Paintings and sketches by Erik van Elven

Clyde Semler oilpainting for JKPP

2012-01-31T09:58:00.003+01:00

"Clyde Semler", oil on panel, 30x24 cm

Really liked the expression in the reference picture here.

Life drawing class

2012-01-20T10:51:00.003+01:00

lifedrawing class, oil on paper

Error on the dark side!

2012-01-16T11:54:00.000+01:00

This painting was another experiment for the JKPP on flickr.com. I tried a technique used by Jos van Riswick, who has mastered this technique to perfection. His still lifes and portraits are gorgeous.

The idea is to paint into a thin layer of medium (a 50/50 mixture of standoil and liquin) so the paint has the same consistency throughout the painting session. I still have to get used to this technique but for a first attempt I'm not unhappy. What is critical I think is to try to match the tones and hues as close as possible from the start and error on the dark side. You can always go lighter but darker is more problematic especially in dark passages that have to stay transparent.

In the end I got carried away a little with the painting knife but I felt the background needed some texture. Enjoy and thanks for reading!


"Julia Kay", oil on cardboard, 40x30cm

Julia's main thread is here.
All the paintings from the same reference photo are here.

"Jerry Waese", watermixable oil paint on paper

2012-01-13T23:40:00.000+01:00

Jerry Waese, Artisan watermixable oil paint on gessoed paper for JKPP.
Boy, did I have a lot of fun creating this portrait, I hope it shows. The great thing about the Artisan paint (at least on paper) is that you can treat it like oil paint or like watercolor or something inbetween. I will definately use it more often.

I used a limited palette:
Ultramarine blue, Burnt Sienna and Titanium White.

Block-in stages:

Salnavarro for JKPP

2012-01-02T23:46:00.003+01:00

"Salnavarro" charcoal and pencil on paper

Happy New Year! New alla prima oil painting

2012-01-02T14:02:00.000+01:00

"Frida Sofia Martinez", oil on panel

First of all I'd like to wish all the people reading my blog a happy 2012!
I hope you'll stay with me on my artistic journey.

The portrait above is Frida Sofia Martinez, a fellow painter from the JKPP-group on Flickr.
My goal with this painting was to experiment with cooler skintones since I have a tendency to paint them too warm. It was kind of strange to see the gray mixtures on the palette, mixtures which didn't look like skintones at all but once applied to the panel, they looked in place.

What an great thing it is to be a painter, you use a stick with some pighair, rub some pigments mixed in linseed oil to a wooden panel and all of a sudden a face appears. It's a miracle, every time..

Portrait practice

2011-12-31T08:58:00.002+01:00

As an artist I feel you always have to look at your weak points and figure out how you can improve them. For me (and most artists I figure) the area where I can improve the most is my drawing skills.

So, besides the life drawing class I'm taking I decided to join a portrait drawing group on Flickr, Julia Kay's Portrait Party, or JKPP. In this group members draw and paint portraits of others members in a huge variety of styles.

The great thing about this is that there's always something to draw or paint, you can experiment with different styles and your drawing can be as loose as you like. And more practice means better drawing skills so hopefully you will see a lot of JPKK work from me in the future.

If you want to see other artists rendition of me then check out this thread.
Below is my rendition in gouache and pastel of Sketchmanni.
See you all in 2012!

"Sketchmanni", gouache and pastel on paper.

Roman warrior, oil painting from life

2011-12-23T15:38:00.002+01:00

A roman warrior, painted from life during our painting class. It's still a work in progress, I took some photos to be able to finish the painting at home because I like the promise it still has.

Rudolph, life drawing class

2011-11-25T18:30:00.000+01:00

Rudolph, long pose, oil on canvas

This was a long pose, 2x2 hours from life and I worked on the face at home in between the sessions.
Apologies for the wobbly surface, I taped the canvas to board but couldn't properly stretch the surface.

"Keba again", finished, new oil painting

2011-11-13T22:43:00.001+01:00

So I worked some more on the painting I started last Thursday in life drawing class.
I decided to make some radical changes, like completely repaint the eyes and add a darker background but as a result I feel the painting has gotten much stronger.

"Keba again", oil on canvas

Keba again

2011-11-11T11:00:00.001+01:00

In life-drawing class yesterday we had the same model as last week, Keba. He's always a cool model to draw or paint. This time I am planning to do some revisions at home, a few drawing issues in the face that I like to correct and I want to add a part of the cool white sweater he was wearing which I didn't have time for yesterday. So stay tuned for an update!

Keba, work in progress, oil on canvas.

Corry Kooy blog

2011-11-05T13:03:00.003+01:00

I'm excited that Corry Kooy, one of my Dutch artists friends has (finally!) started a blog.
Her works in pastel and oil paint are very inspirational and full of life so check it out here:

http://corrykooy.blogspot.com/

"The silversmith's workshop", pastel 50x65cm by Corry Kooy

Put down your brushes!

2011-11-04T13:35:00.002+01:00

This is Keba, a great model which I have painted before in life drawing class. Yesterday night I was doing OK painting but after the model-break my concentration faded and before I knew I heard the dreaded phrase: "Time's up, put down your brushes!". Aarghhh! All I needed was another 15 minutes (probable more :) )

So now I'm contemplating the thought of doing some more work on the painting in my studio, which feels a bit weird to me. After all, it is a sketch from life.

How do you feel about continuing to work on a lifedrawing or plein air piece in the studio? Do you do it?

