The scar

I read the science fiction novel "The Scar" (well, I read it's dutch translation "Armada"), by the writer China Mièville.
Great book, if you like Dieselpunk novels.
It's about the adventures of a collection of interconnected ships, forming a floating city.
Gelezen: "Armada" geschreven door China Mièville.

Matisse 2

Haven't done much sketching the last week, I preferred sitting on the veranda untill late at night reading the first book in the (fantastic) Millenium trilogy. Enjoying the warm evenings, smells of spring and twittering birds.
These are colour and composition studies for the Matisse painting we are making for art class. See earlier post.
Niet veel geschetst deze week, ik zat liever op het terras genietend van de avondwarmte met een goed boek (deel 1 van de Millennium reeks: mannen die vrouwen haten). Hier wat kleurstudies voor het Matisse project.

Burned

Mariarade-Hoensbroek, during my running round, just a few blocks from my house, I saw this totally burned out Suzuki. It was  left in the middle a field, and I returned to make this sketch. Probably used by drugrunners or joyriders. Uitgebrande Suzuki Alto in de velden naast het voetbalveld Mariarade. Waarschijnlijk drugstransport of Joyriding.

New York by night

Both paintings next to each other. New York by Night.

Bob

This is the second diptych New York painting, for Bob.
Het tweede schilderij van de tweeluik, voor Bob.

Rianne

Yesterday my daughter, Rianne, turned 21. Not my little girl anymore.
A few weeks ago Rianne and Bob asked me to make a painting to decorate their new home. Bob liked the Madison avenue painting of some weeks ago, and they would like to have something in that style as birthday present.
So I decided to make a diptych (two paintings for each of their birthdays) of which the first part is shown here.
Gisteren werd mijn dochter Rianne 21 jaar oud. Weer een mijlpaal. 
Bob en Rianne wilden voor hun verjaardag graag een schilderij in de stijl van het Madison avenue schilderij van een paar maanden geleden, voor boven de bank in hun appartement. Twee verjaardagen, twee schilderijen, dit is de eerste van een tweeluik.

Matisse

For the art class we have to make a painting using Matisse techniques. That means vivid colours, good composition, contrasts in movement and above all a flat image. I am having trouble with this, especially the flat image (I keep being drawn into perspective). Matisse was never my favourite painter, but it's a good excercise to find out how his paintings work.  These are the pages full of sketches, analysis and ideas to get to the painting. Saturday I will start with it.
Idee schetsen om te komen tot een schilderij, gebaseerd op Matisse technieken. Dat wil zeggen felle fleuren, discontinue beeld compositie, contrasten in beweging en rust etc. Zaterdag ga ik het proberen uit te werken.

Quarry truck

A little south of Maastricht there is a large quarry in the St. Pietersberg for the cement industry, ENCI. During a recent visit for a project I saw this huge Caterpillar truck, 4,5 meter high. It weights 30 tons and can load 50 ton of mergel. Impressive.
Schets van een van de Caterpillar trucks in de St. Pietersberg groeve van de ENCI.

Marijke

Marijke, portrait in acrylic, 80x100cm. It was made during art class, and took about 5 hours. We tried a technique in which every  earlier layer would show through the new layers of paint.
Portetcursus, dit is Marijke, ze stond een paar morgens model voor ons klasje. Acryl, 80x100cm. De bedoeling van deze techniekoefening was dat de oudere lagen door de nieuwere lagen verf blijven doorschijnen.

Niki de Saint Phalle

This weekend I helped children making drawings and collages in the Schunk museum in Heerlen. There was a nation wide museum weekend, and we tried to stimulate the kids to draw what they saw in the art exhibition. There were objects and drawings of Niki de Saint Phalle at display; not really my taste, but still interesting to see these colourful works.
Museumweekeinde in het Schunk museum in Heerlen. Een tentoonstelling van Niki de Siant Phalle. Ik was vrijwilliger om kinderen te helpen met tekenen en schilderen van Niki achtige collages.