Lazy summer days

After sketching almost every day in June, this month has been very poor artwise so far. For the first two weeks, I was on holiday, and then, back to work last week, I was beginning to feel a bit under the weather. Which turned out to be bronchitis, so I'm at home this week, resting and snoozing. I was hoping that by now, I'd feel noticably better, and might even be able to do some drawing or sketching, but it just doesn't seem to clear up. Which is a bit frustrating. At least I'm catching up with all the episodes of The Handmaid's Tale and Maigret that I've recorded. And yesterday, I managed at least one little sketch. I've been wanting to make these kiwi and banana ice lollies for ages, and they're sooo delicious! I'll definitely be making more of these!

N came here for our summer holiday, and I didn't pick up a pencil or brush for the entire time. We were out pretty much every day, on little day trips, and I took lots of photos. So this post is rather photo heavy...
We even went on a long weekend away to the southwest of Germany, in the Palatinate, to visit family. It was great to get away for a few days, and see something different. And I am glad we're not there now - the Palatinate is famous for its wine, the area is covered in vineyards, which means that the climate is mild, and it can get pretty hot in the summer. It was hot enough when we were there two weeks ago, up to 30 degrees Celsius, but this week, the thermometer is climbing up to 37 degrees.

On our first day there, Friday, we visited the beautiful city of Speyer, with it's famous cathedral. We even climbed up the 300 steps to the tower, which gave breathtaking views of the city and beyond. It really is a beautiful and picturesque town, and in the pedestrian city centre, there's one cafe after the other, selling the most delicious Italian ice cream. Heaven.

On Saturday, after a long breakfast in the garden with my relatives, and not really knowing what to do and where to go for the rest of the day, we somehow ended up in the city of Worms. Steeped in history, but not as pretty as Speyer by far. And having been spoilt by Speyer, we were rather disappointed. At least we got to see the Rhine close up and had a lovely lunch on it's bank. The big huge cargo boats were fascinating. This area has lots of beautiful and idyllic spots. But it is also very industrial, and those signs are very visible in many places.

On Sunday, we decided to stay closer to home, and went over to Mannheim to spend the afternoon in the Luisenpark. It is a huge park, built between 1892 and 1903, in the middle of the city, with gardens, a little zoo, aquarium, restaurants, a big Chinese pavillion and garden, greenhouses, a butterfly house, lots of play areas for childrens, and lots more. And of course, the lake with the Gondoletta - little boats that are pulled by an underwater rope. So relaxing. Last time I visited the park was at least 15 years ago, but as soon as we sat in the little boat, I remembered them - the carps. The lake is filled with big huge carps, which come swimming towards every boat, sticking out their big round mouths in the hope of some food. It's just too funny! We didn't get up the telecommunication tower, but I hope to do so one day. The views over Mannheim and Ludwigshafen must be amazing!

We almost missed the butterfly house. We were already on our way to the exit when we discovered it, and so we stayed for another hour...

On our last day, we travelled to the nearby town of Schwetzingen, with it's palace, and huge park and garden. You can only go inside the palace with a guided tour, either one or one and a half hours long. But we decided to give that a miss this time, and just explore the garden. It was the hottest day of all, and strolling around the vast park was quite enough.

There's also an old mosque-style building in the park, surrounded by an oriental garden, built between 1779 and 1791, when the Turkish style was popular.

 Even the Orangerie is absolutely massive. A little palace in itself. I liked the old model of it on display inside. Whoever made this must have had a wicked sense of humour!

I'm sure there must be some story behind this funny sculpture in the city square outside the palace gates, but I haven't investigated it so far. Maybe it was made by the same person as the Orangerie model...

Hopefully, next time I'll have more art to show again. But I'll also have loads more photos....
Have a wonderful weekend!

Direct Watercolour challenge, Weeks 3 & 4 - The End

The 30x30 Direct Watercolour challenge is almost finished, one more day to go. I started very well, for the first 12 days, I managed to paint every day. But then I just didn't quite have the energy for a few days, and the last two weeks have been quite busy, so painting became a bit more sporadic. But I'm still pleased with result. I might not have 30 paintings done on 30 days, but I have 24 paintings altogether (I did more than one on some days). Many of them were quite quick and simple, like the ones here, but still, it's all practice, and I certainly painted much more than I usually did. And I know now that I can very well fit in a bit of painting in the evenings, after work. And I intend to do that much more often. So all in all, it's been a success. But now, I'm just looking forward to my holiday, which starts tomorrow.  I really need a holiday now!

Direct Watercolour challenge, Week 2

The second week hasn't been quite as productive as last week, although it started well. Evenings after work are definitely a bit of struggle sometimes, especially towards the end of the week. But I'm so glad this challenge is encouraging me to take time to paint. Even if it doesn't turn out as you wanted. On Friday, I tried something different. And it was an Epic Fail. I tried it twice. And both - an absolute and total disaster. So much so, that I even considered glueing together the two pages to make it disappear. Now, it just makes me laugh. For the moment, I'm going to leave it, and hopefully, one day I can look back and see the progress I've made. Or maybe I'll eventually gesso over it, and draw something else.

I didn't have the energy to do another painting, so I had to make up for it on Saturday. I went back to the fridge ad its content, sketching the ingredients for my lunch before they became a mushroom pasta sauce. I deliberately bought the fresh garlic, because it is so much prettier, with all it's purples and greens.

