Another Portrait Sketch on toned paper

 

Thank you to the Model Jessika @adoro_larte for the great reference. 

I was having fun with this one and could try all different kinds of greens, blending one into another...

 ***

More portrait sketching on toned paper

 

Really enjoy this brownish paper in the meantime. Very suitable for fast watercolour sketching. This person looks very much alike the prompt of jyportraitchallenge and I am superhappy with it. 

More of these... just for the fun of it.

Happy painting.

Portrait Sketching on toned paper

 

Back to portrait sketching. Still had an A4 block of toned paper, 200 gms which I initially bought for Urban Sketching, but wanted to use it up now as I would like to concentrate on larger formats.

I really liked to sketch with that paper, although it warps a little as it is thinner than my usual paper and it needs more layers to take enough colour.

 

The models I am painting are from my friend at jyportraitchallenge. Thanks to Judith.

If you would like to learn how to paint people/portraits, join my portrait class.

Easy skin mixes, shadowing, step-by-step painting, tips and tricks.

(see sidebar)

Landscapes from Kairo, Egypt

 

Natalia sent some awesome pictures of Kairo Egypt which we all painted in our Club. Above you can see my two small sketches of the pyramids. I can still feel the hot Egyptian sun on my skin as I think back to my travels.

 Here come the sketches solo:

 

Easter Decoration

 

The Easter period was the time in between travelling for me. At home I prepared a big Easter Brunch. For sure I needed a decoration for the table...and this is what I made...

Had great fun creating these and some single flowers for decorating the table and the cutlery of each guest:

Sketchtrip to Karlsbad, Day 2

 

It was the coldest weekend we had so far this winter with about minus 10° C. We dressed like snowmen and walked the city. At our most beloved bakery we made a stop to taste and buy Christmas cookies for sure with a good espresso. 

It was impossible to sketch outside, so I just sketched inside.

Then another walk through the city of Karlsbad with our next destination in mind which was famous Café Pupp. They have wonderful tarts and coffee selections so I had to sketch my cake plate on the black marble table.

It is called Dort Pupp and tasted delicious. Then I did a fast portrait sketch of one of my friends.

 

Afterwards we went to drink the healthy water and walk as a healthy treatment ;)

Here is the full spread "of the day" in my new Koval Sketchbook:

Sketchtrip to Karlsbad - Day 1

 

We arrived in the afternoon and first had a lovely meal at Narodak which is also known for good beer. The bar/restaurant was interesting to sketch. This is the first page in my new Koval Sketchbook, from my friend Tom. It was the first test of this 300 gms very smooth fabriano paper he used and I must say that it takes the watercolour perfectly and several layers are possible.

 

Watercolour Portrait Sketch - Jen again!!!

 

Seldomly sketch a motif twice, but I was not totally satisfied with the colour values in my first try (see the post from a few days ago) so I did it again. In order you can see the difference I sketched the headband in green, while last time I did it in red. I am more happy with this version as also the mouth looks more like it is in the original photo.

This is how I began:

 

And this is what it looks like after several layers of skin colours:

Great exercise.

 

If you like to learn how to draw and paint a watercolour portrait, you are welcome to sign up for my  full day Saturday WORKSHOP in February (click link for info and registration).

Room 71

 

WOW, the colours made me draw this roomportrait prompt. What a wonderful view into another room drenched in sunlight. Thank you to cabanamagazine and Antonio Monfreda (for the shot) as well as to Sarah-Jane.

SKETCHTOUR KIRCHBERG - Panoramic / House / Castlesketching

 

The upper sketch of the castle gate with the small reception house was actually my first subject of the sketchtour, but I didn't get far on the first day, so I finished it the last day before lunch.

Here is the on-site photo:

 Then we went to the eastern side of Kirchberg.

While the group was doing the panorama sketch, I sketched some houses a few metres down the road, as I already sketched the panorama of Kirchberg twice.

Two little girls came by and brought me an ice cream while I was sitting by the road. Great day.

 

Sicily Sketchbook, Entry 5, Cefalù sights

 

 

Sicily Sketchbook, Entry 5,  Cefalù sights

We came to Cefalú by train, and it was quite a relaxing 1 hour trip. Cefalú is a real fantastic holiday destination with a beautiful beach, a wonderful cathedral and lots of old town houses, a very scenic ensemble with a mountain behind the city and a lighthouse as well as a coastal walkway on the cliffs. The first thing when we came there, was of course  swimming in the clear blue sea. By the mole I did my first sketch (just in pencil, but I will show that in the next post, when finished). 

