Canadian Watercolour and Chalk Pastel Artist

...... and the process of choosing my next photo reference. It's been a cold, backwards spring this year. My heart breaks for our farmers who are still trying to plant their crops mid-June. I had no intention of finding my next painting in the garden this morning. But, it happened nonetheless. It started out with these strawberry blossoms and their beauty. I am looking forward to a few strawberries from our own garden. Last year's strawberry plants didn't survive the winter

I am happy with the latest apple - bottom left. For light green spots, I applied Friskit with a toothpick over the already dry green wash. It's amazing how many reds are in that apple: * Winsor Red Deep * Cadmium Red * Opera Rose I also used Quinacridone Gold and some Burnt Sienna for the warmer side. And, finally .... to cool down the top left of the apple, I washed with some Cerulean Blue. #watercolour #HildaVanNetten #apples

So, the fun for me is always figuring out how to achieve a realistic painting that I like. Two things work for me. 1. "Pushing the colour". If I see a colour, I choose to paint more of it. Any hint of a colour, I find it and paint it. 2. "Lost edges". Example on this painting. Look at the painting and tell me where your eyes rest. For me, it is the space at the bottom of the left apple where you can't really tell where the apple ends and the background begins. That's

I had to grid and take measurements here and there to get even close to what Charlie looks like. I'm fairly happy with how she looks.... maybe 80%. I'll set it on the easel and look at it for a day or two, catch it by surprise, and figure out how I can make it look closer to her. It's amazing how off you can be when you draw, even with a bit of a grid. Her eyes were about 5 degrees off when I started, hence the diagonal line. They really do line up! I am going to worry a

Emily Rose. Stabilo Carbothello chalk pastel pencils on Canson Touch paper. The paper was a cool grey colour and you can see it coming through in her sweatshirt. I am SO GLAD that Emily Rose's mom was pleased with this likeness of her daughter. #StabiloCarbothello #chalkpastel #originalpainting #commission #HildaVanNetten #NorthumberlandCounty #Cobourg #HappyChild #art #smile #colourful #CansonSuede

What sold me on the reference photo for this painting was the feeling like Emily-Rose was emerging from the darkness. Lost edges. I love the idea of lost edges. So, if you look at the top left of this painting, you will see that there is no defined edge to her head there. You can't tell where your head ends and the background begins. I love to include lost edges in my paintings if I can, because they add a sense of mystery. It feels to me that my eye gravitates there and

Have paint, will travel. I'm camping at my sister's place in Grey County, ON. While she works on her artwork, her kitty and I are plodding along on my latest painting. The breeze coming through the screen was welcomed by all of us. #drawing #HildaVanNetten #originalpainting #watercolour #painting #art #NorthumberlandCounty #realism #grass #cat

Truth & Beauty. This one's rather dark, but then again..... sometimes life gets dark. It was quite difficult to find a way to incorporate Frances' (age 5) sketch. When I tried her in vertical positions, nothing made sense. Not that it totally does now, but I think it tells a story now. It's a story of a wonderfully creative woman who is flying. She's not flying in the traditional sense, with wings like a bird, or in an airplane. She's floating on her back through the t

I have a new collaborator! Grand-daughter, Charlie just turned 4 years old. She spends lots of time drawing and creating with her Mom and brother. She created this sensational character on the weekend. I love the eyes.... so expressive! And that hand! It looks like she is saying, "STOP!". And, mostly her hair. Why is it that we lose our inventiveness the older we get? Below is the painting that I cut up to make the cards. Some of the more boring areas will become the

Saturday, May 12 will be my next Drawing workshop at The Painted Tree in lovely downtown Cobourg. One of the exercises we do is to draw our own footwear. Don't worry.... I will give you the necessary exercises before this one so that you will learn to really see what you are drawing! This exercise always turns out very good. If you want to learn to draw, or improve your drawing skills, simply contact The Painted Tree to register. You can call them at 905-372-1313. #worksh

One of the exercises we do during our "See Better, Draw Better" workshops is drawing our own footwear. Today, two students drew my winter boots. I love the looseness of this artist's style. Next workshop will be on Saturday, May 12, 2018. Contact Darlene at The Painted Tree art store in beautiful downtown Cobourg to make your deposit to register. #learntodraw #HildaVanNetten #sketch #workshop #Cobourg #art #ThePaintedTree

“The poetry of the earth is never dead.” John Keats Naming a painting is almost more fun than painting one for me. I wanted to convey the joy I have in growing our own food. We've always grown our own vegetables, and in recent years have been slowly replacing ornamental shrubs with ones that produce food. Hence, the two varieties of currants you see here. It may not be as pretty for people who drive by, but you have no idea how fun it is go outside in the morning and pic

If you look carefully at this almost-finished painting, you will see that the grassy area under the plate of fruit is much lighter than the rest of the grass. I've washed in some greens and some greys to get the paper covered. Now I need to go back and glaze on multiple layers of colour to enrich the tone and colour of the painting and make the grass look realistic. This is the stage where the grass starts to look like itself. #fruit #originalpainting #HildaVanNetten #art

I am always blown away by how much my drawing students learn in a one day workshop. Today's "See Better, Draw Better" drawing workshop did not disappoint. This workshop is designed to be a non-stressful place to learn new drawing skills and/or improve upon the skills they have. Many of today's students had not drawn much in their lives. I give the artists activities that teach them to see shapes, lines, tone, etc. They draw their footwear up-side-down! They do blind cont

I could have titled this, "Update on currant painting" too. I've been continuing in my "Stuff in Containers on the Grass" series for the past few months. This is a close up of it. Newsflash! We've added one more "See Better, Draw Better" workshop. This coming Saturday's workshop is full. Another has been added for Monday, February 5 at The Painted Tree, art store in beautiful downtown Cobourg. Contact Darlene to register. If you've never tried drawing, or if you want so