Hobbyist – justbluedutch

The mood of a Landscape painting

October 18, 2017ART + FORM2 Comments

Looking back from the time I started with my journey with Painting last year, I have received numerous requests of doing more Landscape artwork. People always have a thing for replicating nature—like flower fields, mountains, seascapes, mountain views, and yes, even the skies. I have received many compliments when I am doing the Galaxy-effect sky painting, from which I viewed only as an intermediate attention. I won’t lie, but I created that piece accidentally when I only wanted to use up my leftover paints.

I have the impression that choosing a particular piece and subject of artwork is definitely a personal thing. Like for example, some of my friends cannot appreciate any Abstract piece, while here in Germany, most of the people I knew value my Abstract pieces. But I have learned that as a self-taught artist, you created what you love. You paint what your emotions and mood dictates, from your brushes to your pinsel. the medium that you used is totally depending on where you feel most comfortable with delivering your thoughts on your work. Doing artwork for the sake of making money out of it and pleasing your audience is something offensive to an artist’s creed. It forsakes your own talent, your own mantra of creating something that personify yourself. Not unless you decide to become a full-time Artist and you rely solely on painting to pay your bills. That would be a different story.

IMG_3366 (1) — Messy pallete –Out from this mess, I create something good.

I have collected some pieces of my moody landscapes paintings and would like to share it with you here. To give you an idea, I personally loved landscapes, but I am definitely need a lot of learning more to do to make the best of this, especially when I am working with watercolors. These paintings are inspired by the beauty of landscapes that surrounds me. I tried my best to use my watercolor pallete to bring out the hues and texture to give an attitude to these paintings.Notice that they are moody, almost surreal and I used varying shades to re-create a view from my mind.

Here are some paintings I did for Moody Landscapes paintings in Aquarelle.

Autumn Reflections — 40 x 50.8 cm ( 16″x 20″) Aquarelle painting in 300G/M2 (140lb) Cold-press artist grade paper.

landscapes 1

Waves in Turmoil – 36 x 48 cm (14.2″x 18.9″) Aquarelle Landscape painting in Artist Grade paper.

landscapes 2

Prelude to Dusk – 36 X 48cm ( 14.2″ x 18.9 “) Original Watercolor/Aquarelle painting

Magical Spring Garden – 36 x 48cm ( 14.2″ x 18.9″) Original Watercolor/Aquarelle Landscape Painting

landscapes 4

Let’s Go to the Tropics – 36 x 48cm ( 14.2 “X 18.9”) Original artwork in Watercolor/Aquarelle .

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The “Autumn Reflections“is displayed in one corner in our living room before shipping to its new owner.

Some pieces were already commisioned for purchase and I am excited that my artwork will find new home.There’s a feeling of happiness whenever I create something and people would actually wanna buy it! I, myself haven’t purchase any original artwork in my life, so I truly respect the people who wanted to invest in my talent. It is a great encouragement and tool for motivation to continue mastering your craft. I guess that the best job in the world would be the kind that you really love doing, like a combination of your hobby or passion, and you got actually being paid to do it.

I don’t even have my own studio. I used our kitchen counter when I do some messy work and oftentimes, I am in our dining table to do what I love. Sometimes I do things simultaneously while waiting for other paintings to dry. I visited Art shops looking for art supplies and using the translator app in my phone (since almost all labels are in German), I make both ends meet. Many times, when I am painting, I am also doing some house work, looking after my child, and taking care of other tasks. If I give in to complacency, then I wouldn’t be able to do what I want to do.

There is really no excuse if you want something to be done.

I write this because for me——every piece of artwork is personal. Painting is something that I wanted to do until I grow old and that my hands can still grip on a brush.

What is your opinion of these landscape artwork? Do you like landscapes?

Feel free to share your comments, I would appreciate it!

Thank you once again for reading my friends!Until next time!

Tschüss!

Artwork : The mountains are calling

April 4, 2017April 24, 2017ART + FORM1 Comment

“What a Glorious greeting the sun gives the mountains…”

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“The Mountains are calling “ watercolour original artwork in 30 X 40 cm artist’s quality paper using Profimaler Royal Talens Van Gogh paints and Rembrandt’s inks. This baby needs a new home and can be yours ! Shipping worldwide from Germany!

Hey friends! How is life lately?

With the arrival of Spring here in Germany, everything just had a carpet of changes. In a span of 2 weeks, the weather becomes mild, perfect for outdoor cycling and just being out again without freezing your hands! Have you seen how the cherry blossoms literally painting the town pink? The fields are turning into mossy greens once again and the wild flowers are unstoppable from popping out from the ground, splashing wonderful colors everyday. The other day, I was amazed by the amount of yellow Daffodils in our garden and the tulip bulbs are greedy for sunshine, also ready to pop. This makes me so excited especially with our upcoming trip to Keukenhof in Holland! Spring is such a wonderful time, and by this, I am flooded with inspiration.