After having had a bite I drew the terrace of our B&B as the sun was going down behind the buildings, and a fresh wind came up. I did not finish colouring.

 

The rooftop terrace is on top of a building, which used to be part of an old fort. All houses are somehow built together...

 

 

So this first day, we explored the city of Cefalù and the next morning, when adapted to the new surroundings, I had to see the awakening of the day on our rooftop terrace overlooking the sea. To the other side there was an old campanile, which I tried to draw in direct watercolour while sipping my first coffee. Our B&B used to be an old fortified palace and if you look down the terrace you can see the cliffs and the sea. 

 

The new sketchbook still feels a bit strange. It sucks in the colours much more than in my usual sketchbooks, but I expressly wanted to explore it further and will adapt my watercolour style to it.

 

I finish my todays post with this little Ape drawing.

 

...stay tuned for more to follow...

Check out my NEW BOOK with watercolours of beautiful Hohenlohe

 

Dear Friends, my new book with on-location-watercolours, covering some places of my beautiful home area of Hohenlohe has arrived. 

I am proud that about 60 of my watercolour paintings are in this book. These are the sketches I made during our Urban Sketchers Hohenlohe Outings. In this book, they are arranged according to their date of creation. 

If you like my paintings and would like to support my work, please do not hesitate to order the book. Thank you.

CLICK THIS LINK to my ebay account, if you would like to purchase it. It is possible to send it worldwide. Thanks.

Liebe Freunde, mein neues Buch mit direkt plein-air gemalten Aquarellen aus meiner Heimat Hohenlohe ist da.

Ich bin stolz, dass rund 60 meiner Aquarelle in diesem Buch zu sehen sind. Es sind Bilder, die ich hauptsächlich währen unserer Urban Sketchers Hohenlohe Treffen gemalt habe. In diesem Buch sind sie nach der Zeit ihrer Entstehung geordnet.

Wenn ihr meine Bilder mögt und gerne meine Arbeit unterstützen möchtet, dann zögert nicht euch ein Buch zu bestellen. Vielen Dank. 

Das Buch kann hier PER KLICK über meinen Ebay-Account bestellt werden. Danke. 

Urban Sketchers Hohenlohe in Langenburg

The weather was sunny as our small group of Urban Sketchers Hohenlohe met in Langenburg for sketching in the old town. 

I arrived a bit earlier to check out for good locations to sketch keeping in mind the light and shadow. I searched for places to sit, if possible in the shadow because the weatherforecast mentioned that it would be warm and sunny.

The gate and tower in the rear front of the old town looked quite interesting to me, but I would eventually paint that later. 

In the meantime, I made a very fast 5 minute-drawing into my sketchbook till the others arrived.

 

Together with the group we settled to paint in a side road by a small turquoise house with wooden shutters. It was really attractive to us and we tried to paint it with the shadows and the surroundings. (see large A3 painting above) 

After having finished, we needed a delicious cake and a coffee at famous Café Bauer.

Then another sketching session behind the gate. This is my second A3 from that day. 

The houses look a bit wonky in my sketch, but I had much fun with that one and this is the only thing that counts. 

What a fantastic day in this famous & unique location.

***

Ein sonniger Tag in Langenburg mit den Urban Sketchers Hohenlohe.

Crailsheim - Bäckerei

An outside sketch of my local bakery. This is where the good pretzels come from, I so often sketched. I love the smell and the look. If you are around, try them.

Eine Skizze meiner lokalen Bäckerei. Hier kommen die guten Brezeln her, die ich so oft gemalt habe. Wenn ihr mal in der Nähe seid, müsst ihr sie unbedingt probieren.

 

See the beginning of my Pretzel-week/Bilder meiner Brezelwoche von 2018: HERE

Watercolour Sketch - Kastanien 2020 / Chestnuts 2020

 

Back at home fall was here. It did not take me long to adjust to the colder temperatures (we were still sitting outside in the evenings in Sicily while at home it is very cold already in the evenings...) Fall is beautiful in my part of the world, so I was looking for the little treasures in our forest.

While biking in the forest I stopped several times to collect a few weird looking fruits from the trees, like I do each year at that time. It is good to bring home collectables from there to record the time of year. I instantly had to do a sketch.

I position them on my drawing table and arrange them on my sketchbook sheet.