'Keba', 30x40cm, oil on masonite

Painting plein air in Botshol nature reserve

2011-10-30T21:25:00.001+01:00

Today I went painting plein air in Botshol, a small nature reserve in the center of the Netherlands with painting buddy Cas. It was a grey day which is nice because it ensures the light will be pretty constant. On the other hand it's also difficult because there are no obvious cast shadows to help to give the illusion of depth.

"Botshol on a grey day", oil on panel, 24x30cm

me pretending to paint..

Trying to match up the finished painting with the background

And a few pictures I took of the painting process.

block-in

halfway the painting

Thanks for watching!

Painting from life

2011-10-28T14:29:00.004+02:00

Painting from life is not always possible but it certainly is the most enjoyable way to paint, especially when you're in the company of other painters. Yesterdays life painting session was a lot of fun, ten people painting and drawing the same subject, the room full of creative energy, a good model, what more can you ask for?
It's always fun to see that while everyone sees the same subject, everyone has a different interpretation and handwriting.
Limited palette: Tit.White, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue and a touch of Cad Red

"Deep thoughts", oil on canvas

Schilderen naar het leven is de leukste manier van schilderen vind ik zelf, zeker als je in het gezelschap bent van andere artiesten. Gisteravond waren we met z'n tienen dit model aan het schilderen en tekenen, in houtskool, acrylverf, pastel, grafietpotlood of olieverf. Leuk om te zien dat iedereen hoewel je allemaal hetzelfde onderwerp ziet toch een eigen interpretatie en handschrift hebt.
Is er iets meer inpirerend dan dat?

De volgende kleuren heb ik gebruikt:
Titanium wit, gele oker, gebrande sienna, ultramarijn en een klein beetje cadmium rood.

Lifedrawing class: Pastel portrait

2011-10-14T12:26:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was a fun night at lifedrawing class, the 'theme' of the night was to draw a portrait using pastels on a black gesso ground. Black is on one extreme of the value scale which really forces you to look at the tones in the face, where is the lightest light, where is the darkest dark and slowly and deliberately map them out on the paper. Good exercise..

"Carel", pastel on gessoed paper, 37x25cm

A rusty start

2011-10-08T18:11:00.003+02:00

Lifedrawing/painting class has started again a few weeks ago but last thursday was the first oportunity I had to attend. So this was my rusty start..
I like working on a toned canvas (usually a mid-grey mix of ultramarine blue mixed with burnt umber or burnt sienna) but this time I only used yellow ochre, which turned out a little bit too yellow in hindsight.
Still there are some parts of the painting I like so there is hope :)

Palette knife rooster

2011-10-05T20:52:00.000+02:00

I haven't had a lot of time to paint lately but managed to paint this rooster.
Good excercise and my first painting using only palette knives.

Rooster, oil on panel, 30x24cm

Boo!

2011-08-30T09:17:00.001+02:00

A recently finished commission.

"Boo!", oil on canvas, 30x24cm

Artrage iPad painting

2011-08-01T23:56:00.000+02:00

I've tried Artrage for iPad in the past but didn't really get it to do what I wanted. But after I saw some wonderful paintings done by Rick Graham I asked him about his workflow and decided to give Artrage another try. Still have a lot to learn but I'm quite happy with this sketch.

Andy Ihnatko

2011-07-28T20:46:00.000+02:00

On my commute to work I regularly listen to a podcast called Macbreak Weekly with Leo Laporte and Andy Ihnatko. In the previous episode Andy made a remark about wanting to be a Jedi knight so I did this attempt in Corel Painter to portray him as as Jedi knight. It was a fun project.

Little red riding hood

2011-07-14T21:45:00.000+02:00

A speedpaint using the Procreate app on the iPad, cropped in Photoshop.
I'm currently testing a stylus sent to me by multitalent Arto Isotalo and so far I really like it, it's a nice mix between a Nomad brush and a regular stylus. Thanks Arto!

Little red riding hood

'Easy going' iPad painting

2011-06-23T14:17:00.000+02:00

Having fun playing around with procreate on the iPad.

"Easy going" iPad painting

Panda featured on Procreate website

2011-06-17T12:57:00.000+02:00

Today Savage Interactive released the 1.5 update of Procreate and I'm honored that they use my panda painting on their new website.
The 1.5 update is awesome, free for existing users and only $.99 for a limited time for new users so go get it!

my panda on the website

"Morning stroll" iPad painting, procreate 1.5

Plein air - De Vlist

2011-05-28T22:12:00.001+02:00

I had a nice day today painting plein air with my friends Rene PleinAir and Corry Kooy.
We were allowed to paint on a beautiful farm and it was hard to pick a scene from all those possible painting spots.

"Blue dinky", oil on panel

"The owls hideout" oil on panel, 24x30cm

Life drawing class

2011-05-27T11:50:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we had the last class of the season, it's going to be hard waiting for September for classes to start again..

Sketchbook pro 2.0 on iPad

2011-05-25T00:10:00.031+02:00

I've always been a fan of the "Art of .."-books from the Pixar and Disney movies and especially of the Pastel work of Ralph Eggleston. And because I had the Art of Finding Nemo book lying on my desk and wanted to try out my Wacom stylus with the recently updated Autodesk Sketchbook Pro for iPad it seemed like a nice thing to try to emulate that pastel feeling by copying one of the images in the book:

I must day that I was pleasantly surprised by the custom brushes in SB pro..

Bamboo stylus for iPad review

2011-05-24T14:42:00.000+02:00

Yesterday my new Bamboo stylus for iPad arrived and I thought it would be nice to share some of my observations. The Bamboo stylus is not pressure sensitive so hopefully in the future we will see a Bluetooth version that reports pressure to the iPad.

