Aquarelle - Tuesdays from 2 - 4.30pm with Marina

Last Tuesday we had a fantastic afternoon, working on our own watercolour versions of 'Je Suis Charlie'. It was very inspired, and everyone in their own way created a colourful piece of solidarity...
It felt really good and the results were interesting as well as beautiful:

Anna-Karin

 

 Cathie

  

Christine

 

  

Edith

 

Liz 

Sandra

 

Yves

  

Constanza

 

Christiane

 

Fabienne

 

Sandra

Avril

Aquarelle Tuesdays 2 - 4.30pm with Marina Kulik

 

Starters exercise 2 by Catherine - well done!

Last week there was a board meeting right after our Watercolour session, there was no time for a line-up and I promised the aquarellistas to make my remarks in the blog... and then funnily enough there was not so much work to take pictures of...

☺☺

 

 

Jellyfish by Avril. Way before the end of the starters program, she really gets the behaviour of the watercolours! More transparency of the Jellyfish can easily be achieved by adding a bit of the background wash to the blue... Let's try that next session!

 

 Meduse par Elia- ongoing project, but especially the flowy stuff is fab!

 Jellyfish by Liz (do you see the funny faces?) they are SO transparent!!

Sunset on Antibes by Liz

Love it, Good work!!

Aquarelle Tuesdays - 2 - 4.30pm with Marina

 Work in progress by Anna-Karin

Our theme du jour of last Tuesday was 'Red Cabbage' and we used close-up pictures of Dutch photographer Renate Leijen.

 Christine

Elia B.

Mieke

Next to the theme, others worked on several subjects... Avril and Fabienne did another exercise: suggestion of transparency. Here's Avril's version:

Fabienne started a double portrait - a very very difficult subject in aquarelle, but version 1 already looks quite good!

 Cathie is working on a series of shells and small fragile sea creatures...

 

 And then there is the Christmas/New Year/Winter theme ofcourse, going on until end of December!

 Elia B.

 Agnès has an incredible talent to create the 'roaring 20's' look

 Elia B.

 And last but certainly not least, the atmospheric, poetic images from the minds of Liz, Elia B. and Sandra

After the squall by Sandra

 Harbour view by Liz

 Two stages of this 'light' painting by Elia

Aquarelle Tuesdays 2 - 4.30 with Marina - 1

Most of the group were working on the Christmas & New Years' cards, but not all! Avril and Fabienne worked on the next exercise, a painting built up in several layers, with planning needed! They tried out masking fluid for the stars (or first snow as we decided when they were a bit on the big and regulare side for stars). But it looks good!! Well done you two...

Anna-Karin's doodle in the last 5 minutes - meeting in the nudist camp?

Mieke worked on a still life with snail shells in a glass jar...

...and so did Cathie...

Bull finch in the snow by Orjan (he's back!!)

Sandra's lovely guy in the sun is coming along really well!!!

Aquarelle Tuesdays from 2 - 4.30pm with Marina II

 Avril

The starters group (Avril and Fabienne) is working on spheres, a very important excercise for understanding and suggesting 'volume'. Using highlights, consistent shadows - not always evident - and the right colour combinations.

Christine

It is a nice one to work on, and sometimes a more experienced watercolorist participates too, like Christine, because it is so much fun. One of the subjects is 'complementary colours'

If you use the complementary colour as the shadow colour, the effect is 'warmer' than when you use black, blue or grey...

Fabienne

The direction of the shadow that the object itsel makes on the surface should be consistent with the direction of the light, which can be derived from where the highlight is... It's not that easy actually, there's a lot to be puzzled about, and I think the group did a good job!!

Christine

If you too want to know about these kind of things, come to the watercolour class. The starters exercises are fun and give you a basic understanding of the technique but also of colour use and characteristics...

Aquarelle on Tuesdays from 2pm - 4.30pm with Marina Kulik

Creating Depth in Abstract Watercolours

part two...

 This is depth - and below is how Agnes did it:

 The recipe is cold and warm light paint on two sides of a very wet surface, leaving the mid-part unpainted. Move the board and then put down, add stones (they may be dirty!), stand on them, add salt, spray water, pigments... and let dry... and then add the next layer, using a big brush and a cool colour. And after that has dried, a third layer, with a really dark cool colour... Behold the results:

 Anna-Karin - after and before

 Avril - before and after

 Fabienne - before and after

 Constanza, before and after

 Liz - before and after

And some of the other work:

 Great one by Elia B - a lot of depth there!

 Sandra created one with a load of salt - it was almost a relief. Invisible in the picture I'm afraid. She is experimenting with varnish & the salt and we will keep you posted on how that goes...

Christiane experimented with small shapes in the dark instead of big brushstrokes. 

This is lovely, the colours are fragile - but there is not much depth. Just for example and to prove my point for the next session, I photoshopped a version with very dark brush strokes. It is pretty ugly - but shows depth!☺