I meant to have one of these bananas for breakfast on Sunday, but it took me too long to sketch them so I had to go without breakfast. The sacrifices we make for our art...

I also had these delicious cherries, which needed to be eaten, so I made another one for Sunday. Apparently, this year is a good year for cherries.

With all the fruits and veggies gone, or already sketched, I tried something different again on Monday. A couple of stoneware bottles I have in my studio, which have been waiting forever to be drawn and painted.

And that's all I've got to show for the second week. I did a sketch on Tuesday, but still haven't scanned it. And for the last two days, I have been so tired and my neck and shoulders are so stiff and painful, that I just didn't feel like sketching. Last night, I had a hot bath and an early night instead. The weather we're having at the moment, humid, hot, cold, sun, rain... is just the perfect weather to catch a chill, if you aren't careful. Hopefully I'll make up for the days I've missed at the weekend, and have more energy again next week.

Direct Watercolour challenge, Week 1

The first week of the challenge is over, and so far, I've been keeping up. Well, I still have to do today's sketch, but on work days, I'm doing them in the evening. And keeping them quick and simple. My fridge happened to be full of all kinds of juicy fruits at the beginning of the week, so I decided to start with sketching them.

With some, I made more than one sketch. With these apricots, I tried a more realistic version, using layers. I wasn't quite happy with how they turned out, they seemed to become more and more dull in the process. So I made another sketch, very quick and loose. They turned out much fresher and brighter. I'd like to combine the two and achieve more realistic paintings, that are still bright and fresh. Lots to practising to do....

I really enjoyed painting these strawberries. I wanted them to be quick and loose, but with the texture they get from those little seed thingies. So I decided to use salt. The first one I did in the Hahnemühle Watercolour Book that I'm mainly using for this challenge, the second one in my normal sketchbook, that doesn't have watercolour paper, but takes a bit of watercolour quite well. I played with the different formats of the two sketchbooks (landscape and portrait), and lined the berries up. They were also delicious to eat afterwards.

Blueberries are a big favourite of mine, and the perfect subject for a quick sketch. The hot, humid and thunderstormy weather we're having at the moment leaves me feeling so tired, I just didn't have the energy for something bigger.

Eventually, all the yummy fruits were sketched and eaten. These bright red radishes were perfect to sketch next.

On Wednesday evening, I needed something very quick to sketch. This ice lolly was a very suitable subject, for obvious reasons...

I'm glad this challenge makes me take time to sketch in the evening. It's so easy to find excuses, when you're tired, and just spend the evening on the sofa, staring into the tv before you fall into bed. It's so much more rewarding to take the paints out, switch off and play with your paint. But sometimes, the result just isn't quite as you'd have wanted to, and maybe what you could have achieved on a Sunday morning, with more energy. The greens on these tomatoes turned out quite heavy. But that's okay too. Some days are just better than other. And you can always paint it again, and learn from your mistakes. And my scanner messes up all my sketches too...

A new challenge for June

After my disaster with The100Project (I probably lasted less than 10 days altogether), I'm foolish enough to embark on another daily challenge. The 30x30 Direct Watercolour challenge, hosted by Marc Taro Holmes of Citizen Sketcher. 30 days of daily direct watercolour painting. Direct simply means that you don't use a pen or pencil to draw your subject first, before adding watercolour, but instead just paint directly with watercolours. Although, if you need a little bit of help from a pencil first, that's okay too. There's a very lively Facebook group with lots of info and helpful tips, and where you can share your paintings. And it starts today, so there's still time to join :)

So far, if I attempted any kind of daily challenge (and there haven't been many), I usually chose a medium that allowed me to easily work on it during the day, such as 5 minutes during my lunch break at work. In other words, mediums like pen and pencil, and no paints. This challenge means, I will have to do it in the evenings on work days. And that will definitely be a challenge. But then again, my main goal isn't the number but the practice. What I want to do is to practise watercolour, as often as possible. Every day would be great, but if I miss one or more days, that's fine too.

I love watercolour, but I'm still struggling with it, a lot. The amount of water to use, the different techniques, which brushes... And that's why I'm going to try and attempt this challenge. It's a good motivation for practising, and as we all know, practice makes progress. (I read that somewhere a while ago, and liked it much better than the more common version. Perfectionism certainly isn't doing me much good...)

The above sketches are just warm ups, I haven't done the first one for today yet, that'll be my plan for tonight. I've also been busy playing with my watercolour pencils. I went through all my art supplies and got out all the pencils I have (and I've made lots of colour charts, which I will share another time). Watercolour pencils really are a very clever medium. They allow you to draw your subject very carefully, if you want, and when you add water, all the lines disappear and what you're left with is a vibrant watercolour painting. But of course not very appropriate for this particular challenge... As with watercolour paints, you can layer the pencils, but I soon found out that in my non-watercolour-paper sketchbook, that didn't work very well. One or two layers of wet medium is okay, but not more. What works really well, though, is painting a base using watercolour pencils and water, and then add more layers with normal coloured pencils, which gives you vibrant colours and also allows to add more details.

In my watercolour journal, the watercolour pencils work a lot better.

It's also a good exercise to draw the same subject several times, and by using different mediums, you can really explore it, and compare how they differ and what works better or not so good for you, and when and how.