Bamboo stylus for iPad

I already have a Griffin stylus and a Nomad brush for painting and drawing on the iPad so I was curious how the Bamboo stylus would compare.

Size and Weight
As you can see in the picture below the Bamboo is a little longer than the Griffin but feels a lot heavier. Also note that the tip of the Wacom is smaller than the Griffin.
The Nomad brush is a lot longer but very light.

bamboo vs griffin vs nomad brush

Drawing and painting with the Bamboo
Here I was a little bit disappointed with the Wacom. I felt that the pressure needed to produce a line was higher compared the Griffin. Yes, the accuracy is a bit better because of the smaller tip but maybe because of the smaller diameter you have to press harder. (The Nomad brush requires no pressure at all and produces a line even if you let it drag across the iPad without applying pressure. Ofcourse, because of the shape of the brush hairs, accurate linework is a little more challenging but not impossible)

Also, the Bamboo tip is really thin and distorts quite heavily when you paint with it. The rest of the Bamboo stylus feels well made but the tip feels like it could tear pretty easily.About the weight, the balance is really nice when you hold the stylus like you're drawing with it. But, if you're like me (I like to hold the stylus more loosely towards the back) the weight becomes a little annoying after a while.

Bamboo tip

Conclusion

Pros
+The Wacom is a little more accurate than the Griffin
+Weight balance is good for writing or drawing if you hold the stylus close to the tip.

Cons
-Tip feels flimsy
-Requires more pressure than Griffin
-Weight balance not so good if you tend to hold a stylus more towards the back.

So for me, I think I'll mainly use the Griffin for sketching and the Nomad brush for painting with the iPad.

Molenviergang Aarlanderveen plein air

2011-05-07T21:45:00.000+02:00

I had a lovely day today painting with painting buddy Cas at the molenviergang Aarlanderveen today.
The sun was out, some wind to keep the black flies away and a great subject to paint, what more can you ask for :)
Finally I was able to test a custom made alkyd panel given to me by Rene Pleinair and it worked out great, nice semi-absorbant surface where the underpainting sets up pretty quickly and the thicker paint gets pulled from the brush nicely. Thanks Rene!

"2 out of four", oil on panel, 30x24cm

A few iPad paintings

2011-05-06T23:57:00.001+02:00

Recently I bought an Ipad2 and I'm amazed how much fun it is to paint on this device. Both these paintings were doodles created in the Procreate app from Savage Interactive. I'm planning to do a review of a few painting apps in the future but have fun with these paintings for now!

"The bride"- life painting class

2011-04-22T14:00:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was a nice night to paint. Our model Marije who I painted and drawn before wore her wedding dress. She was standing on a high platform which made us all look up to her, creating a very special mood. I was humming "Don't cry for me Argentina" when I was making the first marks with my brush :)

I used the same limited palette as I used in my previous painting (Reggae night) which is:

Titanium white
Yellow Ochre
Pozzuoli Earth
Ultramarine blue
Ivory black

Basically it's a modified version of the Zorn palette, with a more earthy red (pozzuoli red instead of vermillion) and ultramarine blue added. I tend to use the black more with mixes with the red to create beautiful dark browns that stay warm and the blue I use to cool down the skintones, when I use black for that the skintones tend to get muddy quite fast in my experience.

I didn't have time to complete the sketch and work more on the background and the edges so I may work on it some more in the future.

"The bride", oil on canvas, 40x30cm

Latest lifepainting class paintings

2011-04-15T12:29:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone and welcome to the new blog-followers! Always nice to see people interested in your work. If you have questions or suggestions just let me know via the comments or email me directly.

These 2 paintings were done in life painting class, both were very nice models to paint.

"Reggae night", oil on alkyd primed masonite

closeup

"Waiting for her date to show up", oil on masonite

I must say I really enjoy these life painting sessions, I've started in januari this year and I'm always looking forward to the next Thursday, very addictive. The level of my other classmates is really high which keeps everyone on their toes and there is a really good vibe in the group, I love it!

"Lentekriebels" Stage 4 - finished!

2011-04-04T11:37:00.000+02:00

The good thing about a deadline is that at some point you have to stop working on a painting :)
So, this is the painting finished, for now, time to move on. Thanks for following along.

30x40cm oil on linen

'Lentekriebels' WIP Stage 3

2011-04-03T10:36:00.000+02:00

Still needs some work on the pants and sparkles. We're getting there..

"Lentekriebels" WIP stage 3

'Lentekriebels' WIP Stage 2

2011-04-02T14:27:00.001+02:00

I worked some more on my Spring fever painting.
In this stage I was using mostly transparent paint for the rocky area with some opaque paint for the light areas on the pants. It's not often that I can use Cadmium Red light straight out of the tube, wonderful color.
Next stage will be adding more opaque paint, working on the feet and pants.
Stay tuned :)

"Lentekriebels" Stage 02

'Lentekriebels' WIP

2011-03-30T14:41:00.000+02:00

A new oil-painting I'm working on. "Lentekriebels" is a little hard to translate, google translate says "Spring Fever" but a more literate translation would be tickles of spring. The painting is for a spring-exhibition of the local art-club. This is the underpainting, burnt umber with a little ultramarine dark.

Lentekriebels WIP, oil on linnen, 30x40cm (11.8x15.7)

Zorn palette life drawing class

2011-03-25T12:13:00.000+01:00

Zorn palette - life drawing class

Yesterday in life painting class I finished the painting I started last week, this time using the Zorn palette.

