Oniropolis

A fantasy drawing, Oniropolis (dream city). Inspired by Piranesi and Sant'Elia. One of these drawings that develop on the way.
 

Sunday afternoon at the reservoir

 

Some doodling led to this image. Atramentis brown ink, and washed out brown Pentel color brush. I had that brush lying around unused for more than 10 years. I finally found use for it.

Last days of the firestorm

I start with a random line, then another one......
 

Terra Mining

 

Two random drawings, just doodling away. It's Inktober, let's see how far I get.

Odysseus and the Sirens

I had one of those dreams again, of a boat manouevring between rocks that made screaming noise.
Even though I could not relive the visuals of that dream, the idea stuck, and evolved into this drawing. Odysseus in his steampunk ship, passing between the sirens (which look quite different here than in the original mythology, I know, but that is called artistic freedom)

Shin-Koyh

The faint smell of cinnamon greeted us when we finally arrived at Shin-Koyh.
(a lunchtime doodle that went a bit too far...)

The red dragon

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

Rosamunda

Rosamunda

Als een reiziger, na drie dorstige dagen trekken door stoffige vlaktes, eindelijk de poorten van de stad ziet, met daarachter de vele op elkaar gestapelde torens met kleurrijk versierde balkons, dan.......

.... ontdekt hij dat elke toren een eigen functie heeft. Een bazaartoren, een herberg, een goudsmederij. De bovenste toren herbergt de bibliotheek. Daarin ....

.... zal hij, evenzeer dorstig van de reis als hunkerend naar kennis, zich kunnen laven aan de boeken, de oude manuscripten, de in verguld leer gebonden folianten, de slordig gedrukte stencils, de half verweerde paperbacks, en naar oud parkament ruikende atlassen, zich lui vleiend in eindeloze kasten, verbonden door trappen en balkons, door bruggen en wenteltrappen. Maar als hij dan deze werken opent ....

.... die hem met een glimlach door de oude bibliothecaris zijn aangereikt ontdekt hij dat op de eerste bladzijde van elk boekwerk een afbeelding van een roos prijkt. Hij vraagt de bibliothecaris naar de betekenis daarvan. De man kijkt verbaasd en ....

.... zal zeggen: "Maar mijnheer, de roos, dat is toch het begin en het eind van alles?". "Waar U een boek ziet, zie ik de dicht beschreven bladeren van de roos". "waar U de zoete parfum van een jonge ontluikende vrouw ruikt, ruik ik de frisheid van de roos". "Waar U de stad .....

.... ziet, zie ik de compositie van de bloembladeren van de roos. Dat was ook het model waarnaar onze stichters deze stad destijds gebouwd hebben".

Hierna verliet ik welgemoed deze stad genaamd Rosamunda, benieuwd naar wat de volgende stad, Tulipa, mij te bieden zou hebben.

Verhaal door Rene Fijten en Clemens Maasen.

When a traveller, after walking three thirsty days through dusty highlands, finally reaches the gates of this city, admiring the many stacked towers decorated with colourful balconies, then...

... he will realise that each tower has a function of its own. The Bazaar tower, a guesthouse highrise, a goldsmith. The highest tower houses the library. There.....

... he will, as thirsty from the travels as thirsty for knowledge, be able to submerge in all the books, the old manuscripts, the foliants bound in gilded leather, the faded stencils, the worn paperbacks, the atlases smelling of ancient parchment, all lazily reclining in endless rows of cabinets, connected by staircases and balconies, catwalks and spiral staircases. But after opening these books....

.... which are handed to him by the old librarian, he will realize that each first page of each book will show the image of a rose. He asks the librarian to its meaning. The man looks genuinely puzzled and... 

.... exclaims: "but Sir, the Rose, wouldn't you agree that it represents the beginning and end of everything?" "Where you see a book, I see the densely lettered leaves of the Rose." "Where you smell the sweet perfume of a young budding woman, I smell the freshness of the Rose!". "Where you see the city"....

.... "I see the intricate composition of the petals of the Rose. That was the model after which our founders built this city." After this explanation I good humouredly left this town called Rosamunda, curious what the next city, Tulipa, would offer.

A story by Clemens Maassen and me. I started with the first sentence, and Clemens did the second, etc. It slowly evolved into a Calvino type of story, neither of us knew where it would lead.....

Flat earth exploration

It was one of those days that I just had to draw something.
This is the Scientific Exporation Ship "Mondo Plano". Equipped to have a peek across the end of the world, back in the days when everyone thought the earth was flat.
I had a discussion on FB about the dangers of sea exploration, and how Columbus set out proving the world was round. So the thought crossed my mind: how would the vessel have looked if the Vatican would have wanted to prove their point?

The towers of Daedalae-12

The living towers of Daedalae-12. An imaginary city on a foreign planet.
More like a doodle leading its own way.
It's always interesting to see where the inspiration came from, at least afterwards.
Anselm Kiefer, Dubuffet, Mieville, Monument Valley.

Novo Caladedina

Another imaginary city. Love drawing fantasies like this. This is the sister city of Caladedina, the one I posted some weeks ago.
Remains the big question: would they be aware of each other?

Caladedina

Caladedina. Let's start the year with a nice imaginary city, or rather building.
I had an idea of a tree-like building, high on stilts, almost falling over. That's where the balancing weight came in. Then I started drawing with the top, the lighthouse, and invented the building and details while drawing towards the bottom.
I love doing this, it's like meditation. I lose myself, just going on and on and not knowing where I'll end.