La tour d'Eben-Ezer

This tower stands just across the border from Maastricht, in Bassengen (Belgium). It stands on a hill and is a tower built from silex (I think in English it's called flint, some type of quarz stone). The tower was made by the esoteric philosopher Robert Garcet in the early 60s.
On top of the tower there are 4 large statues, which depict the 4 announcers of the Apocalypse, each looking into another direction.
A strange building. I had wanted to draw it a long time, but it was difficult to be reached.
I made 2 versions, but the other one was pretty grim.

Chateau Neercanne

Chateau Neercanne. A castle exactly on border of the Netherlands and Belgium. It houses one of the best hotel/restaurants of the Netherlands, with a Michelin recommendation.

Just a quick sketch made this afternoon.

Another face

Another face.
Fountainpen ink, washed out with a brushpen, and some touches with a white acrylic marker.

Face

Just a quick drawing during a quiet moment in my lunchtime today.
After a picture of an older man, found on the Internet.
Maybe 10 minutes.
Exercise.

Lemiers

A sketch from yesterday. Even though it was very cold, I wanted to draw the chapel of Lemiers.
It ranks among the oldest churches in the Netherlands, about the 11th century.
But then I noticed the car and traditional farmcourtyard next to it, which was more interesting.

I used prepared paper: a thin layer of acrylic binder. Waterproof ink and watercolour don't stick, and water dries very slowly, which gives uncontrollable effects. That's why I used watercolourpencil.

Lemiers is a funny tiny village. It lies partly in the Netherlands, partly in Germany.
The German border is just 10 meters behind this farm.

The wind in your back

Watercolour on prepared paper. I applied a thin layer of acrylic binder on the paper. Watercolour does not behave well on this surface, but watercolourpencil works better. I used Inktense and normal pencils, washed it out with a waterbrush.

Killer Katze

This is a surprise gift for Gertie, my wife.
Usually I make surprise gifts for all family members, for the celebration of Sinterklaas - St. Nicholas.
But we have grandchildren now who still believe in him, so we can't do surprise gifts anymore after December 5th. They won't understand.
But I made this for Gertie's birthday, printed on a metal sheet, to hang outside the door as warning.

Elsloo castle

Lunchbreak sketch.
The castle of Elsloo, just 2 km from our office. I wanted to draw the castle tower, but Became fascinated about the tree.

Face in red

Face in red: non-waterproof ink, reworked with white gouache and a waterbrush. Some accents with an acrylic marker.
A study after a picture from the internet.

Genneper Molen

It was time I made an Urban sketch again. There must have been a thousand reasons why I didn't. You need one reason to do it.
This is Eindhoven, just a short walk from our other office. I wanted to draw it for some time, also because Vincent van Gogh painted it a few times. But I guess he took more time than I had for lunchbreak.

Here is one of the van Gogh versions.

Birthcard design

I made a few designs for the birthcards for Finn.
Here are the designs that did not make it.

More Finn

A small painting of my newborn Grandson, Finn.
Made after a picture.

Finn birthdaycard

I am proud of our newborn grandson Finn. And of his parents Mart and Lisa of course.


They asked me to design the birthday card for Finn.
How could I refuse such a honourable request!
I made several designs, but this became the chosen drawing.
Mart (who does a study in communication, and webdesign, made the total layout and beautiful lettering.

The dogs refer to the little papillon dog that Mart and Lisa have for some years now, called Miku. He is also featured in the second drawing.

Finn

Welcome Finn!
We are very very proud of our third Grandson, born yesterday, 16-11-2018.
Son of Mart and Lisa.
A regular miracle.

Portrait found

I saw a nice expressive drawing on the internet, and was curious how it was done.
It's almost a copy, I have not found the name of the original, otherwise I would have mentioned it here.

Wim, nude model

Live model drawing, with pastel this time. And a male nude model, something else.
I tried hard, but the drawing didn't get to where I wanted it to go.

Alykes

The last of my sketches from our greek holiday.
A nice cafe with terrace, at a small old bridge acress the canal towards the sea, just a walking distance from our bungalow. The trip was over to soon.

Exo Chora

Two other scenes from Zakynthos.
 First: we heard that there was a severe earthquake in Zakyntos (6,7), less than a week after we were there! I think we were very lucky not to have been there just a week later.
The top sketch is from the oldest olive tree in the Mediterranean. Over 2000 years old, hard to imagine there trees lived to see Romans walking. The tree is located on the village square of Exo chora. Just a bit further we had a lunch on a high cliff, overlooking the sea. I did not want to draw the view, but was more interested in the strange watercolours of the sea, just below the cliff. So that's what I drew.

Alykanas on the island Zakynthos

We had a nice bungalow with private swimming pool in the village of Alykanas. It was located in a field with numerous olive trees. I just had to peer over to fence. So there I was, sipping on some wine, on a sunny sunday afternoon, headphones with quiet classical music, spening my time making this intricate drawing. Almost therapy.

