Today when drawing. I worked on my new easel, a Windsor & Newton Hamilton studio easel. Before I was sitting on the couch with my drawing in my lap, but that didn’t work that well. Looking into easels I discovered a that there were a lot of possibilities. Table easels, A shaped easels, studio easels… then this one caught my eye. It can be folded flat (important in a small apartment), the working surface can be adjusted from vertical to horizontal (great for painting, drawing and watercolour work), and it was very affordable. It arrived yesterday and I was a bit intimidated by the size.
It is nice to work with, though, so nice to have an adjustable stable surface! I decided to draw a scene from a couple of holidays. I’ve visited Frankenau in Germany quite often, and my eye is always drawn to a certain group of trees. They look great in every season, and form a nice point of interest in the landscape. I used the Sennelier pastels and some Schmincke pastels that I also bought to try out. And the old Jaxells, of course.
The Senneliers and Schminckes are great for really covering the surface, where the Jaxells are a bit harder and more suited for details. Actually, I should now fixate my drawing and continue with some more details, but that’s for another time, perhaps. For now, I’m quite happy with the intense colours, the suggestions of shapes and the overall impression. I do want to work on the sky a bit more, though, I was not able to tone the dark colour in the clouds down enough. Still, it the painting makes me happy, because it makes me think of holiday and relaxation, peace and quiet.