Plein air in Schoonhoven

2011-03-20T22:38:00.000+01:00

Today I went painting with Rene Plein air and Corry Kooy in Schoonhoven.
It was a sunny day and we had a lot of fun. Schoonhoven is a beautiful town, very old and every way you look there is a painting to be made.
I did two paintings but didn't finish the first one, might finish that one from a photo.

Zorn palette

2011-03-19T21:41:00.000+01:00

If you're following this blog you may have noticed that I like to experiment with limited color palettes and that I've used the Zorn palette before. The Zorn palette (Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre, Titanium white and Ivory black) is a very good way to learn about color mixing and color temperature.
I want to do some portrait studies with it in the near future so after seeing it in use by the talented Aaron Westerberg in a few of his paintings I decided to do a color chart.

Zorn palette

Look at that color harmony, beautiful isn't it?

A few masterpieces by Zorn:

Spetssom

Zorn self portrait with a model

lifepainting class

2011-03-18T11:27:00.000+01:00

Yesterdays result, painting from life. Burnt sienna with a little ultramarine blue.
Will continue with this painting next week and add some color.

"Not a clown tonight"

2011-03-11T13:32:00.001+01:00

I guess I have to explain the title. My 5-year old daughter is always very interested in my paintings, especially the ones I do in life painting class. Yesterday we were supposed to get a clown as the model so my daughter was very excited in advance. Turned out that there was a misunderstanding in the briefing and the model showed up without a costume or makeup.
The next morning I told my daughter and I expected her to be very dissapointed. Instead she was thinking for a moment, then smiled and said: "Clowns are not so smart are they?"

About the painting (2 hours) itself, I'm pretty happy how it turned out, I focused on the big shapes, shadow/halftone/light and tried to use fewer brushstrokes. Candace X. Moore has a nice blogpost about this method. The limited palette use was Titanium white, Yellow Ochre, Venetian Red, Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Deep. Enjoy!

"Not a clown tonight" oil on canvas, 40x30 cm (15.7x11.8)

Cold morning - new original oil painting

2011-03-04T12:48:00.000+01:00

Finally had to some time to paint yesterday. This was mostly a study in edges and atmosphere, I'm reasonably happy with the distance effect.
Unfortunately this scene doesn't exist anymore like in this painting. Last year a huge fire destroyed most of this beautiful area.

"Cold morning" oil on masonite, 8x10, original available

Plein air with Rene plein air

2011-02-13T20:29:00.000+01:00

Had a lot of fun today painting with Rene PleinAir.
Rene paints on location about every day of the week and uses a limited palette to create his beautiful paintings of the Dutch landscape. It was an honour to paint with him, thanks again for the fun day Rene!
The location where we painted was 'De Winterdijk' a narrow road between Waddinxveen (where I live) and Gouda.

'Richting Reeuwijk' 8x10 oil on panel

Rene painting

'Winterdijk' 8x10 oil on panel

Lifepainting class

2011-02-11T13:20:00.000+01:00

Squint!, look for the hardest edge, look for the softest edge, what's the darkest dark, what's the lightest light, what's the strongest color, what will be the focal point of my painting. Cool light? Warm light?
All important things to consider before starting a painting yet when I'm in class I forget and just start to lay strokes down :)

Life drawing class

2011-01-28T14:16:00.000+01:00

I joined a lifedrawing class yesterday to improve my drawing/painting skills.
Very intense but a lot of fun.

'Southern Belle' new oil painting

2011-01-20T21:12:00.001+01:00

I finished this painting in december for an artist friend in the UK, the talented Amanda Drage. You should check out her blog if you haven't done so already, her paintings of horses and birds are very inspirational.
It was fun painting those glowing eyes and all the colors in the white fur. I tried to keep the brushwork loose and free flowing, hopefully I succeeded.

"Southern belle", oil on linen, 30x40cm (12x16) (Sold)

Sketch

2011-01-19T11:02:00.000+01:00

One of my goals for the new year is to do more drawing and sketching, so here is the first (rusty) attempt at doing a portrait sketch.

"Streak of light" new oil painting

2011-01-13T10:34:00.000+01:00

Finally, the first post of the new year!
But first I'd like to thank all the people following me here on the blog or on facebook. I hope you'll continue to check in now and then and leave a comment, I'm always interested in what you have to say.

I'm looking forward to step outside my comfort zone this year and attempt to paint people, we'll see how it works out :)
But the first one I finished this year was for the monthly painting challenge on the artist helping artists blog.

"Streak of light", oil on linen, 30x50cm (12x20)

blockin

"Rainclouds over The Burren"

2010-12-09T11:35:00.000+01:00

This month the Virtual paintout visits the beautiful County Clare in Ireland, a place I visited a few years ago.
I fell in love with the rugged beauty of the landscape so I was excited that this area was selected this month for the VP-community.

For this painting I used a limited palette of:
Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow medium, Permanent Red medium, Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue Deep.

"Rainclouds over The Burren"

5.3x11, oil on masonite

original available

Sinterklaas and Amerigo

2010-12-01T01:00:00.010+01:00

This was a painting requested by my 5 year old daughter. At the moment in her class the current theme is Sinterklaas. If you're not Dutch you probable don't know who he is (more info here on wikipedia) but the most important thing from a kids point of view is that he brings presents for the kids. Sort of like Santa but he arrives in a steamboat instead of on a sled. I painted this from 2 very tiny plastic figures and it was fun to play with the dramatic light. Because Sinterklaas is celebrated in December I decided to use this painting as my entry for this months painting challenge on the artists helping artists blog.

