The last aquarelle session of the summer!

Ice cube by Cathie van der Stel

On 19 July we got together for the last true painting session (we will meet up tomorrow, but that will be for extensive lunch and 'loose ends') and it was worth it! Lots of great 'work on ice' that was started the week before (to cool off in the hot hot weather) and our visitor Georgina created a wonderfully natural flowing composition...

Waterlily by Georgina

Marina Teding van Berkhout worked on (and finished) two lovely aquarelles in her very recognizable style

Used Tubes by Marina Teding van Berkhout

Watching 'Boule' by Marina Teding van Berkhout

Work-in-progress by Edith Alborni, one step further - getting better and better...

Village in Provence by Edith Alborni

And the last three paintings of the summer season are ice-related:

Iceberg by Lies Timmermans 

Icecold water by Mieke van Papen 

Snowy Mountains by Ann Edwards

Aquarelle Tuesday July 5th 2011

As Charmian mentioned in the post below, our beloved atelier is getting ready for the summer and so are the artists! Lots have already gone on holiday -or have visitors- and the groups are getting smaller. Same goes for the aquarellistas, but it has no effect on the quality of the work, on the contrary... Most of us are still working on their villages for the expo in September!

You can admire the pictures in alphabetical order: A,B,C,E,H

(we need Dominique, Francine and Gwennaelle to perfect this list !)

Very small village by Ann Edwards. Just a try-out, with bird's view perspective and shadows

Village fountain by Brenda Moorehouse - to be finished asap, looks promising!

Small street in Valbonne by Cathie van der Stel.

Village by Edith Alborni

Greek god with pink pattern by Hélène van der Kroft - great picture!

Flowers and villages in Aquarelle

Wild Iris by Mieke van Papen with a great use of light...

Last weeks' aquarelle session brought about all kinds of interesting and different results! Mieke, Cathie and Lies worked on their flowers using a combination of wet-in-wet and wet-on-dry techniques

Cathie van der Stel's gorgeous blow up of an orange daisy

Lies Timmermans worked on the wet-in-wet background of her lovely rose. She will complete it in the next session

Ann Edwards painted some tulips and this bird - enlarge it to see the excellent light on his beak, head and back that she drew with pencil, leaving it white and then giving the background in a very light warm yellow wash!

Six aquarellista's will show work with the theme 'Le Village' in an exhibition in September - Brenda Moorhouse is one of them and she worked on images she drew in ink during our Trip to Aiguefonde. She added watercolours to them and made them livelier and sunnier!

'Brassac 1' in watercolours and pen by Brenda Moorhouse

'Brassac 2' in watercolours and pen by Brenda Moorhouse

 

Edith Alborni diligently worked on her village and it is getting more and more real...

And completely off-topic but oh so great - the dewdrops of Cathie van der Stel that she made for the Summer Fête...

More about the Summer Fayre, a great success by the way, in coming posts, filled with pictures of you!

Blow up your watercolours

Big Daisy (not yet finished) by Cathie van der Stel

Inspired by the general look of the paintings in the latest 'Splash' book (nr 12), the aquarellista's decided to paint Big and Colourful last Tuesday... It is a shame that you cannot see that the paintings below are actually much bigger than your average watercolours... With the challenges that go with painting big in aquarelle - how do you keep it interesting... But it looks like that worked out pretty well!

Big Purple Flower by Ann Edwards

Most of the other Blow-Up projects are too unfinished to show - luckily some other interesting pieces were created, as exercises for the Grand Prix d'Aquarelle. The following 3 roses were based on the same example drawing... It's very clear that the personality of the painter adds a lot!!

Lovely Rose, this exquisitely painted version is created by Lies Timmermans  

Brenda Moorehouse's version - it will be available for you on the Summer Fayre!

 Helen van der Kroft's version - an original  take on the example :)

 From 17 - 23 September the Aquarellista's will show their work in Galerie Casablù, with the theme 'Le Village'. Hard work on that theme is also being done by all, here a sneak pre-view of a village scene just started...

 Edith Alborni's Village

And last but not least, Roly Bufton did a next version of his 'Venice', with enormous improvement! Just one more and it will be perfect (and he will be able to teach the technique to us all)

'Venice 2' by Roly Bufton

Following William Turner

The aquarellista group (Tuesday afternoons) strives to create original work - but sometimes we can't help it and let ourselves be inspired by other artists... Couple of weeks ago we watched a documentary with plenty attention for 18th century master-aquarellista William Turner - and then tried to 'work like him'...

Cathie van der Stel caught the mysterious light-especially the beams through the dusty windows

Most of the group however tried their hand at 'Venice', because it is slightly less complicated and a beautiful, far-away mysterious picture. technically it is iteresting too because it is done in a combination of wet-in-wet and (very) wet on dry technique... Below the results:

 

Venice by Lesley Bufton

 Venice by Roly Bufton

 Venice by Ann Edwards

Venice by Anna Karin Fast

We were also very busy with other projects, but I cannot show you much because it's all within the Grand Prix d'Aquarelle - theme 'Roses without thorns' which only admits work that hasn't been published before... Sorry!! After Mid-September we'll have a couple of theme-posts around it...

