Taj Mahal

Here's Taj-Mahal in all its beauty, in the early morning sunlight. It brought tears to my eyes. I made the drawing during the talk of the guide, but who trusts what they tell after the scene in the movie "slum dog millionaire"? Anyway, I was lucky to be able to make this sketch, my drawing stuff and Moleskine book were confiscated at the entry gate, I was not allowed to draw! Fortunately Hugo, one of our group, took the stuff and talked himself through at another guard.
De Taj Mahal in al zijn pracht in het morgenlicht: met recht een van de wereldwonderen. Getekend gedurende het praatje van de gids.

Fatehpur Sikri

Busride from Jaipur to Agra. I made the camel sketch underway, that explains the shaky lines. We paused at a city, Fatehpur Sikri, which was built in 1571  and abandoned only 14 years later. Lack of water..., no wonder, even during our visit it was blazing hot there. But the marvellous red granite preserved the palace like they left it only yesterday.
Bus van Jaipur naar Agra. We bezochten een verlaten stad, Fatehpur Sikri, gebouwd in 1571, verlaten 14 jaar later vanwege het gebrek aan water. Geen wonder, tijdens ons bezoek was het ook al snikheet.

Jaipur impressions

This me here above, these pictures were made with an authentic camara dating back to 1870. The guy made the negative first, developed it by hand with chemicals inside the camera, without looking (see below, that is what he was doing). Then he made another shot of the negative, and developed it again. Cost me 30 Rupees (50 Eurocents).
Twee foto's gemaakt met een camera uit 1870. Eerst een negatieve foto, door de fotograaf met een hand blind ontwikkeld binnen in het apparaat, daarna een tweede foto van het negatief. Nog een keertje ontwikkelen en ziedaar. Kostte 40 rupees, ongeveer een halve euro, en kostte alles bij elkaar zo'n 5 minuten.

India Jaipur

Jaipur, the Amber fort. On the back of elephants we went up the steep hill to this beautiful palace. Richly decorated in marble, red granite and light pink stone. A WOW experience. Drawn on location, painted later that evening.
Het "Amber fort", gelegen op een heuvelkam boven Jaipur. We gingen erheen zittend op een rij olifanten. Prachtig gedetailleerde gebouwen in marmer en rood graniet.
Below a sketch of the doorman of our hotel: Pooran.
De vervaarlijk uitziende portier van ons hotel: Pooran.

India day 3

Busride from New Delhi to Jaipur. So many Tata trucks on the way, all painted and decorated lavishly. Below sketch is the view from the swimming pool on top of the Ramada hotel in Jaipur. Busrit van New Delhi naar Jaipur. Onderweg eindeloze rijen Tata trucks. De andere schets is het gezicht vanaf het zwembad op het dak van ons hotel in Jaipur

India New Delhi

A few impressions of Delhi

India New Delhi

Together with our tourguide Patrick and 21 fellow travellers we visited Delhi. Walked through the narrow streets of old Delhi, rode with cycle riksha's looking at 10 m2 workshops and tiny stores, who sold everything from buttons to marriage cards. And tangled electrical cables everywhere overhead. We visited the Jama Mashid mosque (sketch above), the Gandhi house and a Sikh temple, where they produced 13.000 free meals every day.
I made the below sketch of a motorcyle riksha while our bus stood in a traffic jam. It was difficult to sketch what I wanted, I did not want to stop the group. So I took the opportunity whenwever I could. Above the view from the Jama Mashid Mosque towards the red fort. Pencil on location, finished later that night.

Vandaag bezoek aan Delhi: een wandeling en Riskha tocht door de nauwe straatjes van de oude stad. Wat een chaos en stank. En overal minieme winkeltjes. Verder en bezoek aan de Jama Mashid moskee (tekening boven, gezien richting het rode fort) en een Sikh tempel waar elke dag 13.000 gratis maaltijden worden gekookt. Ook naar het huis van Gandhi, waar hij werd vermoord. De schets hiernaast is gemaakt tijdens een van de ontelbare verkeersopstoppingen.

India day 1

Yesterday me and my family returned from a trip to India. We made a tour of about 2 weeks from New Delhi to Varanasi, with "Fox travels". It was some experience! Among others India is dirty and beautiful, noisy and serene, chaos and colourful, incredibly poor next to fabulous palaces. An incredible place.
Gisteren teruggekeerd uit India, na een groepsreis van 2 weken van New Delhi tot Varanasi. Wat een ervaring, India is het meest indrukwekkende dat ik heb bezocht, en dat bedoel ik niet alleen positief. Het is arm en vuil, en tegelijk kleurrijk en van ongekende schoonheid.
I made this sketch in the plane, we left our house friday morning 5 a.m. and arrived in a hot and humid Delhi the next morning at 1.30 a.m.

Thailand 2006 (2)

Another few sketches from 2006, our trip to Thailand. Below a sketch of the temples of Ayutthaya, quite impressive.
We also made a short trip across the Mekong river to a tiny island in Laos. Second to cheap polo shirts, we bought this cute wooden elephant, still hanging in our house.

Thailand 2006 (1)

Too busy to draw (I am redoing our garden), so I post a few drawings I made a few years ago in Thailand (2006). Enkele schetsen van Thailand, in 2006.
Above, a busy streetcorner in Bangkok. I still remember how hot it was, and how humid, the pen almost slipped out of my hand.
Below the floating market of a small town near Bangkok (forgot the name).

Lannemezan, France

This is the Knauf Insulation factory in Lannemezan, south of France. Since a few weeks it is sucessfully running. In fact, this is what kept me occupied the last three years; as an architect I designed all this, from terrain layout to buildings, from interiors to details. I was involved from choosing the terrain untill final acceptance.
Maybe not the most beautiful of factories, but I am still proud of the result.