Oil on canvas, 5x7, n/a

'Cat reflections'

2010-11-19T14:17:00.000+01:00

A small oilstudy from a recent workshop. Shiny things are always fun to paint :)

New wildlife art book by Dick van Heerde

2010-11-09T14:28:00.001+01:00

If you have a passion for wildlife art and especially African wildlife art a new book has just been released that you might like. It's called "Nature, oil and brushes' by Dick van Heerde and is available for 25 euro (+S/H) through his website.

The 144 page book starts with a well written bio (in Dutch and English) and is illustrated with lots of beautiful paintings. Highly recommended.

'The pink umbrella' oil on linen 14x11

2010-11-06T13:40:00.000+01:00

My entry for the monthly painting challenge on the artists helping artists blog. This lovely lady is my daughter with her Disney princess umbrella.
I'm starting to enjoy painting people, a bit outside my comfort zone but a lot of fun.

'it's that time of year..'

2010-10-23T17:58:00.001+02:00


oil on gallery wrap canvas, 5x7 (13x18cm)

My brother and his family were visiting from Australia the last few weeks and we went for a few days to Disneyland Europe. One day when we went into the park very early I noticed the dramatic light on one of these Micky pumpkins with the dark blue waterfall as a nice backdrop.

I prepared this canvas with a Gamblin oil ground which makes a nice surface to paint on. The oil doesn't get absorbed as quickly as is the case on an acrylic gesso primed canvas.
The palette used here was ultramarine blue dark, transparent oxide red, cad red medium, cad yellow light, titanium white and a tiny bit of permanent rose for the reflected colormix.

October! Plein air

2010-10-01T01:00:00.037+02:00

Here's my entry for the October Artists helping Artists challenge.
Edit: Dont know what is going on with blogger but If you can't click on the image to get a bigger picture then here is a link to the bigger version.

Went out painting last sunday to give the new paint a workout. I thought it would be fun to do a painting of my painting buddy Cas. Decided to also try a smoother panel since a lot of painters seem to prefer a smooth surface to paint on. I learned that I'm not one of those :)
Especially on the darker passages where you use thinner transparent paint it was hard to get to paint to stick to the surface. Did some additional tweaking at home to try to rescue the painting although Cas still looks quite a bit older than in real life, sorry Cas :)

on the job..

Happyness in a box

2010-09-19T01:00:00.021+02:00

Don't you love it when the mailman brings you a box with new artsupplies (You ordered the supplies yourself but it still feels like a present)
Most artists I know have quite a collection of artmaterials at their disposal.
Yesterday a package arrived with some oilpaint from Old Holland, Mussini, Winsor & Newton and Rembrandt. Looking forward to give them a try!

'Icecream anyone?'

2010-09-18T13:59:00.005+02:00

My entry this month for the virtual paintout. This month the place to be is Manhattan. And although I saw many great locations with huge skyscrapers en beautiful yellow taxis I chose this intimate view of an icecream stand at Central Park. The dappled sunlight on the umbrellas and the floor was very interesting to paint. I used the palette knife in places like the light hitting the umbrellas, and modified some of the edges with a brush. Fun!

I used a limited palette here of Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Alizarin, Cadmium Yellow Light and Titanium White.

'Icecream anyone?', Oil on masonite,

Cow - value study

2010-09-11T12:28:00.000+02:00

I had fun with this value study using a limited palette of ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and titanium white. When you add more burnt sienna the grey mixture gets warmer, if you add more ultramarine it gets cooler. A lovely way to forget color and focus on shape, value and edges, probable the most important parts in a painting.
When I was a little boy (long long looong ago) there was a great book in our local library from a Dutch artist with drawings of cattle. I've recently searched if I could find it but no success. I can't remember the name of the artist which doesn't help. On the cover there was a drawing of a cow in a similar pose to the one below. If anyone reading this know which book it is please let me know.

'Cow study', Oil on masonite,

September mushrooms

2010-09-01T01:00:00.033+02:00

Wow, it's September already. Time sure flies.
The artists helping artists blog is starting a new monthly challenge and this is my entry for this month.
I always wanted to do a painting with these colorful mushrooms and this was a perfect occasion to bring out my tube of cadmium red :)

'September', Oil on gallery wrap canvas,

Bald eagle painting

2010-08-25T11:34:00.000+02:00

I did this painting as a gift for the kid of a friend who turns 6 this weekend, he's a huge fan of birds of prey. It's great when kids have an appreciation for the natural world and I feel we should stimulate them as much as we can to hang on to that. Thanks to my sister for allowing me to use the photo-ref from her recent trip to Canada and the US.

'Bald eagle', acrylic on gallery wrap canvas, 18x13cm (7.1x5.1)

nfs

'Morning blues' oil painting

2010-08-14T13:41:00.002+02:00

A few weeks ago I made a painting of a cow in the mist, and said that I wasn't sure if it was finished or not. When I looked at it again with a fresh eye, I felt it needed some more action so I added 2 friends.

'Morning blues', Oil on gallery wrap canvas,

Virtual paintout Prince Edward Island, Canada

2010-08-11T13:05:00.001+02:00

My submission for the Virtual Paintout August edition.
I've been wanting to participate for a long time, but never quite came around to do it.
If you're not familiar with the Virtual Paintout, basically the concept is this:
Every month a location around the world gets picked, and artists use Google Streetview to virtually drive around, pick a location to paint and submit the results to the blog.

