Bloody angle, NYC

 

Experimenting with watercolours. Based on an interesting technique I saw with the artist Tim Saternow. Contrary to the usual way of working where you start with light tones and you work your way to more darker colours, this one is the other way around. You start with the black parts, and work your way to the lighter tones. Based on a picture I took some years ago in New York: Doyers street, aka the bloody angle.

Chinatown NYC: underpainting

I started another serious painting again. A cityscape, of a picture I made last April in New York City. It's a location in Chinatown, where East Broadway crosses the Manhattan Bridge, an underpass.
The scene is in the rain, it was pouring that day. The basic photograph was taken on the go, while walking, it's not that good.


The location doesn't look like much on google streetview.
Anyway, this is just the underpainting (to get the composition and colorthemes right).
On canvas 50x60cm, so far with acrylics.
Next step is to adapt the scene to strengthen the scene, take out those elements that don't enhance the story.
Then painting it with oils. (I use Cobra watersoluble oilpaint).

I hope it will work out.

Brooklyn, Brighton Beach

A sidestreet of Brighton Beach Avenue. I guess it is probably also known as little Russia, I have never seen so many Russian shops, except for Moscow itself.
Coming from a country where nearly all electrical cables are underground this was a fascinating sight.
I now know why the Spiderman comics originated in the States. Inspiration around every corner.....

NYC Hanover street

View from the Starbucks at hanover square, downtown New York. They sold Banh mi, something like vietnamese baguettes. No idea what that tastes like, but we already left the Starbucks before we were hungry enough to try.

Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

The Brooklyn Tabernacle choir, a real gospel choir. 250 singers, incredible.
We wanted to attend an early Sunday mass, and took the risk to go to Brooklyn, the renowned choir that won several Grammys and sang at the inauguration of Obama (that seems already ages ago).
We were welcomed heartily. I was given permission to sketch, which i did when they were still doing voice exercises before mass. When they started to sing I didn't want to draw anymore, but only wanted to enjoy the music.
I also liked the mass itself by the way, I loved they way the priest did his sermon. A real show, so unlike what we are used to here in  Europe.

Christopher Slutman funeral

Our hotel was near 5th Avenue. We noticed that the street was closed down, to our surprise there were thousands of fire and policemen standing in attention, a few miles along 5th Ave.
They were paying their respects for Christopher Slutman, a Marine and ex-NYC fireman, who died during a roadbomb attack in Afghanistan, early April.
There were large amounts of policemotors, some firetrucks, policecars and a group of bagpipes.

Very impressive, especially in our European eyes.

May he rest in peace.

New York, Times & Liberty

Last weekend my wife and I were married for 30 happy years. Like we did at the 20 and 25 years anniversary, we visited New York city, this time accompanied with some friends.
This meant we did the usual tourist things, but also a few new ones.
I have made sketches of these two scenes before, but I could not resist to do them again.
The view towards the statue of liberty, from the Staten Island Ferry. It was a quick one, I only had like 10 minutes to do this one. 
  

This sketch, made from the platform on times square, also took about 10 minutes, I did not want to hold up the company.
I loved the city, and will show a few more drawings.

Pilot-Namiki Falcon

During our trip to New York I treated myself on a Pilot Falcon fountain pen. The one with the bird-beak shaped flexible nib.
In Europe you can only buy the very expensive metal one, but I found this address in New York Downtown, where I could try out the regular type. The issue was deciding on the size of the nib, which also depends on the type of paper. I bought the SF type: $144.
I hope it lives up to it's reputation.
First impressions: the nib is really flexible, but I have to get used to change pressure on the nib for maximum effect.
And I did notice that the lexington grey is more dark than what I am used to, probably because it feeds more ink than my Lamy.

We bought the pen at the "Fountain pen hospital" on Warren street near City hall.
A beautiful shop with some 2000 types of fountain pens.
We were served well with really good advice, they took their time and I was able to try some different pens as well. That is something that buying on the internet will always lack: good personal advice.
And it will add to the value of the pen: the pen is now connected to memories of this trip to NYC for years to come.

Philly and Harlem

The last of my New York Sketches. I still have one unfinished, but sometimes you just loose interest and they stay unfinished. These sketches are a bit random: The above is about my new favourite streetfood: the Philly cheesesteak. I love it. Beats any burger I had so far (actually, there was a Shake Shack across the street from our hotel, seems to be something special considering the long queues blocking the pavement at lunchtime).

Below sketches I made during the performance of a Gospel choir in Harlem. Actually, it was the same choir that we visited 6 years ago: the ARC gospel choir. One of the singers was a fragile 90 year old man. He had to be supported during his performances, but what a feast it was.

NYC 9/11

9/11. It was one of those moments when everyone knows for the rest of their lives where they were and what they were doing.
I was at the office when the first plane hit, and a little later at home as I watched in horror on live-TV how the twin towers came down in a storm of dust. My children still recount the look on my face.
We visited the former location of the WTC, the holes it left in the new square at the foot of the freedom tower, and the new museum. The museum was very well done: with a well dosed amount of respect, anger and documentation. And I should add, without the American patriotic sentimentality you sometimes see in exhibitions like these (in our cynical European eyes).
The above sketch is Ladder 3, the firetruck that was wrecked by the collapsing towers.
And the burned and bent remains of one of the steel columns of the facades. It makes you realise the magnitude of the forces during the events.
Well worthy a visit. But come early, before the crowds arrive.

