Amstenrade

Church of Amstenrade, just around the corner from my house. I tried to make a few sketches while it was snowing, but that did not work, the ink got all smudgy. And I got cold. This was the only acceptable one, which I coloured later at home. Kerk van Amstenrade, geschetst in de vallende sneeuw. Dit was de enige acceptabele schets, de rest was viezig.

Snow

Record breaking snow here in South Limburg, over 40cm, which is once every 100 years.
The view from my bedroom window this morning, looking over the gardens.
Rekordhoogte sneeuw vanmorgen, meer dan 40 cm. Gezien vanuit mijn slaapkamer raam.

Tibbets

Hiroshima by refarch
Sometimes I make music, I made this a few years ago. I composed the piece and played all the instruments myself, using a keyboard, electronic synthesizers (VSTI), drum sequencers, looped samples and sofware programs like Music Maker and Acid. For the background voice I used vocoder software (turns written text into voice; I can't sing). The narrative is a real sample of the voice of the pilot Paul Tibbets, who flew Enola Gay.
Soms maak ik muziek, dit stuk heb ik helemaal zelf gecomponeerd en ingespeeld, m.b.v. keyboard, mijn laptop en synthesizer software.

Valkenburg

Early morning, driving to my work. I stopped briefly in Valkenburg to make this sketch. I added the colour at home; it was way too cold.
Op weg naar kantoor, even gestopt in Valkenburg voor deze schets. Aquarel thuis toegevoegd, het was toch wel erg koud buiten.

Art class

This morning, live model painting. Vanmorgen, kunstklasje onder de bezielende leiding van Annemiek Jongen. Dit is Natasha. Acryl 110x70cm (!).

Winter

Winterscene in Moelingen (Belgium), I saw this on my way to work, and stopped for a quick sketch.
Winter in Moelingen (BE). Op mijn weg naar werk, even gestopt voor een kleine vlugge schets.

Mart

My son, Mart, stood as model for the art class of last Saturday. I never drew family before, too scared  I guess, and I can tell you I felt uneasy throughout the process. Fortunately it worked out well; this 70x110cm painting really looks like him. What's more, the painting is also a vivid representation of my brother Roger in his younger years.... which tells a few things.
Mijn zoon Mart was model in het kustklasje van afgelopen zaterdag. Ik voelde me erg ongemakkelijk tijdens het schilderen, maar gelukkig kon ik trots zijn op het resultaat. Niet alleen leek het op Mart; het leek zelfs nog meer op mijn broer Roger in zijn jongere jaren. Erg bijzonder.

Meneer Kusters

Waiting room in the hospital, this man was before me, the nurse called him meneer Kusters when it was his turn at the doctor. Drawn on location.
Wachtkamer in het ziekenhuis, deze man werd voor mij naar binnen geroepen. Ter plekke getekend.

Lineart Gent

With 2 artclass collegues we visited the Modern art expo in Gent, last Friday. We walked around for 6 hours (!) and saw many inspiring paintings and objects of art, incredible.
I particularly liked the painting style of Georges Schelstraete. This is my own futile attempt to see how he gets the light into his paintings.
Bezocht: de Lineart kunstbeurs in Gent, afgelopen vrijdag. Een enorme hoeveelheid kunstvoorwerpen en schilderijen. Je doet er wel veel ideeen op. Hier een (vergeefse) poging in de stijl van Georges Schelstraete. Hoe hij dat licht pakt; moeilijk, moeilijk.

Sinterklaas

Surprise gifts for the Sinterklaas celebration (St. Nicholas). I handpainted these mugs with caricatures of my children and their friends. Did not dare to draw Brenda,  the girlfriend of my son Mart, but she is a big fan of Rihanna, so I painted that (bottom right). As tradition requires, I wrote funny poems to accompany these gifts. 
Sinterklaas surprises voor mijn kinderen+aanhang. Rechtsonder een karikatuur van de zangeres Rihanna (voor Brenda).