I had a lot a fun doing this one, although you have to set a time limit for yourself while location scouting otherwise you'll be driving around for hours finding a place that's even better :)


'Sherry Road', oil on masonite, 8x10, © 2010 Erik van Elven

Plein air

2010-08-04T21:36:00.001+02:00

Painting in the rain today which was a new experience for me.
And it's true that oil and water do not mix :)
Nevertheless all those raindrops on the palette made it very hard to mix the paint using the brush and the paint would kind of slide across the surface of the painting.


Rainy Shed, 8x10 oil on masonite (n/a)

Limited palette month painting Nr5: 'Paid its dues'

2010-07-25T07:11:00.008+02:00

This old wooden wheelbarrow I found in the backyard of my father in law. It's been long since it has been replaced by a newer plastic and metal version.
Since it's still limited palette month this one was painted with:
Ultramarine blue
Transparent oxide red
Yellow ochre and Titanium white.


' Paid its dues', Oil on masonite, 15x20cm (6x8) © 2010, Erik van Elven

Limited palette month painting Nr4: Cow oil painting wip

2010-07-14T13:26:00.002+02:00

This time a color-combination I'm more familiar with, ultramarine blue and transparent oxide red (and of course titanium white). I love these colors together, they make great transparent darks and dependent on which color dominates it's a cool or a warm dark .

I toned the canvas with a reddish acrylic to give the cold colors a warm glow.
Not quite sure yet if I call it finished or not, I will look at it next week with a fresh eye to see if it stays as it is.

' Blank stare', Oil on gallery wrap canvas,

18x24cm (7.1x9.4)

© 2010, Erik van Elven
n/a

Limited palette month painting Nr3

2010-07-11T20:49:00.007+02:00

This painting was painted using a palette that's used by the famous Dutch plein air painter Rene.

If you haven't checked out his blog please do, it's very inspirational. Almost every day he's painting the dutch landscape and cityscape.

Rene uses cad yellow light, kraplak (madder lake) or permanent alizarin, ultramarine blue dark and titanium white.

' Lonely tree', Oil on textured masonite,

Limited palette month painting Nr2

2010-07-07T09:00:00.008+02:00

If anyone has a suggestion for a title I'm open to suggestions.

Another painting done with a limited palette. This one was done with the following colors:
Cadmium red light
Cadmium yellow (medium)

Ultramarine blue
Titanium white
I also put out Emerald green on the palette (unfortunately Viridian isn't available in the Cobra lineup) but I ended up not using it.
This is a very versatile palette which I'm planning to use a lot more in the future.

Oil on canvasboard, 13x18cm (5.1x7.1)

© 2010, Erik van Elven
SOLD

Limited palette goose oil painting

2010-07-05T22:44:00.005+02:00

July is limited palette month for me. I recently bought a set of Talens Cobra oil paint after using primarily Winsor & Newton for a long time. Since colors always vary between brands it's a good time to do some experiments with colors other than my usual set to get out of the comfort zone.
This painting was done with the Zorn palette, which consists of yellow ochre, cadmium red, ivory black and titanium white. Black acts as the blue here, which I found to be harder than I thought. I've tried to put some orangy passages next to greyish areas to make the grey appear to be more blue than it actually is.
For people-paintings I think it can make a nice base palette.

This guy I saw at the local childrens farm, he was being very inquisitive about me and my camera.

'The neighbourhood watch'

Woopra real time statistics

2010-07-05T10:49:00.003+02:00

I was wondering if you are familiar with Woopra?
If not, you might like it. It's a nice addition to Google analytics or statcounter.
I first heard about Woopra on the This week in Photography podcast.

Woopra is a real-time statistics program of your site, so you can see in real time which visitors are at that moment on yourblog or site.
You really have to see it for yourself to appreciate it.
Trey Redcliffe has a nice video about it on youtube:

It's free up to I believe 30000 pageviews a month and it's very easy to setup so it's not a problem to give it a try.

Cleaning up

2010-06-23T16:49:00.000+02:00

After reading a blogpost by fellow blogger Sophie Ploeg about flash/mobile devices and internet I made some adjustments to the layout of my blog. Things were getting a little too cluttered for my taste.
The new design is a lot less wide to help people with small screens, all the extra content is now on the right side and with the new design I hope the readability has improved.
Also a facebook badge has been added.

Is it better or is it worse?
If you have an opinion please leave a comment.

Wolf painting acrylic

2010-06-18T21:34:00.004+02:00

'Wolf!', acrylic on Mus panel

Wolves are mysterious creatures and that quality I was trying to grab in this painting.

Mus panel is a really smooth painting surface to paint on, it has 7 layers of sanded gesso for maximum detail work. I wanted a more textured surface for his wolf painting so I added another layer of gesso with a very rough brush. I kept the paint very dry and transparent.

I like the fact that the painting works as an abstract design as well.

Snow landscape oil painting finished

2010-05-20T12:40:00.000+02:00

I finished my snow landscape yesterday, decided to keep it impressionistic because I like it better that way :)

'Snow landscape' oil on masonite

Actually I wanted to start a new studio painting with the new Talens Cobra watermixable oils yesterday but decided to finish this one first because I have so many wip-paintings laying around already :)
So the cobra's will have to wait till Friday.

