My project for course: Illustrating the Natural World with Watercolor and Charcoal
by Wendy Coetzee @wendycoetzee20
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My Name is Wendy Coetzee , I live in Johannesburg, South Africa.
I have not done any Art for 25 years, I did the Sarah Stokes "Expressive Animal Portraits in water colours" course about 18 months ago. I have since also done the "Artistic water colour techniques for Bird Illustration" course.
I was going to skip this part of the course as I just wanted to get to the water colour lessons. After watching Sarah draw, I was so inspired I thought I would try. Loved it. Will definitely be doing some more charcoal drawings in the future.
I may add some water colour flowers later, I did not do the gold foil, as it is hard to come by in South Africa, and very expensive. I could not find the suggested paper so I used hot press water colour paper.
Loved this exercise, did not think I would enjoy painting flowers this much, was great to paint in a looser style, I often get a bit hooked on detail which stops me from painting in a looser style
After painting this project. I wanted to paint a more South African Painting
Here are the practice pieces of my project.
In South Africa we do not have Bumble bees. So after doing some research I found that we have “Carpenter Bees” which are also large and look similar to bumble bees. The other pollinators and flowers are found in the Drakensberg area.
The area I painted is of the Drakensburg, a beautiful mountain range where I spent a week recently. I wanted to depict the tranquil feeling I experienced while I was there. I painted the basic idea of the project but added a landscape in the distance. I am struggling with Landscape painting. at the moment, because they always look a bit childish. This course has helped me a lot with your wonderful tips, I feel I now have the skills to try and improve my landscape painting but will need a lot more practice.
Thank you Sarah, once again a wonderful course. I loved every minute of it. You are an inspiration and an amazing artist and teacher.
9 comments
faulknercindy
Beautiful, fine work and a real sense of atmosphere in your last piece. Also, love the way you have done the poppies and dragonfly. Thanks for sharing!
wendycoetzee20
@faulknercindy
Thank you Cindy, for our encouraging comments.
sarah_stokes
Teacher PlusWow Wendy… I’ve just read through your projects and I so enjoyed it. Especially as I learnt how much you enjoyed the process of creating each piece. Your final project is absolutely stunning. You’ve really pushed the boundaries and have created a unique and exquisite piece. It’s wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing your inspiring work to the forum 😊
wendycoetzee20
@sarah_stokes
Hi Sarah, thank you for your inspiring comments, I have loved all your courses so much, this course helped me see how I can paint landscapes in a more unconventional way, I have found painting landscapes quite difficult. Hope to see another course form you soon. I have learnt so much from you, Thank you.
kirsten_hildebrandt
Beautiful paintings. I especially love the sheep. Luckily you did the charcoal drawing, it turned out great. I also like your paintings from the other courses very much. Many greetings to South Africa!
wendycoetzee20
@kirsten_hildebrandt
Hi Kirsten, so nice to hear that you liked my paintings, it is really great to get feedback. Thank you.
Sounds as though you may have some connection to South Africa.
janiceamandalee
Your work is wonderful, Wendy. I love how you incorporated South African plants and bees and made the project your own. It will inspire me to do the same as I work on my final project.
wendycoetzee20
@janiceamandalee
Hi Janice, thank you, looking forward to seeing your final project.
carla_ahlers
Congratulations, it's beautiful, I love it
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