Santa Claus

Rotterdam last week; this is a large statue called "Santa Claus" by the american sculptor Paul McCarthy. The statue caused a lot of controversy and had to be relocated a few times because of protests. Maybe you will understand if you know that locals called it  "Kabouter Buttplug". Controversieel beeld in Rotterdam van de kunstenaar McCarthy, in de volksmond ook wel bekend als "Kabouter Buttplug". Mooi contrast met de oudhollandse oliebollenbakker erachter. Traditie versus de moderne tijd.

Girlz

Another experiment, trying Graffiti style. Probably a one time only. Uitprobeersels, dit keer in Graffiti stijl. Niet voor herhaling vatbaar.

Van Dongen

I went to Rotterdam with my daughter Rianne, to visit the Kees van Dongen exhibition in the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum. He was as early 19th century painter, and was famous for his portraits of women with very large  mesmerizing eyes. There were a lot of paintings of (in my opinion) minor quality, and to be honest I liked the large painting of a horse the best. Sketched on location.
Bezocht: de Kees van Dongen tentoonstelling in Rotterdam. Wisselende kwaliteit van de schilderwerken. Het mooiste vond ik dit schilderij van een paard.

Big city

Wanted to try something totally different. Tijd voor iets anders. I was inspired by the graffitti artist Ronzo.

Fountainhead

The Fountainhead: it is said that the writer, Ayn Rand, used Frank Lloyd Wright as model for the main character, Howard Roark. When reading I always had Le Corbusier in my mind; probably because at some point in the book Roark is looking to the sky admiring one of his own designs. And I had seen that picture in another book, "Delirious New York", years ago. Time to recycle.
Het boek "De eeuwige bron", model voor de architect Howard Roark was waarschijnlijk F.L.Wright, ik zag altijd Le Corbusier voor me.
(Photo of LC by A.Steiner, 1935, found in the book Delirious New York by Rem Koolhaas)

Howard Roark

I just read the novel "the fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. A classic novel about an architect, Howard Roark, and the uncompromising integrity you need to make art. A great novel, but a tough read, 750 pages of heavy intellectual dialogue. While reading this is how I imagined  Roark's first design (the Heller house) would look like. Which is quite funny, because back in 1926 they never would have heard of deconstructivist architecture.
Gelezen: "de eeuwige bron" van Ayn Rand, een klassieke roman over een architect en integriteit. Goed boek, maar de helft van de pagina's had het ook verteld. Dit is hoe ik me het eerste ontwerp van de romanheld voorstelde. Onzin, het boek speelt van 1920 tot 1940.

Art class

 Portraits of the art class of last saturday: live portrait drawing using "siberisch krijt" (oil pastels made of grinded charcoal). Featuring Francine and Els, 2 out of 10 portraits that we made that morning.
Kunstklasje: portretten van Francine en Els, naar levend model, gemaakt afgelopen zaterdagmorgen. Ik gebruikte siberisch krijt, vergelijkbaar met houtskool maar het zwart is intenser. Geweldig materiaal.

The Swan

Just returned from a trip to St. Helens, England. I spend the evening drinking Guinness beer in a local pub called "the Swan", where I sat quietly reading a book and drawing this guy spending too much money on a jackpot machine. As they saw me drawing, other visitors started talking to me about the town. They told me about the oldest house in St. Helens, a Quaker house dating from 1676, long before the first coal was found. I found the cute little building, hidden between some derelict houses, the next day during my early morning walk. See above sketch. Bezoek aan St. Helens, Engeland. Schets van een gokker in de pub "the Swan", en het oudste huisje van St. Helens, uit 1676. 

Patersweg

Early morning light towards the traffic lights in front of my house. I am in a little drawing dip now, so these photographs will have to do. Morgenlicht op de Patersweg. Even een kleine tekendip.

Vrijthof

Vrijthof, the main square of Maastricht. I realised that the bare trees in front would make the drawing too dark, so I left them silhouetted. Unfortunately a bus parked in front of me blocking my view, just when I
wanted to start painting, and the driver went for coffee at cafe Momus, Grrrr.
Vrijthof Maastricht, afgelopen maandagmiddag.