Plein air painting - De Haeck

2010-05-16T22:36:00.006+02:00

Plein air painting - De Haeck , 8x10 oil on panel

I went to the beautiful 'De Haeck' near the Nieuwkoopse Plassen today with fellow painter Cas van der Sluijs. Nice, steady light throughout the afternoon. This painting was done with the new Cobra water mixable oil paint by Royal Talens, I will be talking more about this in a future blogpost.

Finally got around to testing my Art Cocoon Traveler 1.

It's a wet-canvas carrier made from high quality cardboard, very light and easy to use.

This version can fit a 4x6,5x7,6x8 or 8x10 (You just take out the cardboard piece that fits your panel.

After you've done painting, you just put on the lid, put on the elastic and off you go!
I think it's a great product.

Landscape oil WIP

2010-05-04T14:07:00.000+02:00

A painting study I'm still working on. This is a little past the block-in stage.

The best brush for acrylics and water mixable oilpaint

2010-05-03T22:26:00.004+02:00

When you're painting with acrylics or watermixable oils you're pretty much stuck with using synthetic brushes since hog-bristle brushes get floppy really soon when they get into contact with water frequently.
Until a few months ago I primarily used W&N Artisan brushes since they were stiffer than most synthetic brushes but then I came across Rosemary and co, a small mailorder company in the UK. All their brushes are handmade and you can request a free catalog which displays the brushes life-size so you won't have to guess about the size of the brush.
The best brush for acrylics and watermixable oilpaint IMHO is the Ivory line of brushes. Stiff but springy, it holds quite a bit of paint and it retains its shape a lot better than any other brush I've worked with. I like the long-flats and the filberts.
If you like a brush that is just a bit softer they also make a really nice synthetic Mongoose, named Eclipse.

The top 2 are Ivory brushes, the bottom one is an eclipse.

If you're looking for a great brush for regular oil paint you should try the Mongoose series 279, it's like the Langnickel brushes but without losing the hair :)
Apparently Jeremy Lipking, Morgan Weistling and Richard Schmid use these brushes as well . If they are good enough for them..

Update: 11 August 2010: Since I've switched to a softer oil paint I currently use primarily the Eclipse brushes combined with the Series 279.

Lori glory - Lori oil painting

2010-04-22T14:19:00.008+02:00

If you're an artist, does the following sound familiar?
Your painting is almost done, in fact it is done,
you just want to do 1 final teeny weeny brushstroke before you go clean your brushes as a happy painter and then disaster strikes..
Apparently there was a weird color on your brush and now there is a weird looking blob in a strange color on your painting, and it needs correcting, right away! So that one final brushstroke turns into hours of correcting and you end up with something that was almost as nice as the painting before that teeny weeny brushstroke..

This is one of those paintings.
I could have used an Undo here, Ctrl Z didn't work

Misty tree -oil painting

2010-04-19T14:50:00.006+02:00

It's so much fun doing these studies, and you learn a lot. More than if you would only do a few highly finished paintings a year.

A 1000 leaves and a nut

2010-04-17T22:23:00.005+02:00

-A 1000 leaves and a nut-
Oil on canvasboard
20x15 cm (8x6)

Finished the study. Quite a learning experience.

Forestfloor study WIP

2010-04-03T20:46:00.003+02:00

A WIP of a fallen tree laying on a forest floor covered with leaves. Oil on canvasboard 20x15cm.
I'm doing studies this year of subjects I find difficult to paint to hopefully grow as an artist.
Seeing structure in what looks like chaos (all those leaves) and being able to simplify that into manageable brushstrokes (without painting every single leaf) is proving to be hard :)

To be continued..

Gnarly and grumpy

2010-03-31T10:40:00.005+02:00

-Gnarly and grumpy-
Acrylic on canvasboard
24x18 cm

This image started as a study of the tree, but after one painting session I liked the image but felt it needed something extra, so I added Grumpy. I did that using Golden Open Acrylics which I really liked in the past. This time, I was really struggling with them trying to get a decent opaque dark value. Those things are so much easier with oil-paint.

Back! Elephant painting

2010-03-22T22:51:00.009+01:00

Hi there, it's been a while since my last post here. Have been doing a lot of photography and neglected my painting because of that.
Anyway, this is what I came up with tonight playing around with Painter. Study for future oilpainting.

Polar bear sketch

2009-11-06T10:00:00.001+01:00

After all this blog is called paintings and sketches, so I better put in at least a sketch..

More moooo

2009-11-05T21:48:00.005+01:00

-Enjoying the morning sun-
Oil on Masonite

Starting to get used to the slick feeling of the masonite but I still prefer the textured feel of canvas or linen. A cows are fun animal to paint.

2 calves - oil quickstudy - 2 Pinken olieverf studie

2009-10-18T15:17:00.006+02:00

-Curious stare-
Oil on masonite, 25x20 cm (10 x 8)

Every serious wildlife and animal artist should have at least once in his career have painted a cow. I have been wanting to paint a cow for a long time but somehow, other things came first.
So, when I wanted to do a quickstudy last friday and came across this reference photo, I knew I wanted to paint these 2 curious animals.

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Elke schilder van wildlife en dieren in het algemeen zou in ieder geval 1 keer in zijn carriëre een koe moeten hebben geschilderd. Bij mij was het er nog nooit van gekomen maar afgelopen vrijdag kwam ik toen ik een snelstudie wilde maken deze foto tegen. Gelijk wist ik: dit wil ik schilderen.

Landscape study 'Moerkapelse Rotte'

2009-10-07T21:03:00.011+02:00

-Moerkapelse Rotte-
Oil on canvasboard, 24x18 cm (9.4 x 7.1)

Don't you just love lighting situations like this?

