Details of the brush

 Some years ago I made a painting of Nectarines, with acrylics on paper. And I looked at it closely recently and I just like the dry brush method I used. I do like adding texture or painting texture of clothing, curtains or whatever.

So I painted the old table with its painted and used surface. On a lightgrey background, I used a dry brush and white paint to express the structure. Using these techniques, by trial and error..., make it interesting for me.

What you see here is a part of the painting.

Heather?

 After several heatwaves and 6 weeks of no rainfall at all, I was wondering how the heather would cope. Midway August the heather blooms on a patch near our house, so I made an evening walk to have a look. And yes there it was: heather in bloom! But also large copper coloured patches of brown heather, probably heather which suffered last year. I made pictures and one of them inspired me to paint:

Trial and error

 Another sketchbook page, using markers and one colour. The pencil was red but turned out to be more orange. It was not a favorite colour for me, not very happy with how it turned out...

Well, sketchbooks are for trial and error, so I've learned something.

A page of snippets

 A page with a few snippets glued on was waiting in my sketchbook to be put to use. I used a Derwent Inktense pencil to draw this still-life. When you concentrate on the composition and dimensions you forget about the snippets until you see the end-result :).

It is a nice way to get unexpected results.

Have a good week! We have had some rain finally, which changes nature immediately, so I need to do some gardening work, especially since the apples are falling of the trees.

Open Studio day

Warm Summer days, and I threw the doors wide open of my studio, to welcome visitors. 

Well, only some people stepped from their bicycle, so it was not a busy day. But I did have a good working time, finishing some small art works, making cards, preparing for the fair and jotting down ideas.

Next Open Studio: September 18th.

 

Portrait of a young woman

I made a drawing of a young woman, looking outside the window. A painted background adds surprises, I like that. I have prepared some sketchbook-pages with colour, and when I find an interesting face or pose I draw it. And so my sketchbook fills up.

I have made a series of charcoal portraits in the same way, you can find them in my Etsy-shop. Have a nice week, here in Europe it is going to be another one with hot temperatures...

Hydrangea flowers

 During my Open Studio last Friday I had fun trying to handprint some Hydrangea flowers. I carved the stamps first, and then printed them with acrylic paint. It was messy because of the very small stamps, but also a lot of fun! This time I made the blue purple variety, but I will also try to make the whitepink ones.

This picture shows my practice paper :). I already sold two of the cards, and will be making more for a Castle fair in September.