Maastricht

I took a longer lunchbreak last monday; although it was a little foggy, the light was strong enough to enhance the colourful autumn trees. View from the "hoeg brok" (high bridge in our local dialect) towards citycenter of Maastricht.
Lunchpauze afgelopen maandag, tekening van het centrum van Maastricht gezien vanaf de "Hoeg Brok".

Mike

Art class today. Live model charcoal drawing of Mike. First you make your paper black, than use an eraser to find the light spots. I don't like the technique, but it's a good exercise.
Kunstklasje vandaag: naar levend model. Eerst het papier zwart maken met houtskool, daarna de lichte delen weggummen.

St. Helens

 Visit to St. Helens, UK. I was able to make a stroll before the dark set in, and made these 2 sketches. Left the backside of the Sefton Arms in center of town.
The bottom sketch is an original glass melter from about 1790, part of the St. Helens museum "world of glass", located next to the hotel I stayed in.
England has a lot to learn about food: we went to an Italian restaurant; much to our surprise we got mashed potatoes with our meat.... No pasta for miles.
Bezoek aan St. Helens, Engeland. Ik kon nog net een wandelingetje maken voordat het donker werd. Bovenste schets is de achterkant van een lokale pub "Sefton Arms". Beneden de uit 1790 stammende glasoven, onderdeel van het museum "world of glass".

Burning Ghat

Burning Ghat in Varanasi, India. The image of these burning corpses still haunts me. De crematieplaatsen in Varanasi. Ik krijg het beeld van de brandende lijken niet uit mijn hoofd.

Canto Ostinato

I went to a lay-down pianoconcert in Heerlen, yesterday evening. You were allowed to take a mat with you, and lay down on the stage to enjoy the music. Most visitors did, but I decided to stay on the balcony. The music (contemporary classical) was of the Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt,  arguably his best piece: Canto Ostinato, It was performed by Sandra en Jeroen van Veen. They played the short version (1,5 hour); the long version is 4 pianos and takes 4 hours without a break.
Unfortunately it was too dark to draw, as you can see most of the lines are quite shaky.
Ligconcert in het theater van Heerlen, een uitvoering van Canto Ostinato van Simeon ten Holt.

Holy cow

Sacred cows, always calm within the turmoil of the city. Mixed media, made from leftover tickets from our trip to India; I tore out the cow figure. Heilige koeien, altijd rustig temidden van de hectiek van de stad. Gemaakt van overgebleven tickets van onze India reis.

Tebodin Insight

Tebodin Insight, the international magazine of my company, featured an article on my urban sketching.
Er stond een artikel over mijn "urban sketching" in Tebodin Insight, ons internationale bedrijfsblad.

Pontiac Trans Am

I found this Pontiac Trans-Am on a parking lot on the Brunssumerheide. The owner, who was training his huge dog, told me it was from 1979. Drawn and painted on location.
Ik vond deze Pontiac Trans Am op de parkeerplaats bij de koffiepoel op de Brussummerheide. De eigenaar was zijn  hond aan het uitlaten; bij terugkomst vertelde hij dat deze wagen uit 1979 stamt. Ter plekke getekend en geschilderd.

King

My son Mart gave me a copy of the new Linkin Park album "a thousand suns". One song stands out: LP used parts of a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King from 1967 into a song. After all these years still impressive.
Mart gaf me het nieuwe album van Linkin Park. In een van de songs is de tekst van een speech van Dr. Martin Luther King verwerkt. Na al die jaren nog steeds indrukwekkend.

1/2 marathon

Today I ran the Eindhoven 1/2 marathon, 21 km in 1hour 51.48 minutes (it means I left 60% of the 6800 runners behind me).
I've done better in the past, but I have been fighting off an ankle injury since a year now. At last it's gone.
Running is my other time consuming hobby. I'm doing it for thirty years now; nowadays about 25-30km/week. And each sunday morning on the Brunssumer heide with my athletics club, STAP-Brunssum.
Sketching and running does not go well together: once you run you don't stop to draw. I personally don't like this sketch so much, too static and unbalanced, but as illustration for the occasion it's OK.
It's the start of the STAP run in Brunssum, held a week ago, organized by my club.
Vandaag de halve marathon van Eindhoven gelopen in 1uur 52min.
Hardlopen is mijn andere hobby, ik loop 3 keer per week, ook bij de vereniging AV STAP Brunssum.
De schets is de start van de STAP loop in Brunssum, vorige week zaterdag.

