Eagle hunters of Mongolia

One of those weeks. I badly want something to draw, but somehow I don't find interesting subjects on the streets. I don't know, maybe I don't go outside so much due to the recordbreaking amounts of rain we have had in June.
But there was this interesting photograph humming in my mind, of the eagle hunters in Mongolia. The original picture of this boy Bahak Birgen was made by Asher Svidensky (check his site for more fantastic pictures and stories: http://www.svidensky.com/blog/the-eagle-huntress ).
In this drawing I tried to experiment with different inks, combined with watercolour, flowing into each other. Difficult to have them behave how I want them to. Still need exercise.

Pate de verre

 

I am now working on new projects in glass. The procedure is called "pâte de verre" and it's an old french technique of making glass objects.

First you make a model in clay, then you cast gypsum around it, to form a mold.

The mold is polished and reworked, and then you grind glass. The grinded glass is sieved into different sizes, and (depending on the type of ground) you mix it with an adhesive. I use wallpaperglue. Then you lay down one or more layers of the glass into the mold, and it's heated.

These objects are glass flowers, to be fitted into the vase I made two weeks ago. I still have to make the stems.

Verseidag, Krefeld

 A quick sketch of a deserted factory terrain in Krefeld, Germany. Part of this factory (not this part) was made by Mies van der Rohe, one of the most famous architects of the last century.
While the rest of the group was given a explanation of the modern 30s architecture and its restoration, I made this drawing. Took me about 10 minutes.

Naked Flame

We visited some Mies van der Rohe buildings in our region (he was born 20km away, in Aachen).
Two of his villas (Haus Lange and Esters) ware transformed into a museum for contemporary art. A very nice museum I should add.
In one of the rooms a performance had just started. A work of art by the UK artist Roger Hiorns.
He invites naked young art students to sit on a complicated machine to stare at some flames, which are slowly dying out. The idea sounds easier than it was: it makes you contemplate on our age of technology and the relation of that technology to our naked existence.
Just enough time for a quick sketch.  I talked to the performer later on, a nice guy. He was a photographer and video artist himself.

All it ever does is rain, part 3

Spring 2016. All it ever does is rain. Must be the worst spring ever.

Girl reading Klimt

I finally had time to finish the painting yesterday, it has been on my easel for far too long. But with all my travelling I just lacked the time.
The painting is Acrylic, 70x90 cm, and made as final piece of the Annemiek Jongen Painting Master Class.
In a previous post I described the painstaking journey to a good composition looking-for-klimt-1.

 After I made the linesketch I scanned it and made this quick digitally coloured version using GIMP.
I tried several trees and fabrics, but in the end I liked this compostion.

But the first version painting had the wrong colours, I had to redo most colours three times.
And it was quite painstaiking work to get rid of te blue patterns, they kept shimmering through the yellow colours.

In the end I am pleased with the outcome, even though I still see possible improvements.
It's time to move on.

The painter

At the barbeque this weekend Bob, my son in law, remarked that painters should either paint on easels or in houses.
(meaning I look funny when I draw standing outside). The Dutch word for easel is "ezel", which also means donkey.

Which led to this quick sketch.

Een schilder schildert op een ezel of in een huis.
Dus waarom niet op een ezel in een huis.

Oldsmobile Toronado

Also made during the Cruise-in meeting in Brunssum, a quick sketch of a 1970 Oldsmobile Toronado.
Very long and sleek, this american beauty.

Dodge Coupe 1937

I felt the urge to draw cars again. So this evening I went to visit the Cruise-in again, it's the weekly meeting of American and vintage car owners in Brunssum. Always a nice batch of old and not so old cars.
This is a gem: an 1937 Dodge Coupé, in beautiful chestnut brown. It had the hood open, so you could see the well restored motor. 
Like always I attracted a lot of attention at drawing in the wild, but they know me there by now. It's always nice to talk with the owners, they are always very dedicated to their cars.

Glass vase

My latest glass works piece. A vase for three flowers.
Layered sheet glass with enamel coloured layers in between, tack-fused. Tack-fused means fused at a lower temperature. In this way the sheets are not completely molten into each other, and still visible as separate sheets.
The flowers are there only for show, I notice that the holes practically impossible to clean, too small.
So live flowers will not be possible. I have started with some glass flowers, and will use a new technique called Pâte de verre. It was time to move on after a few Tack-fused objects.

All it ever does is rain part 2

Rain, rain, rain, It's supposed to be summer.