So one of the things I love to do for my ‘Me time ‘ is painting my thoughts away. I have made some new Landscape paintings and one of my favorites so far is inspired by the Alps. Remember my post about our Winter Wonderland adventure there last January? Well it seems that the Alps have left some fond memories in my thoughts and I have tried a humble artwork, trying to feel the emotions evoke by this gorgeous mountain.

I love working on this piece, the painting is done with lots of Aquamarine deep blues, cobalt blues, and some tint of Burnt Sienna, and I mixed lots of greens to make a patch of trees and blended them all in lots of wet washes! I am using Profimaler paints and inks from Royal Talens & Rembrandt and high-grade aquarelle papers from Hahnemühle. Check more in JustbluedutchArt instagram page!

I have only seen the Alps in the winter time, where the slopes are covered with snow. On a bright sunny day, the glistening peak can be a mesmerizing sight, especially if you are not used to seeing limestone cliffs, steep peak like the Alps around the Tiroler region in Austria. The pine trees and the beautiful valley below add a picturesque vista on any given day. For me, the mountains are a symbol of the wanderer soul inside all of us, like a quest that all of us have in search for the unknown. Have you seen the great video from North face about the calling from the mountains? I think it sums up what I feel about mountain landscaes and the desire of exploring.

If you have time, do check it out Here, I highly recommend it!

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Do you know the feeling of being so close to a nature wonder everyday?

I love the fast paced of a modern-city life, but my heart always longs for nature. Mountains, lakes, rivers, and especially the beach!I grew up with a view of the amazing Mayon Volcano in Philippines and I tell you, the sight of the volcano with smoke and clouds hovering around it everyday becomes like a second skin. My hometown is the place where this perfect cone volcano can be found and the feeling is surreal when you realize that you have something everyday that no one else have from the other parts of the world. Stay tuned for my version of Volcano scapes soon!

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Also, I am currently doing a project of a series of mountain- scapes like this and will share with you on my next posts. But this time, hope you enjoy this artwork as much as I do.

If you are interested to purchase any of my artwork and support this striving artist, please feel free to send me an email in justbluedutch@gmail.com or follow my Instagram for more updates!

Exciting things are on the way, My Online shop coming out soon and the gallery will soon be in details. Thank you all for stopping by and have a lovely week !

Sky and Galaxy effect Artwork

March 20, 2017ART + FORM8 Comments

Galaxy skyArt adorns one corner of our home

Watercolor is one of my favorite painting mediums to work with because it renders transparent, delicate, and ethereal results. At the same time, watercolors dry fast and you can finish a painting in a few hours. If you don’t have much experience with watercolors, take your time and enjoy the ride as I did.

The other day I decided to clean out my palettes and I don’t like to throw away the left over paints. I come up to this idea of Galaxy and Sky effect painting and men, I love it!The results are far better than I expected. I’m a newbie and this technique is easy to work with, if you have the patience and determination to create patterns by motivating the flow of color in your brush, then this might be your kind of Art theraphy!

FullSizeRender (42) — Galaxy and sky art painting

Painting is expensive. The equipments and paint itself are costly.The good thing is, I used the minimal tools, mostly the ones that I already have. I don’t like complicated process in painting (not yet!) so I always opt for easy and handy tools.For beginners, make sure you have these on hand.

Water
Profimaler ( Professional) Watercolors or Professional/Artist Watercolors (For more information about watercolors/which watercolors to buy, see All About Watercolor Paints)
Watercolor Paper
Paintbrushes (Size 1 for the details, and sizes 3 and 6 round brushes to paint)
A Paper Towel (to soak up excess water and paint)
White and Black Acrylic Artist’s Ink
Salt ( I used the big grain)
Liquid Frisket {Art Masking Fluid works too}
Ruler

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For this project, I did a lot of wet-on-wet washes, that is applying colors on a wet surface. You need to make sure that you have the ‘shiny’ effect of the water before applying your brushes. Once the glistening effect is gone, your brush will just make a mess.I also apply on a colored surface many times especially if I wanted to highlight certain areas.

I know I can’t be the only one who had never thought to use watered-down white ink to achieve a halo effect around stars. I am in love with the creativity behind the watercolor art tutorial that I used as my guide. I’m telling you, this is all self-taught. I realized that If you really wanted to create something, you will be driven to learn things.

The finished project is impressive, but the project itself is wonderfully simple to make! There are times that I felt really good after I finished doing a painting and this is one of them.

I created some postcards and some A4 as well as in A3 sizes. Now all I need is to find a nice frame to perfect the effect. These are great to display in your walls,especially if you are like me who likes minimal decor. There is something surreal about seeing your artwork adds definition in a room.

There’s something ethereal about nigh skies with lots of stars, and the creative image of galaxy always brings fond nostalgia to me. I love astronomy and the beautiful world up there and I am so glad that I could create something like it. Sky is the limit, your colors, your strokes, and your imagination will mold the patterns into a masterpiece.