Greece, Zakynthos.

We just came back from a nice week in Greece. We visited the island of Zakynthos. Not so large, but really nice and varied. We had a small Jeep (a Suzuki Jimny) and drove all around the island.
It was nice weather, and as the tourist season was slowly coming to an end, it was not so crowded.
Here two scenes, a view of the city of Zakynthos itself, and a view of a little chapel on the harbour of Agios Sostis (famous for its turtles, which we did not see as it was after their breeding season).

Harz

On the request of a client I made this watercolour of his parents house. A vintage woodwork building in the Harz, Germany. A lot of fun to do these drawings.

Live drawing

The Masterclass Model drawing has started again.
These are two live drawings of models.
The aim was to get the proportions and statures correct. Positions were contantly changing, max 10 minutes for one drawing.

Agnes in oil pastel above, and Julia in a charcoal drawing below.

The silence after the bomb raid

A random doodle.

Work in progress

Started painting again. Work in progress. This is just the underpainting. It will get some layers of colours on top.

Doodle

No urban sketch, but just a quick composition exercise based on a vague picture. I don't even know where this is. A made a series of these 50x50mm quickies. Fun to do.

The red dragon

The wings of the red dragon. Drawn last Sunday, coloured last Monday.

Waalwijk

The rough edges of town. I was in Waalwijk for a project, but my appointment ended about lunchtime, too late to drive back to the office. I usually drive around to find a quiet spot, park my car, eat my lunch and listen to the radio.
At the edges of the town there are often some less attractive spots, with abandoned buildings or sloppy scrapyards. Or a cluttered boat repair shop. Always nice for a quick sketch.

Stranger on the train

In the train, on my way to Amsterdam. This lady was sitting across the aisle, talking to her friend. A very quick sketch.

Fossil

Not so much urban sketch these days, I am busy with other drawing things that I can't yet post.
But last Sunday we were sitting on the terrace, the weather was nice, and I saw these drawings by Dan Slavinsky. It inspired me to make this drawing. I started drawing the wing, and the drawing evolved itself.

A2 Traffic jam

Driving from home to Eindhoven usually takes about 50 minutes. Today there was a huge traffic jam (an accident maybe?). Took me 2 hours for about 80 km.
But I had time to make this little sketch when we were standing still, just behind Weert.

Roterdam Sketchday, the old harbour

Rotterdam Sketchday, drawing of the the "white house", on the old harbour.

Rotterdam Sketchday

Rotterdam, last Saturday.
I was part of a team that organized the national Sketchday in Rotterdam, together with Jeffrey, Peter and Miryam. There were more than 80 participants, 5 workshops, and a dinner for almost 40 people.
the weather was perfect, and we had a terrific time, meeting and talking to old friends and a few new ones.
In between I had some time to sketch: as we were near the Cube-houses on th Blaak, I could not avoid to draw them. A drama of perspective, all angles and unusual vanishing points, but I still think it came out okay. Hard to believe these are actually houses, and people live in them....

More old panes

Another impression of some old planes made at a vintage plane meeting in Schaffen, Belgium.
We were lucky that we had special permission to draw in between the planes.
These are old training planes, made in Belgium.

And here e few more impressions of the motor of a 1942 Boeing Stearman and a plane for air acrobatics (the Red Devils).

Velsen Steelmill

I attended a in-company training in Velsen. The office is located 5 km from the sea, so I briefly went to the beach after the conclusion of the training.

The road runs through the dunes parallel to the sea, on one side the beach, on the other side the largest steel mill of the Netherlands.
I love the sea and the beaches, but steel mills are far more interesting to draw!

Akersloot

Neglecting this blog, a little busy at the moment. Among others, a business trip to Akersloot, near Alkmaar in the north of Holland, some 20 km above Amsterdam. I had about half an hour after checking in the hotel, before dark, just enough to make this rural scene. It was on a little lake a few hundred meters from the hotel.

Schaffen airfield

This is a Pietenpol Air Camper, a homebuilt plane based on 1929 drawings.
The proud owner made this plane back in 1992 or so.
Last Sunday I visited a vintage planes&automobiles show in Schaffen, Belgium, together with some Belgian USK-friends. There were over 1000 old cars, and a lot of old planes. As courtesy we were allowed to draw ON the airfield itself, in between the planes. A perfect place make a drawing of this beautiful plane.

The Joker

Making drawings, just for fun.

The Joker (inspired by the work of Jason Shawn Alexander)

Castle of Hoensbroek

This is the medieval castle in our town, Hoensbreok.
I went there last Wednesday, to experiment  little with chinese ink and bamboosticks.
Still not having it under control the way that I want it. But I also notice that, even though I am using the techniques of Kiah Kiean, the result is evolving away from the "asian" way to treat the subject.
I suppose that's a good thing.
We visited the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam this weekend, and I noticed Vincent continued learning and copying other artists until he died.
But even when trying another style, van Goghs hand was always there.