Prepared paper and pastel

I was not able to buy coloured paper for the art class, no time to go to the art shop. So I took some leftover aquarel paper, let it dry in a wooden frame (to avoid wobbly paper) and pre-coloured it with acrylic in ochre, red  and burnt sienna.
During art class I made this life portrait with dry pastel and black oil pastel. I kind of like the effect of the underground. It took me an hour to make the portrait; 40x60cm.
Portret, droge pastel en siberisch krijt op geprepareed papier.

Shipbreaking

 

Still trying out my flex pen. This time a drawing inspired by a photograph of Edward Burtynsky of a shipbreaker yard in Bangladesh. The flexpen should be used before adding the colour, it loses it's subtlety when drawing on painted parts. Tekening gebaseerd op een foto van Burtynsky van een scheepssloperij in Bangladesh. Probeersels van mijn nieuwe flexpen.

Dumpster

Lunchbreak yesterday. I wanted to try out my new flex pen, but I had no opportunity to sketch later that day. So I looked out of the office (it's on the first floor) and just drew what I saw, a dumpster on the parking lot next tothe office. The pen feels very fine. Uitzicht vanuit ons kantoor, op de vuilcontainer op de parkeerplaats. Testen van mijn nieuwe flex pen.

Noodlers flex pen

Yeah. My long awaited Noodlers flex pen arrived. Took some effort and many weeks waiting before this one arrived from Goulet pens, California. Cost more on shipping and taxes than the pen itself ($ 14). It's a fountain pen with a very flexible nib, so you can draw lively lines with different thickness, just by pushing hard. My first trials are very satisfying; I used Bullet Black waterproof ink in the test above. Mijn nieuwe Noodlers flex vulpen arriveerde per post uit Californië. Hierboven de eerste probeersels, met watervaste vulpeninkt (Noodlers bullet black)

Pastels

I am very busy at the moment, no time to sketch. Trying to meet heavy deadlines at work, painting class, stained steel class, sports (running), family and household, and preparing little surprise presents for my family (Sinterklaas-St Nicholas  is coming up in two weeks). Obviously I can't show those self-made surprises here yet. So can only post what I did yesterday morning during art-class: a live model drawing, pastel on brown packaging paper, 50x70cm. Took me an hour to make.
Modelklas, gisterenmorgen, getekend met pastel op bruin pakpapier. Moeilijk vanwege het felle tegenlicht.

Room with a view

 

Last friday Rob Carey had this beautiful sketch on his blog, the view from his classroom window. 

http://kunst-by-rob.blogspot.com/2011/11/across-way.html

By sheer accident I also drew the view from my office window that same day. Spot the 10 differences. And try to tell who is the lucky guy. Afgelopen vrijdag tekende ik het uitzicht vanuit mijn kantoorplek. Toevallig deed Rob Carey hetzelfde vanuit zijn klaslokaal (zie link). Zoek de 10 verschillen.

Art class Yvonne

 

Art class, live portrait drawings, pastels on grey carton. Not my favourite material, but I think it turned out OK. Each took me about an hour to make, dimensions 50x70cm. Portretschilderen/tekenen, naar levend model, dit keer Yvonne. Pastel op grijs karton, niet mijn favoriet materiaal, maar wel leerzaam. Ook niet ontevreden eigenlijk.

 

Night of the Proms

Yesterday evening my wife, a friend and I went to Antwerp, to the yearly Night of the Proms. A combination of classical and popmusic. This year -among others- featuring the diva's (4 soprano's) Angie Stone (real old fashioned soul), Mike Hucknall (leadsinger of Simply Red) and the highlight of the evening: Seal. He knew how to play the public.
Gisteravond Night of the Proms in Antwerpen. Met dit jaar: de Diva's Angie Stone, Mike Hucknall en vooral... Seal. Geweldig.

Stained glass

My wife and I started another hobby: making stained glass windows. That's what you get when the kids leave the house: time to start to do those things you never got around to do.
Here you see the first results. It's painstaking work: you can't see the 12 hours of work that went into this piece so far, don't you? But very rewarding. I will keep you posted on the results.
Een nieuwe hobby voor Gertie en mij: glas in lood ramen maken. We zijn net de cursus bij Belmondo in Nieuwstad begonnen.

Colourfull autumn

Even though the weather is fantastic, and all the trees are dressed in all these beautiful bright colours, I have to spend my time working in an office located on a chemical plant. No time to go out and sketch. So I am left with lunchbreaks, drawing this view of industrial installations as seen from the parking lot of  "drie kruiken".
Mooi weer en prachtige herfstbomen, maar niet voor mij. Dit is mijn dagelijks uitzicht. Helaas.