Written by Hi there! My name is Dianne Hermes and I have recently relocated to The Netherlands from South Africa. First, I would like to thank Charlie for inviting me to be a guest artist on his great Doodlewash site. I feel very honoured that he chose my paintings to feature here. I lived and worked some 50 years without having any time for myself to paint, (there is a necessity to earn a living) and even although I owned a small successful Advertising Studio with several people in my employ, being the CEO, my life consisted of working 6 days a week.
After my husband passed away, I sold my business and retired from Johannesburg to Cape Town. Bought a house in Hout Bay and after 3 years, built a house in Hermanus (Western Cape) and relocated there. I was soooo busy enjoying freedom from working that I did not even consider painting.
My friend Linda in Hermanus planted a beautiful climbing rose in her garden and in 2010 she had an outstanding display of pink roses that were so awesome I had to paint them. I knew that watercolour was the medium with which I wanted to paint, so I got cracking went buy brushes and paint and then I painted the roses! The result was a lovely painting which I raffled for funds for the local old age home. After that, I just put away my brushes and never got around to painting again until I came to Holland.
After settling into my home in Holland, sightseeing all over this small country, I was inspired to start painting again a year ago when a Facebook friend of mind in Ireland started to post gorgeous photos of flowers from her own garden.
First I tried to paint in oils, then acrylic, but I found that I did not like these two mediums at all. I can truly say that I am a watercolour addict as I just love watercolouring. There is no smell of the oils and it is so easy to keep everything clean. I seem to have developed my own style, being a sort of realistic painter, and I do love bright colours.
I love to take as many reference photos of my subject as possible. I then do my drawing and start my painting by sometimes filling in the darker shades before moving onto the lighter shades. The more complex and detailed the subject is, the more I enjoy it.
It was a huge challenge for me when I attempted to watercolour the boats on the Canals as I had never tried to paint a scene like that. And I did not have much confidence in my ability to paint water. I now see that it was because I did not loosen up on the background. It is amazing how much a person learns from each painting. Inspiration to paint is all around us in this beautiful world that God has created for us and the more a person paints the more we grow our technique to paint.
I use Winsor & Newton tubes to paint, but I intend to buy some Daniel Smith tubes as I have just read an article about them having 13 Quinacridone colours which are transparent, and this is what I want to experiment with next. I also love to use VINCENT pure sable brushes.
I just completed my first animal, which is my friend’s dog called “Satchmo”… It was fun and at the same time very challenging for me as Satchmo was my 11th painting since starting last October. And I did not know if I could do him justice. I think that I now feel more confident to attempt to paint any object that talks to me.
I was also very fortunate to be accepted into the International Watercolour Society of Holland (IWS Holland) and went to their second Painting Day which was held in Vleuten. We had watercolour demonstrations done by two of Hollands well known Artists Gerard Hendriks & Hans Groeneveld … really awesome!
The IWS painting day really got my creative juices running. Meeting and watching all these wonderful skilled artists’ watercolour painting, was such a huge treat for me.
I left Vleuten with an amazing desire to improve my technique as an amateur watercolour artist. I have a very long and exciting journey ahead of me in learning all there is to know about watercolour painting and fulfill my wish to become part of this community of very talented people.
Dianne Hermes
Website
Looks beautiful!😀
Your paintings are truly beautiful and thought provoking. I’m a fellow South African living in Durban,
I stayed for 8 years in Durban and my grand parents were in Glenwood so I am very familiar with Durban … I also stayed abuot 6 years in Gilletts, Kloof, but so far nothing beats Hermanus! Thank you for your kind words!
I grew up on the Bluff but have lived most of my adult life in Glenwood. Small world. Happy painting! I will be following your progress.
I, for one, am glad you were inspired to start painting! I just visited your website too, and all of your paintings are stunning! Would love to see you post on Instagram so I could “follow” when you post new paintings!
I will try to post on Instagram , but not being very good when it comes tonew things like instagram, still have to find time to learn how to do it! Thanks for liking my paintings!
such a pretty photo your drawings are inspiring
Thank you kindly Floral pastelblog!
Lovely art Dianne. Thank you for sharing Charlie.
Thank you Susan.
Wow!
Wow beautiful.
Your paintings are beautiful!
Dianne, it’s hard to believe you are a new watercolorist. Your paintings speak of the experience and confidence of a well established painter. The vibrancy of your colors and the depth of image make me want to linger over each picture. Lovely paintings, well done.
Thank you for your kind words Sharon. . . I have been to a painting day with about 15 well seasoned artists and I did not feel very experienced with them. But I am about finish a painting of a full bowl of cherries and then my next painting I am going to try and combine fine detail with some of the techniques that I learnt at the painting day… if it does not work I will then do the scene which I have called “Gates” as I have been painting up to now.
Beautiful!!!