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Ik ben gek op natuurlijk licht zoals dit.

Asian lion cubs - new oil painting

2009-10-02T09:00:00.004+02:00

-Asian lion cubs-
Oil on 3D canvas, 60x40 cm (23.6 x 15.7 inch)

closeup

Lately I've been looking a lot at modern impressionistic painters like Huihan Liu and Jennifer McChristian and as a result I'm trying to be looser in my brush-handling. I'm experimenting with small studies and this is the first bigger painting in the new direction.

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De laatste tijd kijk ik veel naar moderne impressionistische schilders zoals Huihan Lui en Jennifer McChristian. Daardoor ontwikkelt mijn stijl zich meer in die richting met naast een aantal kleine studies dit schilderij als resultaat.

Upcoming wildlife art show

2009-10-01T13:00:00.001+02:00

200 years Charles Darwin

From October 3 until December 29 2009 at wildlife gallery Oog voor natuur in Opheusden The Netherlands you can see work by 67 international wildlife artists about animal survival. The theme was chosen because the book The origin of species by Charles Darwin was published 150 years ago and it was 200 years ago that Darwin was born.

One of my oilpaintings is also on display.

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De thema-tentoonstelling ”Oog voor Overleven” bij Kunstgalerie Oog voor Natuur is van 3 oktober t/m 29 december 2009 –op zaterdagen– gratis te bezichtigen aan de Lindelaan 2a te Opheusden (Gld.), van 10.00 tot 17.00 uur. Of op afspraak op een doordeweekse dag: 0488-442366.
Informatie: www.oogvoornatuur.com

New Richard Schmid landscape book

2009-09-30T10:41:00.005+02:00

I'm trilled to read that a new book is coming from one of my favorite painters of all times, Richard Schmid. It is available for pre-order through his website.

This 11" x 14" book features over 300 images and it is the largest collection of Schmid’s landscapes ever compiled in one book. It is quite expensive ($75 for the softcover and $135 for the hardcover) but I've never regretted buying the also expensive Alla prima - All I know about painting which contains a wealth of information.

Another quickstudy

2009-09-13T15:02:00.005+02:00

-Pelican study-
Oil on masonite, 25x20 cm (10 x 8)

Flower imitation oil quickstudy - Flamingo oil painting

2009-09-10T21:39:00.009+02:00

Lately I've been reading a book by Craig Nelson, 60 minutes to better painting. It's about making lots and lots of quick-studies in oil or acrylic to improve your technique, the idea being that the hardest part of a painting is the start.

When I returned from cleaning my brushes my first impression of the painting was that the 2 flamingos resembled a pair of flowers, hence the title.

-Flower imitation-
Oil on masonite, 15x20 cm (6 x 8)

'Arctic beauty' finished

2009-09-06T12:18:00.005+02:00

-Arctic beauty-
Acrylic on canvasboard, 47.5x41 cm framed (18.7 x 16.1)
email to purchase

Sorry for the lack of updates but the last 3 weeks I've been working on a painting for an upcoming show in October. More about that in a later post.
I realized that I didn't post the finished version of the polar bear acrylic so here it is framed.

Grey crowned crane

2009-08-09T20:53:00.011+02:00

-Grey crowned crane study-
Oil on canvasboard, 18x24 cm (7.1 x 9.4)

I intend to do more of these oil-studies, they're so much fun to do. The idea here was to experiment with looser brushstrokes and somewhat thicker paint (still not thick enough though).

Plein air studies

2009-07-14T12:40:00.004+02:00

2 recent plein air studies.

Painting in the Oostvaardersplassen with painting buddy Cas van der Sluijs
He took this picture of me painting:

Sketchbook paintings

2009-07-03T22:01:00.004+02:00

I've been on a holiday to Germany last week, had a small sketchbook with me and 4 tubes of gouachepaint so I created these sketches.

Polar bear - in progress

2009-06-20T14:22:00.003+02:00

Lightened the whole background to push it furter back.
Some more detailing on the bear, softening edges here and there, warm vs cool, and changed the eyes a little.
Foreground still needs some work.

Polar bear - in progress

2009-06-18T21:25:00.003+02:00

Babysteps..
Worked on the lighting on the bear and on the background to get a more foggy feeling.
This turns out to be a hard painting to photograph because of the glare and the subtle colors.

Polar bear -in progress Step03

2009-06-14T21:10:00.002+02:00

Still working with Chroma Atelier interactive acrylics. Starting to get a better feel for the paint. It's nice that you're able to blend the paint after it is dry to the touch by just spraying on some water or unlocking formula.

Polar bear study Acrylic- in progress

2009-06-12T14:30:00.001+02:00

Step01 Block-in

Step02

Added a little color and adjusted some shapes.

Gouache study 't Weegje

2009-06-11T21:44:00.003+02:00

I did this gouache painting in 2005, haven't painted much in gouache since then but after some recent posts by Nathan Fowkes I decided to give it another try.

It's tricky to control the wetness of the paint and to try not to lift the previous layer. I need more practice but for a first try after so long I think it's not too bad.

't Weegje, gouache on black W&N paper sketch block. 16x9 cm (6.3x3.5)

Great crested grebe finished Part2

2009-05-16T21:30:00.001+02:00

After posting the image on wetcanvas I was advised to tone down the background flowers.
I like the result, hope you do too.

This is what it looks like framed.

In our garden mom and dad blackbird are having a busy time with 3 kids to feed. Funny to watch.