Merry Christmas

It's Christmas again. I am wishing everyone a joyful and blessed Christmas. And for the coming 2018, may you all have a healthy and prosperous new year. And a fruitful painting year as well. Thank you very much for visiting my blog. I really appreciate it very much.

Golden delicious

Let me tell you where I got these apples. Last July, while we were driving back to the Netherlands from our holiday in France, somewhere along the way in Neufchateau, we stopped at Lidl supermarket to buy something to eat. Inside, I saw a container of super fresh golden delicious apples and decided to buy some pieces of them. At Campanile hotel Pont-a-Mousson (France) where we stayed for a night, while we were relaxing after dinner, we craved for apples.  We didn't order dessert in the hotel's restaurant because I thought having apples is a healthier option. But before I could let the apples to be eaten, I took photos of them which I later used as reference in this simple painting. 

I hope all of you are enjoying the holiday season. 

Fruits and veggies on our table

We eat various fruits and veggies but those ones in the painting are some that are always present in our kitchen. It is December, so "Have a nice holiday season everyone."

Apple sketch

Have nothing to post but only this small sketch of an apple. Sketched it while working on a bigger painting. 

Red rose

Watercolor, 6x6 inches

I always avoid painting red roses because I thought it is difficult to achieve a good color contrast in red. But I think in this painting, it is not bad at all for me to continue painting red roses. 

Special card and Corsica trip

I was away for a vacation trip to Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean which belongs to France. It is in the north of the Italian island Sardinia. Meanwhile, after arriving from such trip, somebody requested me to paint this card to be sent to a couple who has a wedding anniversary this week. This card is 5x5 inches on hahnemuhle watercolor paper.

This coming Wednesday I will be attending again our weekly painting club session. Hopefully, I will be creatively productive again during the rest of the year.

Below are a few photos I made from Corsica:

Red orange roses

I painted these two roses last May but have not posted here yet. During this summer vacation I did more reading on painting techniques than producing paintings. Hopefully, I will be more productive again in the coming months as my painting club starts again after two months vacation period.

These roses are from the bunch of roses I got from my neighbor after I arrived home last April from my trip to Asia.

A quick rose sketch

A quick small rose sketch. I like this Winsor and Newton quinacridone magenta watercolor paint. Have a nice day to everyone. 

Rose in glowing colors

Watercolor

 I like the combination of colors in this rose. Hope you too. Have a nice day.

Our April tulip and France trip

It has been more than one and a half month now since I last posted in my blog. And as usual the reason is my love for travelling. 
We were in a farm in Saulieu, France for a couple of weeks. While in the farm, we did a lot of things including walking around, helping feed the cows or just observing them, reading while sitting on a hammock or on a chair under the trees, had also bonfire and some visits to the supermarkets. July 14 is a 'bastille day' in France, so we had also enjoyed the fireworks celebration in that day. After the farm, we also visited other cities of France like Laon, Tonnerre, Chateauneuf, Langres, Metz and some small villages. I had enjoyed every bit of our trip and hopefully from the photographs I took, a couple of paintings will come out.

I don't combine my travel with sketching or any painting project, so I don't have new sketches or painting to post here. The tulip above was my last painting I worked on. And that was on 28 June, the last day of our painting club before it began its yearly vacation period from July to August. I can see that the leaves of the tulip need to be glazed further, so I will do that later. Have a nice artful summer days to everyone. Thank you for your visit.

A rose in yellow orange color

In almost all my paintings, I used my own reference materials. But here I was inspired by a photo from pixabay. Have a nice weekend to everyone.

Roses: practicing to loosen up

Had time today to practice loosening up my style of painting.

Violet pink roses with a hint of yellow

Finished this rose painting about three weeks ago (2May2017). 

It is in watercolor on arches cold-pressed paper.

A curious German shepherd dog: PADT challenge 67

My first painting for Paint and Draw Together painting challenge. I used cold pressed arches paper, 140 lbs and watercolor paints.

Yellow orange roses: practice

This painting is the result of my playing moment with watercolor last week. I did not plan how it will come out. No sketch, just spontaneous thinking on what to do while practicing.

Tulips: unsuccessful attempt to loosen up

I wanted to paint these tulips in a loose style but the result seems to show differently. I guess I need to practice more to achieve that goal.

Busying my brushes again

I am back from my more than two months travel. During this period I never had the opportunity to paint. So, today using my watercolors I did the above small painting as a sort of an exercise. Since I was lazy to do a pencil sketch, I simply started painting the rose by wetting the paper and after a few minutes I began working on it. Had enjoyed doing this exercise.

Yellow rose with pink color + will be on trip

Yellow rose with pink color on 60x60 cm canvas.

Painted using acrylic. Presently hanging in our living room.

To my blogger friends, beginning tomorrow, I will be on travel for two months. It might be that I will not be able to post any painting during this period, but I will try to visit your blogs. Have a wonderful time of creativity.

First post for 2017, a bright magenta rose

This bright magenta rose is the first painting I worked on to start the new year. I love bright colors because they enhance my positivity and motivation to do things. 

Happy New Year

To all my blogger friends and other visitors to my blog, thank you very much for your continuous visits and for always leaving beautiful and encouraging comments to my paintings and sketches. I honestly appreciate your efforts of taking time to visit this blog. I am wishing you all a very prosperous, healthy and blessed 2017. Cheers!