Maastricht, Boschstraat.

 This is the little square in from of the Matthiaskerk in Maastricht. Or should I say very wide street? Anyway, it has some of the best terracec in Maastricht, on which we ended our afternoon.

Platinum carbon black ink, Lamy calligraphy fountain pen and watercolour in a Khadi sketchbook.

Maastricht Bosschstraat

 

I organized a sketching afternoon for the Urban Sketchers Maastricht group; about 10 sketchers showed up. I made this one of the Matthiaschurch, with some market and teracces in front. We finished the afternoon on one of those :).

St. Servaas, Maastricht

 

We had a meeting with the Maastricht Urban Sketchers last Saturday. a few hours of drawing, end then a nice beer in one of the cafés.

My previous sketchbook was full, so I tried a new one. Usually I use Moleskine ART (watercolour) sketchbooks A4 and A5. But this time I thought I would use something else: a Khadi sketchbook, 210 grams all cotton paper. I behaves totally different, it takes the watercolour in a different way. I kind of like the effect, but it needs adapting.  

Maastricht, de Ruiterij

 

Made this inkdrawing entirely on location, last Saturday. Added colours digotally with Gimp.

Maastricht Ceramique

We had an Urban Sketching Meeting in Maastricht, yesterday. Thew sun shone, it was cold evn though it improved during the day. This was made behind the glass of the library, with a view between modern buildings towards the old city center.
 

 

Maastricht Helmstraat (2)

 

A guy sitting in front of the entrance of a supermarket at the Helmstraat in Maastricht. I quietly observed him from the other side of the street. He was not a beggar, maybe homeless, or passing time, I don't know. Just before I finished he stood up and left.

Maastricht, Helmstraat

 

Maastricht, de Helmstraat. This morning. Ink and watercolour in a A5 Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

USk Maastricht: Faliezusters

 

Another one from the Maastricht Urban Sketching meeting. Het Faliezustersklooster. Made rather quick, maybe half an hour.

Maastricht: Huis op de jeker

 

Another experiment: using gouache on location. I made a portable gouache box, to be mounted on a camera tripod. I painted this house before. It worked out fine, but there is room for improvement on the box.

More stones

 

the second drawing of the geology tour. The girld stood there long enough for a pencil sketch (contour, wheels and posture was enough). The rest drawn after she was gone.

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.

Maastricht: Laank Gresje

 

Yesterday I could get out sketching again. Maastricht, Laank Gresje. That is the local dialect for: Lange gracht, or in English: the Long canal). On the right you can see the remnants of the inner fortifications wall. Maastricht was always fought over.

Maastricht "de hoge Fronten"

I took an afternoon in Maastricht. Make a walk on the "Hoge Fronten", the extensive defensive works surrounding Maastricht, dating fom the 18th century. Maastricht has had some bad expecience with sieges from Spaniards and French troops (in one of them d'Artagnan, one of the three musketteers, died). Anyway, this is a view of the defence works, looking towards the former Lambertus church.

Coffeebar "Het Front"

Made during the Maastricht sketchcrawl last Saturday. A coffebar in a converted seacontainer. The Owner was quite enthousiastic and brought us coffee twice. It was nice to be out sketching again.

Zoe and Bèr

 

Sketchmeeting at the Fronten, Maastricht this afternoon. Here are Bèr en Zoe in action.

Maastrichter Pastoorstraat

I was in Maastricht today. It was too cold to draw, but I tried anyway. The ink would not dry properly, and the watercolour didn't flow at all. Still I couldn't help myself by trying this. At home I did some touchups at the tower of the city hall (the ink was smeared), and I think in the end it worked out okay.

Sketchweekend: Charles Vos Cour

A drawing of the Charles Vos Cour, a modern building complex taking old building styles into account. By the Belgian architect: Charles Vandenhove.
 

Sketchweekend: Kruisheren hotel

 

Another one place we visited during my "Secrets tour", the Kruisheren hotel. It's an medieval chapel (a monastry of the "Holy cross" order) converted into a five star hotel. WE were allowed to sit on the mezannine to draw this.

Sketchweekend: St. Servaas

Together with the Maastricht group we organized an Urban sketching weekend, here in Maastricht. !25 participants showed up, we had terrific weather and everything went great.

I organized two "secrets  tours". With a small group we walked and sketched on different less obvious locations, and I told the participants stories about the city. This was the first stop of the first day: the entrance to the Saint Servaas Basilica, gothic at its best. I only has short time, so I had to limit myself.

Lange grachtje in the rain

Last friday, thunderstorm. These people ware sheltering againt the sudden rain under the arch of a medieval fortification wall in Maastricht. I was sitting on the other side of the narrow alley, sipping on a coffee under the canopy of a terrace.