 

Wieder Zuhause angekommen, war es bereits herbstlich. Dieses Mal hatte ich kaum Anpassungsschwierigkeiten an die kälteren Temperaturen. In Sizilien saßen wir abends noch draussen. Bei uns hier ist es abends recht ungemütlich kalt. Macht aber nichts, denn der Herbst gefällt mir sehr gut. Vor allem im Wald ist es schön. Bei meinen Fahrradtouren durch den Wald halte ich hie und da mal an und sammle Kastanien, wie in jedem Jahr um diese Zeit. 

Ich musste sie dann auch gleich malen. Hier meine Aquarellskizze.

 

Here are my last years sketches/Hier findet ihr die Skizzen vom letzten Jahr: 

HIER (Chestnuts)

HIER (ChestnutsII) 

 

Sicily - Sicilian City - Post 1200

Dear Friends, this is my post no. 1200. Therefore I do a little interruption to the Sicily sketchbook, but stay with the theme with this larger watercolour of a Sicilian City. I am astonished how fast time went by. I will celebrate today my artpiece no. 1200 on this blog and thank you for following my creative journey. 

If you like, have a look at my youtube channel here: Bettinas Youtube
And if you still need a present for a dear person, get one of my calendars on ebay to support my art (could be sent nearly everywhere at low cost): Bettinas Art Calendar 2020

Thank you! 

Liebe Freunde, das ist mein Post Nr. 1200. Daher die kleine Unterbrechung des Sizilien Skizzenbuchs. Ich bleibe jedoch beim Thema mit diesem grossen Aquarell einer sizilianischen Stadt. Ich bin erstaunt, wie die Zeit vergangen ist, seit ich mit dem Blog gestartet bin. Heute werde ich auf jeden Fall mein Kunstwerk No. 1200 auf dem Blog feiern und danke euch, dass ihr mich auf meiner kreativen Reise begleitet habt. 

Wenn ihr Lust habt, schaut euch meine Skizzenbuch Videos auf Youtube an: Bettinas Youtube und wenn ihr etwas dauerhafteres wollt und möglicherweise noch ein Geschenk für einen lieben Menschen braucht (oder für euch selbst), kauft einen meiner Kalender auf ebay, um meine Kunst zu unterstützen (kann fast überallhin geschickt werden): Bettinas Kunstkalender 2020 

Danke! 

Rain in Spain

Again a watercolour I did in watercolour class. It shows a rainy day in Spain. The reflections on the street are most interesting to me.

Mal wieder ein Aquarell, das ich im Kurs gemalt habe. Es zeigt einen regnerischen Tag in Spanien. Die Reflektionen auf der Straße waren für mich am interessantesten.

Der alte Sessel

It is the Saturday before Christmas and everything needs to be cleaned and decorated. The parcels are sent, the cards are done and the gifts are wrapped. Don't forget to have a coffee in between... Outside temperatures are quite warm for winter and it is raining cats and dogs. The very little snow we had so far is completely gone.

Here is a watercolour I made about at least three years ago in my watercolour class. It is interesting what you can find while cleaning up the studio.

Es ist der Samstag vor Weihnachten und alles wird heute geputzt und aufgehübscht. Die Päckchen und Karten sind versendet und die Geschenke eingepackt. Wenn man sich zwischendurch mal einen Kaffee gönnt geht das alles besser. Draussen ist es verhältnismässig warm für Winter und es regnet ohne Ende. Das kleine bißchen Schnee, das wir bisher hatten ist wieder weg.

Heute ein Aquarell, das ich vor mehr als 3 Jahren in meiner Aquarell-Gruppe gemalt habe. Es ist doch interessant, was sich so findet, wenn man sein Studio mal wieder aufräumt.

French House

While I am away I post this older watercolour of a French house in Normandy. But no, I am not in France, my destination is bella Italia. More about that shortly.

BTW: We had the first snow yesterday!

Während ich auf Reisen bin, poste ich dieses ältere Aquarell eines französischen Hauses in der Normandie. Aber nein, ich bin nicht in Frankreich mein Reiseziel ist Bella Italia. Mehr darüber in Kürze.

Übrigens: Wir hatten gestern den ersten Schnee!

Landstraße

A typical country road in Hohenlohe...Yesterday I was too lazy to draw - can you believe that -  so I post an older drawing today. Tomorrow is a public holiday in Germany. Nice to have a break inmidst the week.

Eine typische hohenloher Landstraße...Gestern war ich doch tatsächlich zu faul, um zu malen - kann man das begreifen (?) - also gibt es heute nur ein älteres Bild. Morgen ist ein Feiertag in Deutschland. Es ist schön mal mitten in der Woche frei zu haben.