Leiden: St. Peterchurch

THis is the second sketch I managed to make during our National Dutch Urban sketching day. Due to the rain (and time spent on social activities) these wre the only two drawings I was able to make.

Leiden usk sketchday

 

We organised another national Urban sketcher sketchday. This time in Leiden. A beautiful city to draw in, unfortunately the weather was not very good: strong chilly wind and low temperatures (10 degrees C). But worst of all, some occosional and sudden rainshowers. Real Dutch weather. This drawing was a victim of the rain: as I had finished inking the rain soaked my sketchbook. You can still see the leaking ink and blotches. Anyway, despite the weather we had a great day. Nice to see the 250 participants joining us all over the city. This is the view from the fortress on top of the city, with a nice view over the rooftops.

Small portrait

A small portrait in my sketchbook, after a picture, made with Holbein acrylic gouache. 15x10cm.
 

Bookbinding

 

For a holiday, later this year, I wanted to create a sketchbook of my own design. with different types of paper, and another size. So I made my own sketchbook with a size about 19x19cm, which I finished it yesterday. I used "Coptic binding", a bookbinding system that enables to keep your book totally flat. Handy for sketching. It was fun to do, I hope it will work out well.

Supergrandpa

My grandson Jake wrote a little story for school. I promised him I would illustrate it if it was really cool. So he came up with a story where 3 ninja's were threatening him and his brother in front of the local library (where I take them regularly). But suddenly I was some kind of a cool superhero, who disarmed the ninja's with a few well directed laser beams. 

Well, I could not have made that story up :). Here is the illustration.
 

Tasja Cicak 25 years.

I made this surprise gift  for a dear collegue, Tasja Cicak. For 25 years she is a dear, enthousiast and valuable collegue. She was a redufee from Serajevo, 30 years ago, but totally managed to integrate into the Limburg society. Anyway, hard to see, but this Van Gogh impression of the Barcelona Sacarada Familia is 3 dimensional, made from papier maché and other stuff. WE collected money to sponsor a trip to Barcelona.

Mitzie, deceased

Our beloved cat, Mitzie, passed away today. She was about 11 years old. She will be missed.
 

Maastricht: centre Ceramique

 

Last friday, the magazine corner of the main Maastricht Library. There is a nice coffee corner, where I could make this drawings. I don't think she noticed me drawing.