“072 – Tree Girl” Ink and Wash on Arches, Size: A5, by Belinda Lindhardt

As part of my plans for 2009, one of the series i am going to be working on are my “Tree Girls”. I really enjoy doing them, they generally arent as involved as a canvas or coloured pencil piece, i can turn them over in a relatively short time frame and i have had a really good response to them to date. I would like to be selling these at a lower price point than my other works, but i also want to develop these to produce a series, perhaps an exhibition one day or a publication at end of the year. So my goal is produce one of these every fortnight so i should have a few by the end of the year.

This one i am cheating with a bit with in terms of my goals, as i started on it last year, but i am the boss here right ? So that’s ok i will let myself off on this one

Oh and before you start, i also do realise that this one doesn’t actually have a girl in it. It’s ok for me to do that too. I have an album of them on facebook here, will update my website soon so you can see them all together

Tree Girl – Belinda Lindhardt, Ink and Wash 8X10inches, 20X25cms

I can finally reveal this one It was a christmas gift for my very dear friend Marion, of whom i wouldn’t nearly be half as sane as i am right now without her friendship.

So here it is i hope everyone is having happy and safe holidays

One of the things i seem to struggle with is midvalues which are close together and light values in general, i tend to get too heavy handed and just go too dark. I was thinking about something Rose had pointed out where she mentioned that Monet didnt always have alot of dark values in his paintings in fact often were alot of midtone values.

As i was doing my monet yesterday i found that this is where i was struggling .. i dont seem to have a problem with dark items and light items next to dark but its the very slight adjustments to the similar midtones and areas which are very light that i seem to struggle with.

So i wanted to do a little practice in drawing something with light values and trying to concentrate on not going to a dark value. as you can see i ultimately didnt succeed in my first drawing as i went dark at the bottom but i blame that on using the wrong medium and support but i kinda was going there a bit at the top wasnt i ?

I must do more of these i think it will help with some of the overall issues i seem to be struggling with.

When i heard this month the Fine Line Artists group were going to do Monet i knew it was something i was likely going to have a go at.

As per a previous post of mine i visited Monet’s Garden when i was about 18 and traveling the world. I didn’t know much about him then and i am sorry i didn’t as i don’t think i appreciated the visit as i would now.

Anyway, in preparation for my new work i checked out my friend Rose’s blog she has some great Monet links and she is also doing some work based on him. And as is the norm you can read some more fabulous information and links that Katherine as put together on Making a Mark.

Based on my research what i found interesting was that Monet used a restricted palette of colours. Not having researched him much before i also found out that while his style “known” being that of impressionism, he didnt always do this and had quite a few works with the figures in particular being quite realistic and detailed. What i also found interesting was that he often used thin layers of paint and mixed on the canvas allowing earlier layers to shine through. He also worked dark to light.

So in keeping all of this in mind. I have decided to embark on my on Monet style piece from a photo that was taken in his garden by me when i visited.

I stared out by doing a few thumbnails and then progressed to using Neocolors to map out where i wanted things to go on the canvas.

Next pic (left) is after a few layers of paint. I am using Monet’s palette (more or less but no browns or blacks) and using oils. I am trying to work thin and concentrating on working dark to light.

This is as far as i have gotten so far its too wet to do anything more with. I hope it turns out how i see it in my head I am not sure about the girl on the bridge. i was thinking maybe a white flowing dress of some sort. The other figure is a lady bending over to look at something in the garden. I really liked this i wanted to include it in my piece but i am not sure it makes for a good composition. There will be bright red kinda branches coming in from the right side going into the painting … but these will be done later.
Any comments let me know

Ok here is another WIP of the sunset.

Sorry its not a good pic, i find it really hard to take good pics of these larger pieces.

I have to let it dry a few days before adding more. There is going to be a large tree in shadow smack bang in the middle of the sun .. i hope i can do it.. still lots to do on the actual water etc yet.

Today i managed to get a fair bit on my sunset pic done .. i meant to post it took a couple of pics but the light isnt great at night and the paint is wet so it looks shocking .. so i will have to post one for you tomorrow.

I just don’t know what happened here.. i just started sketching and it just kinda came out. I feel better now tho

So this one kinda turned weird on me … i was in a sketchy mood i probably should have worked on something else. Anywho here is the outcome… not sure what it is .. i digitally enhanced this one … i think i am turning weird.

“Hairy scary tree” – ink & watercolour on arches 300 by Belinda Lindhardt

Well i hope this one doesn’t look too much like a hairy tree, while doing it i thought it was going to be.
The end colour isnt quite as vibrant as it shows in the scan here its more of a subdued colour, but its late and my eyes aren’t quite up to the task, but i hope you like it. I couldnt resist putting the girl in again, i dont know what it is but i just feel like there need to be something else as well as the tree.

I also have some more oils to show you which i worked on today but i cant photograph them atm while they are still wet. So they can come to you in the next few days.

Take care and have a good weekend.

Today i worked on a tree study. I have been studying these types of trees of late. The urge took me so i did this quickie… The support was a bit of board and the media is mixed between watercolour and coloured pencil so it wasnt the best support but i just wasnt in the mood for paper for some reason .. i was really rough with it pushing really hard on the board it was good ..

As i mentioned i am thinking of doing some a tree series, they wont just be plain trees tho, i was up in the bush the other day taking some good reference shots i am not sure i can pull off what i have in my head so you will be seeing lots of tree studies from me.

I also did these watercolours the other day .. they are on some greeting cards made from watercolour card stock (pre bought) i am stuck what to put in the middle of them obviously something is to go there … just havent decided yet but i like the colours so i thought i would post them.