Harz

On the request of a client I made this watercolour of his parents house. A vintage woodwork building in the Harz, Germany. A lot of fun to do these drawings.

Live drawing

The Masterclass Model drawing has started again.
These are two live drawings of models.
The aim was to get the proportions and statures correct. Positions were contantly changing, max 10 minutes for one drawing.

Agnes in oil pastel above, and Julia in a charcoal drawing below.

The silence after the bomb raid

A random doodle.

Work in progress

Started painting again. Work in progress. This is just the underpainting. It will get some layers of colours on top.

Doodle

No urban sketch, but just a quick composition exercise based on a vague picture. I don't even know where this is. A made a series of these 50x50mm quickies. Fun to do.

The red dragon

The wings of the red dragon. Drawn last Sunday, coloured last Monday.

Waalwijk

The rough edges of town. I was in Waalwijk for a project, but my appointment ended about lunchtime, too late to drive back to the office. I usually drive around to find a quiet spot, park my car, eat my lunch and listen to the radio.
At the edges of the town there are often some less attractive spots, with abandoned buildings or sloppy scrapyards. Or a cluttered boat repair shop. Always nice for a quick sketch.

Stranger on the train

In the train, on my way to Amsterdam. This lady was sitting across the aisle, talking to her friend. A very quick sketch.

Fossil

Not so much urban sketch these days, I am busy with other drawing things that I can't yet post.
But last Sunday we were sitting on the terrace, the weather was nice, and I saw these drawings by Dan Slavinsky. It inspired me to make this drawing. I started drawing the wing, and the drawing evolved itself.

A2 Traffic jam

Driving from home to Eindhoven usually takes about 50 minutes. Today there was a huge traffic jam (an accident maybe?). Took me 2 hours for about 80 km.
But I had time to make this little sketch when we were standing still, just behind Weert.

Roterdam Sketchday, the old harbour

Rotterdam Sketchday, drawing of the the "white house", on the old harbour.

Rotterdam Sketchday

Rotterdam, last Saturday.
I was part of a team that organized the national Sketchday in Rotterdam, together with Jeffrey, Peter and Miryam. There were more than 80 participants, 5 workshops, and a dinner for almost 40 people.
the weather was perfect, and we had a terrific time, meeting and talking to old friends and a few new ones.
In between I had some time to sketch: as we were near the Cube-houses on th Blaak, I could not avoid to draw them. A drama of perspective, all angles and unusual vanishing points, but I still think it came out okay. Hard to believe these are actually houses, and people live in them....

More old panes

Another impression of some old planes made at a vintage plane meeting in Schaffen, Belgium.
We were lucky that we had special permission to draw in between the planes.
These are old training planes, made in Belgium.

And here e few more impressions of the motor of a 1942 Boeing Stearman and a plane for air acrobatics (the Red Devils).

Velsen Steelmill

I attended a in-company training in Velsen. The office is located 5 km from the sea, so I briefly went to the beach after the conclusion of the training.

The road runs through the dunes parallel to the sea, on one side the beach, on the other side the largest steel mill of the Netherlands.
I love the sea and the beaches, but steel mills are far more interesting to draw!

Akersloot

Neglecting this blog, a little busy at the moment. Among others, a business trip to Akersloot, near Alkmaar in the north of Holland, some 20 km above Amsterdam. I had about half an hour after checking in the hotel, before dark, just enough to make this rural scene. It was on a little lake a few hundred meters from the hotel.

Schaffen airfield

This is a Pietenpol Air Camper, a homebuilt plane based on 1929 drawings.
The proud owner made this plane back in 1992 or so.
Last Sunday I visited a vintage planes&automobiles show in Schaffen, Belgium, together with some Belgian USK-friends. There were over 1000 old cars, and a lot of old planes. As courtesy we were allowed to draw ON the airfield itself, in between the planes. A perfect place make a drawing of this beautiful plane.

The Joker

Making drawings, just for fun.

The Joker (inspired by the work of Jason Shawn Alexander)

Castle of Hoensbroek

This is the medieval castle in our town, Hoensbreok.
I went there last Wednesday, to experiment  little with chinese ink and bamboosticks.
Still not having it under control the way that I want it. But I also notice that, even though I am using the techniques of Kiah Kiean, the result is evolving away from the "asian" way to treat the subject.
I suppose that's a good thing.
We visited the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam this weekend, and I noticed Vincent continued learning and copying other artists until he died.
But even when trying another style, van Goghs hand was always there.

Albert Cuyp Market, Amsterdam

The Albert Cuyp Market is the best known market in Amsterdam. We were sitting on a terrace (Restaurant/cafe 'de Bazar'). Next to us was this guy in his stall, he had a peaceful moment waiting for costumers. Enough time to check his mobile phone.

Amsterdam: Westerkerk

Just returned from a lovely weekend in Amsterdam. The weather was modestly hot (we are used to temperatures far above 30 degrees this year; 28-30 degrees is a treat!).
I made this sketch while sitting on a terrace of cafe Roem, across the water from the Anne Frank house, and in full view of the Westerkerk.
I had some nice talks to the waitress, a nice couple from Australia, and a Dutch/Finish family.
we live in a wonderful world with international contacts.