Catacombes

Catacombes in Paris. We visited them the last day. It is an incredible sight: hundres thousand bones and skulls, piled up meters high in eerie underground caverns. Unbelievable this is just some meters under the Paris streets. The bones were transported from abandoned cemeteries in the late 18th and 19th century, whenever Paris needed the area for housing. The sketches were hard to make, it was quite dark down there.

De Catacomben in Parijs, een gangenstelsel met honderdduizenden botten en schedels! De botten zijn in de 18e en 19e eeuw vanuit opgeruimde kerkhoven rondom Parijs naar dez grotten getransporteerd. Indrukwekkend en griezelig tegelijk.

Place du Tertre

Place du Tertre, Paris, where a lot of artists (of different quality) are ready to draw you. This is my effort to draw them (on location). Place du Tertre, Parijs, waar een hoop kunstenaars klaar staan om je te tekenen. Mijn poging om hun te tekenen.

Projects

Artist impressions of two of the projects I am working on presently. Above a project for the University of Maastricht, a behavioural study unit in the Academic hospital. The volunteers in these units are totally closed off from the world in a physical sense, each drop of sweat or breath is measured. The drawing shows the technical installations needed for that. Below an artist impression of the renovation of a laboratorium in St. Helens, England. Impressies van twee projecten waar ik momenteel aan werk, boven Academisch ziekenhuis van de Universiteit Maastricht, studieunits voor de faculteit  gedragswetenschappen. Onder de renovatie van een laboraorium in St. Helens, Engeland.

Pere Lachaise

Paris, last weekend. We visited the Cimetière Pere Lachaise. A city for the dead within a city for the living. Sketch made at the side of the grave of Jim Morrison, singer of the band "the Doors". Which existed half a century ago. I think hippies become extinct, this time there were no young smoking weed any more.
Parijs, bezoek aan de begraafplaats Pere Lachaise. Een stad voor de doden middenin een stad voor de levenden. Schets gemaakt naast het graf van Jim Morrisson.

Paris, Clignancourt

Last weekend I went to Paris with my wife and some friends, we had a terrific time except for the most horrible hotel I ever stayed in.
I have been to Paris a lot of times, but I gave my friends the highlight tour this time. My favourite must-see is the flea market of Porte de Clignancourt. A sketch of the antique part, piled up old cast iron garden objects. Too much to see, too little time to sketch.
Een lekker weekeinde naar Parijs met een stel vrienden (afgezien van het verschrikkelijke hotel). Het was de highlight tour dit keer, waaronder de vlooienmarkt van Porte de Clignancourt. Een schtes van het antiek deel: hoog opgestapelde gietijzeren tuinbeelden. Geweldig.

Amsterdam Spaarndammerbuurt

Social housing in Amsterdam, dating back from 1917, in the Spaarndammerbuurt. Architect was Michel de Klerk. They decorated an apartment and a postoffice in the original state, as a museum "het schip". Worth a visit. I visited it a week ago during a trip with colleague architects.
Sociale woningbouw uit 1917. Spaarndammerbuurt, Amsterdam. Getekend tijdens een bezoek aan het museum, "Het schip", tijdens een BNA excursie naar Amsterdam.

The rams head

England, again for business. I visited St. Helens and walked Haydock; it was nice weather, but nothing inspiring to draw. I counted more fish&chips shops (3) and chinese takeaways (3) than bakers (1). Even the supermarket was closed down, and so was the local pub, "the rams head". Which I sketched.
Bezoek aan Haydock, Engeland. Mooi weer, maar een weinig inspirerend dorp. Zelfs de supermarkt en het cafe "the rams head" waren dichtgetimmerd. Toch maar getekend.

Roger 50

I made this object as a surprise for my brother Roger, who became 50 a few weeks ago.