There was one project finished that had nothing to do with the theme though:

Sandra Seymour-Dale's dusky village!

Aquarelle Tuesdays, 2 - 4.30pm - Marina Kulik

Portrait by Edith Alborni

Although the quality of the work was high, the picture above was the sure winner of last Tuesday! Do you see how stunning the light (=the white of the paper) is. That's very difficult to plan, well done! And also a big compliment for the folds and shadows, the proportions and the hair... In not more than a couple of weeks Edith has become a true aquarellista, with her own ideas and way of working! I'm content and look forward to more work from her...

Sea view by Ann Edwards

Ann painted two sea views - one that you can see above, a nice balance with wet-in-wet and wet-on-dry painting, and also she finished (in less than half an hour) 'Venice' after Turner, excellent practice for working quickly, with wet brushes that give clear, determined rims when dry, and it worked out very well - but I managed to blur the photo, so I owe you that one, I guess I'll keep it for a whole series of Turner-inspired paintings, as Cathie van der Stel is also working on one (blurred too, so sorry!) that looks very cool and light and interesting.
Aquarellista Marina Teding van Berkhout joined us and worked on a super aquarelle of a french window with Italian shutters, wash hanging outside and strong shadows within the theme 'Le Village' for our expo in September. And I didn't take a picture - so next time, when it is finished!
Lies Timmermans, Hélène van der Kroft and Brenda Moorehouse worked on the 'roses without thorns' for the Grand Prix d'aquarelle and I can't show you what they created because the work for the Grand Prix must be new and never shown! but I can assure you that especially Brenda is working on something spectacularly beautiful...
And then last but not least, Hélène van der Kroft (apart from a couple of roses) made a postcard for the Summer Fête that I like a lot (and that can be won on 19 June):

Cat licking paw - by Hélène van der Kroft

Aquarelle, Tuesdays 2 - 4.30pm - Marina Kulik

Last week as a special treat & inspiration we started with a CD of the documentary "Sheila Hancock Brushes Up: The Art of Watercolours ..".

Sheila loves watercoulours - and knows a thing or two about them, for starters her father was an amateur watercolourist. For the documentary she sets out on a journey and shows all kinds of great watercolours, from the Alps, to Venice (Turner and contemporary artist Nicola Tenderini  who shows how Turner painted the San Giorgio Maggiore) to India (Lady Canning and contemporary Milind Mulick (who demonstrates painting the Taj Mahal). She visits Tate Britain and shows even more fabulous Turner watercolours and also shows the new functionality of watercolours: in warzones, where camera's are not allowed or too confrontational and where watercolours can be easily applied and give a very strong impression. She talks to war artist Doug Farthing who is a soldier in Iraq and shows his work as well of that of 1940 war artist Paul Nash... Impressive.

For those of you who missed it, you can borrow my CD (thanks for burning it for me Sandra!) or see some clips on  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yzgtn you can find everything else using Google!

After all that Anna-Karin felt like painting the Turner way and she produced this excellent painting - in a couple of strokes - isn't it wonderful!!

Ann Edwards finished her night view!

Brenda Moorhouse created a post-card size artwork for the Summer Fête

And here's a sneak preview of some of the other artwork from the Aquarellistas...

Aquarellista Afternoon (Tuesday 9 May 2011, 2 - 4.30pm)

The Aquarelle watercolours group had a wonderful Tuesday afternoon in the sun! They are preparing for a Grand Prix d'Aquarelle, they are busy creating cards for the Hangar Summer fête and they are contemplating what they will create for our exhibition 'Le Village' in September... All great fun, and inspiring as you can see below!!

Anna Karin Fast

Ann Edwards

Beverly Ellsley

 Beverly Ellsley

 Edith Alborni



Roly Bufton

Aquarelle Tuesday 3 May

'Falling leaf' by Ann Edwards

The 'cards' for the Hangar Summer Fête are inspiring the aquarellistas! It turns out to be great fun to be bound to a certain size, it makes you think in another way and of other subjects... Top of the post is a leaf with a dew drop, very subtly painted by Ann Edwards...

After her wonderful (and time consuming) painting of her water lily in several layers, Edith Alborni painted another version in just a couple of brush strokes:

The first version of Edith Alborni's water lily, now finalised

Girl with yellow hat by Lies Timmermans

 Sandra Seymour-Dale's 'Village by night', now in the final stages...

House by Leslie Bufton - an exercise in perspective and reflection...

We hope you recognise how much is actually possible in aquarelle, see the very different styles of the Aquarellista artists and in general the fun we all have creating our paintings... And please don't hesitate to give your comments, we are open to them!