Do you fancy this kind of painting? If you have the chance to purchase one piece of artwork by masters, which one you wanted to have?

Also, any thoughts on this painting? I would love to hear your comments!

If you love this post and would like to see all my other Artworks, you can check out JustbluedutchArt in Instagram and If you’d like these babies to display in your living room, let me know!

Ladies in turban

March 10, 2017March 12, 2017ART + FORM14 Comments

FullSizeRender (35) — Ladies in turban *36cm x 48 cm mixed media painting* {*Justbluedutchart*}

“Beauty looks like encouragement, patience, acceptance, forgiveness,carefulness and compassion.Beauty is spiritual and physical” – erykah badu

Artwork’s background :

I’ve made this painting inspired by women in turbans that I have seen while living in Kuwait. We all know that it’s a Muslim country and although it doesn’t require Expats to wear Abaya, modesty both in attitude and clothing is encouraged. Some Kuwaiti women wear hijab, some are fully covered with only their eyes are seen, and some prefer to wrap their head in a stylish turban.They all do it with their own taste. There is one famous Fashion Blogger in Kuwait named “Ascia AKF“that have made this signature look becomes a fashion statement.

Ladies in turban { Justbluedutchart // Faces in the crowd}

Women in Kuwait are very fashion-forward and very conscious of how they look. They tend to be wearing full, heavy make up even when they are just going to the grocery shop or sitting in a cafe. The number of salons and beauty shops is as almost the same as the number of restaurants and burger chains.In fact, I’ve read that Kuwaiti women are one of the largest consumer of cosmetics following Saudi Arabia and Iran.

But have you ever wondered a lifestyle with a turban?

Of how tedious their days can be when they have to primp themselves every singe day, wearing make up, having their nails and eye brows to be done and all these beauty routines?

The turban, also known as under wraps, are once a typical male accessory,but now becomes a world-wide trend.Variation in the world of turban styling, Practical and chic for different occasions, and creates a ‘different look‘from the usual hijab are just few of the reasons why wearing a turban becomes a style statement of many Muslim women, and every fashionista.

Do you like women who wears turban?

Also, any thoughts about this painting?

Do you like Instagram? If you like to see more of my Artwork, please follow Justbluedutchart and my own account Here.Hope to see you there!

Parrot symbolism in Art

March 6, 2017March 6, 2017ART + FORM5 Comments

I’ve painted a parrot for the first time.

Animals are not my favorite subject to draw, but driven by my imagination, I have made several attempts to create something beyond what I usually paints. I am not so much into animals, let alone birds. One time in the zoo, a bird pooped in my head as well into my dress. Can you blame me why I think they are cute, but can be nasty as well? I must admit, I draw this because parrots are nostalgic, bringing childhood memories and curious endeavors. I like it for aesthetic reasons as well, but I never had a chance to pet one.

After doing some search about parrots and its symbolism in Art, I created this painting from my mind. Parrots are attractive creatures and known to be ‘talkers‘. But in Art, they are depicted as ‘Truth telling’ . I am sure you know ( or maybe tried as well) that parrots can copy and recreate your words, you can hear your own words without any filter. This is why it is such a magnet for kids. My daughter loves Polly parrot from Peppa pig, she’s fascinated by it’s sound. I am sure she will be thrilled when she sees a real one.

img_6596-1 — Parrot [ Justbluedutchart ]

They say that all artist have hidden meanings and symbolism in every art they create. But maybe because of what the art critics say. Parrot simply stands as a true representation of your true self. You are the only one who can recognize the truth in every word you speak, even the lies that you might be keeping.

Spiritually, they symbolize the Virgin birth of Christ and acted as an eye-witness in the fall of man.It’s famous as a domestic pet, featuring more prominently in Dutch scenes of ordinary life than in any other category of painting. In addition to making frequent appearances in still lifes and portraits, it sometimes impersonates or stands in for people, plays the role of a woman’s surrogate lover, or mocks and comments on the follies of human behaviour. It’s like your personal mirror.

I think that the inclusion of parrots with still-life paintings is very interesting, because it connect parrots to the material world, wealth, and trade. For me, parrot is an exotic creature from non-European lands, same like the Peacock, parrots were highly prized during the colonial period. And it wasn’t just the live birds that were valued: in the colonial era the plucked feathers of parrots were valued too. In Mexico, the indigenous practice of feather painting was combined with European pictorial conventions . This type of feather painting was highly prized by the Europeans, which adds to how parrots were connected with material value.

Do you like parrots ? And what do you think of women and parrots in painting?

Any thoughts about this painting? I would love to hear your comments.

Also, if you’re into Instagram, follow Justbluedutchart,you can find some of my artwork there. Thank you for stopping and wishing you all a lovely week!