Een zelfgemaakte surprise voor de 50e verjaardag van mijn broer, Roger.

Burning Ghats

This is a sketch of the "Burning Ghat" of Varanasi (Benares), on the Ganges; the place where the Indians burn their dead.
We stood on a balcony in the billowing smoke, only 3 meters above the burning corpses. 2 were burning, one nearly burnt up, and of one pile the wood was still smoldering.
I wil explain the tradition: after a person dies, the oldest son is shaven bald, and he and 6 bearers put the corpse in a colourful blanket and transport it almost running through the winding streets towards the ghat on the river. Dead are supposed to be cremated within 2 hours.
The corpse is put on a pile of wood, the blanket removed (the face becomes visible), and lit. It takes 3 hours to burn, the oldest son waits near the stairs on the right hand side. After the pile is completely burned the ashes are collected in shallow baskets. A guy standing in the water (at the left staircase) slowly shifts the ashes in the water from leftover metal of the teeth or rings, and gives it to the guy in the boat. The black ashes will disperse over the water towards the bathers only 100 meter away.
It was the most horrible what we saw during our trip. I did not draw or photograph this on location, I considered that to be disrespectful for the dead. Instead I memorized the scene and drew this later that night in the hotel. Not difficult, not only can I recall the scene in every detail even now, I dreamt about it for days.
De crematie plaatsen van Varanasi, langs de Ganges. We zagen daar de lijkverbrandingen van enkele meters afstand. Uit respect geen schets ter plaatse, maar die avond in het hotel uit mijn herinnering nagetekend.

Streetlife Varanasi

Some scenes from the streets of Varanasi (Benares). Above the taxis waiting in the shade of the trees, on the other side of the street from the hotel. The car is an "Ambassador", based on the 1958 Morris Oxford. And still manufactured today! While drawing the proud taxidriver told me this one was 4 years old, and had all modern features like airco, power steering and braking, multi point injection etc.
Below a guy sharpening knives, as seen from the 1st floor balcony of the "open hand", a backpacker cafe with the only decent espresso in all of India.
Straatscenes van Varanasi. Taxi's aan de overkant van het hotel. De auto is een Ambassador, een model uit 1958, maar nog steeds in productie. Deze was pas 4 jaar oud. 
En een schets van een scharensliep, getekend tijdens het drinken van een espresso op het balkon van een backpackercafe.

Varanasi

Varanasi (Benares) is the famous pilgrimage city on the Ganges. It's the oldest city recorded to man. Above a scene drawn from the roofterrace of the Dolphin guesthouse, overlooking houses on the riverbank of the Ganges. A woman was chasing after monkeys on the rooftopswhile I drew this, very funny. Next morning at 5 am we went with a boat on the river, where we saw numerous bathers diving into the unbelievably filthy Ganges water. Just a few hundered meter from where human ashes and remains were thrown into the same water....  Schetsen van de Ganges, Varanasi. Boven: gezicht vanaf het dakterras van een guesthouse. Tijdens het tekenen was een vrouw aan het jagen op aartsbrutale aapjes... De volgende morgen om 5uur maakten we een boottochtje op de rivier, overal badende mensen in het ongelooflijk smerige water. Honderd meter vanaf de crematieplaatsen...

India on the road

Drawn during the long busride to Varanasi. Geschilderd gedurende de lange busrit naar Varanasi.

The road to Varanasi

On sunday we made a long ride of 470 km to Varanasi; it took us 13 hours. All due to wavering cycles, unmoving cows in the middle of the road, slow overloaded trucks and a detour around Varanasi because there was some national holiday (which meant parades of Indian youngsters everywhere).
And all the while half the bus was sleeping, all tired or ill. It gave me time to sketch a lot: like above sketch of our chauffeur and busboy. Also a scene of a village halfway.
Een lange busrit naar Varanasi, 470km en het duurde 13 uur, praktisch zonder pauze. Onderweg heilige koeien, parades (het was een nationale feestdag), langzame fietsers en overbeladen vrachtwagens. Het gaf me de gelegenheid om veel te schetsen: onze chauffeur en een scene onderweg in een van de vele dorpjes.