NYC: Times square

Our hotel was just one block from Times square, you could find us there every evening. On the north side there is a kind of stepped terrace, slowly rising, and tourists like us can sit there overlooking the crowd, sip on a starbucks "red eye", and admire the vibrant colours, the constant hustle on the streets and the ever changing billboards. And look at the New Yorkers below, how they try to make a buck out of the tourists. And how the tourists fall for every trick in the book.

NYC: 8th ave 44th street

Like I said in the previous post: we had a corner room. Looking to the west it was Hells kitchen towrds the Hudson, the south window had this fabulous view. Over 8th avenue, looking downtown.

I also tried a night drawing, but that was practically impossible, how can you catch the shimmering lights and streams of yellow cabs in the canyons below?
Here is my try anyway. Made wth Faber Castell watercolour pencils.

NYC: Hell's Kitchen

At the check in of our hotel - the ROW hotel on 8th avenue, just a block away from Times square - I mentioned that I sometimes draw the view from my hotel room windows. It could be coincidence, but we got a corner room at the top of the hotel: the 28th. floor. With a breathtaking view to the west over Hell's kitchen towards the Hudson, and an equally breathtaking view along 8th avenue towards the south.

There was a disadvantage though. It was the smallest hotel bedroom that we ever had in the States. We had trouble putting our suitcase somewhere. But it was freshly decorated, clean, well kept and had good sanitary provisions. And with a perfect location and a perfect view, what more can you wish for.

Statue of liberty

Statue of liberty, as seen from the Staten Island ferry. Still one of the cheapest New York attractions.
Unfortunately we did not have a ferry with an open deck this time (like we had 6 years ago), but we had to watch Manhattan, Ellis island and the Statue from behind windows.

I had about 7-9 minutes to draw and paint this, the ferry is already halfway it's 25 minute journey before you see the statue properly. Sometimes drawing so quickly works, because you have to skip details. But more often it's off mark.

New York,Times square: Police arrests

We just returned from a few nice days in New York.
Before I show the usual drawings I made: here is a newsflash. A few drawings I made last wednesday on Time Square related to the protests in support of the demonstrations on the death of Freddy Gray in Baltimore.
That wednesday night we were returning from dinner on 49th street when we heard helicopters overhead. A few minutes later some 20 police vans appeared, spilling out policemen and blocking 9th ave. The protesters came from Times square, maybe 200 persons, marching on the sidewalks and crossing the avenue. They did not seem to know where to go, because they walked into the direction of Hells kitchen, but suddenly returned and came back to 9th ave, only to take the turn downtown towards PABS.
It was a bit awkward to see that the sidewalk terraces of the restaurants had business as usual, people were just eating dinner. But we also noted that the liquor and electrical stores were closed and had police protection in front of the doors.
We saw 2 arrests just before our nose, quite an uneasy experience.

We walked to Times square (our hotel was on 8th ave and 42nd, just a block away). On Times square a large group of protesters stood shouting and showing signs. A large group of police officers stood near by to try and redirect the traffic and keep tourists out of the way. At some point some protesters blocked the road (I could not see if that was on purpose), and some 10 officers jumped on a protester and carried him away. It was over so quick I could only draw with the tools I had at hand.
The atmosphere was changing quickly, and an angry young black man started to talk to us to try to explain. We decided to return to our hotel. We heard the sirens and helicopters until late that night.

Exhibition on gender preferences

We have a museum called the "Continium" in Kerkrade, some 15 kilometers away.

It's a museum mainly for children. It covers subjects like science, nature, technology, biology, history, that kind of stuff. Essentially: "how does it work".
The exhibits are not aimed at showing objects, but they try to involve the visitors and to make them play with the displays.

This is an exhibit where children are asked to make choices between art objects, music, clothes, books, films etc. The choices are then recorded with the aim to show them about gender differences, and how that involves different tastes and interests. And maybe that preferences are not so gender specific at all. 

Anyway, one of my paintings was chosen for the exhibition: the view on Madison Avenue in New York. The top painting.
I made it back in 2011, based on an unused sketch made during our New York trip in 2009.
 http://www.renefijten.blogspot.nl/2011/02/madison-avenue.html

The exhibition will run for a full year.

The art of Urban Sketching

A few days ago I received my copy of the book: the art of Urban sketching. Some of the sketches I made in New York a few years ago are featured in this book, which makes me very proud (page 75). I mean, the book is loaded with so many beautiful sketches and drawings, 350 pages of them, all made by these artists all over the world; I feel very honoured to be counted among them.
The book is an initiative of Gabi Campinero, is linked to the Urban Sketchers site, and is available at Amazon for about $17, Click here to go to Amazon.
Het boek "the art of Urban sketching" in de brievenbus: ik ben er apetrots op dat enkele van mijn New York schetsen daar ook in staan, tussen al die andere fantastische schetsen en tekeningen.

New York by night

Both paintings next to each other. New York by Night.

Bob

This is the second diptych New York painting, for Bob.
Het tweede schilderij van de tweeluik, voor Bob.

Rianne

Yesterday my daughter, Rianne, turned 21. Not my little girl anymore.
A few weeks ago Rianne and Bob asked me to make a painting to decorate their new home. Bob liked the Madison avenue painting of some weeks ago, and they would like to have something in that style as birthday present.
So I decided to make a diptych (two paintings for each of their birthdays) of which the first part is shown here.
Gisteren werd mijn dochter Rianne 21 jaar oud. Weer een mijlpaal. 
Bob en Rianne wilden voor hun verjaardag graag een schilderij in de stijl van het Madison avenue schilderij van een paar maanden geleden, voor boven de bank in hun appartement. Twee verjaardagen, twee schilderijen, dit is de eerste van een tweeluik.