works. And that Cathie van der Stel deserves a career in fashion painting! I would be very interested to see more of these characters...

And then one more by Sandra Seymour Dale, another monumental and moving picture. The grey masking fluid is still there, much will change when she removes that and the strong white will appear! Exciting...

That's us, working in the Hangar: