Christmas cactus and Asia trip

Our christmas cactus plants are full of flowers. They are very colorful. The first image is my sketch of a newly opened flower done a few days ago.

Tomorrow, I will be travelling to Asia. I will only have a tablet with me, so I think I will not be posting any painting for sometime, but I will check your blogs. Thank you everyone for staying as my blogger friends.

Poinsettia II

I managed to do this small poinsettia sketch while recovering from not so friendly fever and cold. I did this from memory. I am not yet 100 percent fine but I am almost there. Thank you everyone for visiting my blog and I wish you a wonderful week ahead.

Albatross

I sketched this albatross while resting with high fever and cold. I felt relax afterwards.
Thanks God, I am feeling a little bit better now.
I used as reference the image from a local magazine but the sketch composition is different from the original image.

Firecrest

Watercolor, 28x38 cm

I wanted to paint this little firecrest in a loose style. But I can see that I was not successful to do that. Maybe I'll try next time.

The 'hunebed' in Havelterberg

According to Dutch-English dictionary, the word 'hunebed' means megalithic tomb. Based on some literatures, the presence of these tombs in the northern part of the Netherlands made people wonder where those big stones came from. Some reported that they came from Scandinavia. For some history of the 'hunebedden' in the Netherlands, visit http://hunebedden.nl/engels.htm and http://www.hunebeddenwijzer.nl/.

The above painted 'hunebed' is in Havelterberg in the city of Havelte. It is only about half of the long line of big stones I saw last year.

This painting is in watercolor, and the size is 30x40 cm.

Dutch farm house in Twente

I have been thinking to paint this farm house since perhaps three years ago. I don't know exactly why it was only two weeks ago that I finally began painting it. Today I finished the painting and I plan to frame it.
The farm house stands near the former military terrain in Enschede which is close to where I live. I always see this house every time I take a walk in that area. I never really have the chance to know its owner but it seems that it is renovated and modern inside the house.
The painting is about 24x30 cm, in watercolor.

two red radishes

A try on rough Fabriano Artistico extra white watercolor paper. About 18x 24 cm.

Rose hips

When I go for a walk, I always bring with me a camera so that if I see something worth painting I can immediately take pictures. A week ago while we were walking and passing in one of the streets where we live, I saw these rose hips and the next thing I did was to click my camera. I used one of the photographs as reference for this painting.

This painting is my third try on Fabriano Artistico white watercolor paper. I tried to be loose here and without pencil sketch. I am beginning to like the paper, and I am planning to buy more loose sheets for future use.
I'm doing these try-outs because I'm looking for another paper which I can alternate with what I am using at the moment.

Orange bell pepper

Last week, I bought Fabriano Artistico white watercolor paper because I wanted to try it, and it was on sale. This bell pepper is my first try, but at this time I could not say if I like the paper. In this painting, I did the underpainting in wet in wet while the glazings in dry in wet. In my next try, I'll paint in a loose technique which is my prepared style.
Have a good and relaxing weekend to all of you.

Portrait of an Asian lady

Last month I challenged myself again to do a portrait from photograph. I decided to try an Asian feature face. I shelved the painting for a while, and last week I showed it to the members of my painting club. Their verdict: it is a very good try. And now I am showing the painting here.

This is in watercolor and it measures 19.5x24 cm (7.75x9.5 inches).