Painting

The last post of this year. I wanted to do some painting again, this was based on a sketch of the Chemelot terrain, in Geleen. I posted it last October: http://www.renefijten.blogspot.com/2011/10/chemelot.html. Acryl 50x40cm.
Schilderij van het Chemelot terrein, Geleen, gebaseerd op een schets van 19 oktober.

Ludwig Museum

In Köln (Cologne) Rianne and I visited the Ludwig Museum for the exhibition "Before the law", with post-war modern sculpture. Personally I did not see anything that touched me.
I  found the regular exhibition to be better, with fantastic works of Roy Lichtenstein, Picasso and Max Ernst. Much to learn from them.
Here a sketch of a sculpture of Reg Butler, "figure in space", which was at display in front of a window overlooking the railroadbridge crossing the river Rhein.
Rianne en ik bezochten de tentoonstelling "Before the law" in het Ludwig museum in Keulen. Een bronzen beeld van Reg Butler, voor een raam met uitzicht op de Rijn.

La Pavoni

Last friday my daughter Rianne and I went to Köln, (Cologne), for visiting modern art and cute specialised shops. We had some tea and a perfect double espresso in a café next to the Kolomba museum. They had a huge amount of expresso machines on display, among others this fantastic huge La Pavoni.
Een heerlijke espresso in caffé perfetto, in Keulen. Daar stond deze prachtige La Pavoni espressomachine.

First window

My first stained glass window pane.
Actually it was an exercise panel (of my own design), to get acquainted with all the different aspects of stained glass making.
Of course, just by looking at it I am reminded of all the places where I went wrong.
I tell you, making this was not easy at all, all these tiny little pieces which never seem to fit!
But in the end it was worth all the trouble. 
Mijn eerste glas-in-lood oefen paneel, 30x40cm. Als ik ernaar kijk zie ik alle plekken waar ik de fout in ging. Volgende keer moet het beter kunnen.

Paysage

Yesterday I finished my first stained glass window. I will show it here later, I have to clean it first before I can make a decent picture.
This is my design for the next piece, 60x60cm. A fantasy landscape.
Ontwerp voor een glas in lood raam, ik heb mijn eerste oefenraam nu af.

First snow

This is the winter weather I like: this morning we woke up with a thin fresh layer of snow and crispy fresh air under a pale blue early morning sky. So I took my running shoes for a nice 12km through the hills, woods and fields around where I live. All I could hear were the crows and the crispy sound of fresh snow under my feet.

I had forgotten about this sketch of our visit to the Aachen Weihnachtsmarkt two weeks ago. I only drew a few lines back then, it was drizzling all the time, so I finished it yesterday evening. Always beautiful, these German Christmas markets.

Ron

The last of our drawings of pastel on coloured paper. This was today's live model, Ron. The drawing actually resembled him. 50x60cm., took me an hour to make.

Presently I can only post these kind of works; it's a busy time of year, not only with work but also private. I wish I could go out and sketch something. Anything.
Maybe in a week or so, when the Christmas holiday sets in.

White drape

Art class, last saturday. We are still proceeding on the pastel on prepared paper, this time accompanied with black oil pastels (siberisch krijt). The white cloth was done with acrylic paint. The model was very good, she stood still holding up the drape for two hours!
I am not 100% satisfied, I think I worked too long on this one (almost 2 hours).
about 40x60

Gertie 50 jaar

Gertie, my wife, celebrates her 50st birthday today. As the Dutch saying goes: she saw Sarah today. I can only wish for many more beautiful years together.
Above the surprise present I made for her, a small 3D-composition (25x25) of pictures of her youth.
And at the left the party invitation I made for our friends and family, which will be held tonight.
Gertie heeft Sarah gezien vandaag: 50 jaar! Boven de surprise die ik voor haar heb gemaakt, gemaakt van gescande en bewerkte oude foto's. Links de uitnodiging voor het feestje vanavond.

Annlee

This is the surprise gift for my son, Mart. Two years ago I visited the Modern Tate in London with him, and he still talks about the "Annlee" art exhibition. Also known as: "No ghost, just a shell", referring to the fact that non-real or virtual figures seem to be alive, but are just alive in our minds.
Unfortunately the poster was not available anymore, so I painted this piece as an personal version of the Annlee theme.
50x70cm, acrylic on prepared carton, I also used Chinese advertisement leaflets that I brought from a trip to Shanghai.

Surprise voor Mart, een poster voor een tentoonstelling in het Modern Tate over een Manga figuur "Annlee".

Surpise!

These are the suprise presents that I prepared for my family this year.
I showed the present for my wife in the previous post. The mirror was for Bob, he broke the right hand mirror of their new (old) car, I made a stained glass one for him.
The chicken clock was for Brenda, she visited the Rihanna concert, but had to wait for hours before Rihanna entered the stage.
The bachelor degree certificate was for Rianne, her cat Noortje needed a lot of attention this year.
I will post the painting I made for Mart separately.

Sint and Smurf

Sinterklaas, december 5th, time for giving presents and making little suprises. Here is the one I made for my wife Gertie. I wrote a rhyme with it, describing how Sinterklaas hired smurfs to help him (he ran out of Pieten), and they filled our house with smurfs. This makes fun of the fact that since a few weeks our children flew out, they live on their own now.
Sinterklaassurprise voor Gertie. Ons huis vol smurfen, ter vervanging van de kids, die tegenwoordig op kamers wonen.

Prepared paper and pastel

I was not able to buy coloured paper for the art class, no time to go to the art shop. So I took some leftover aquarel paper, let it dry in a wooden frame (to avoid wobbly paper) and pre-coloured it with acrylic in ochre, red  and burnt sienna.
During art class I made this life portrait with dry pastel and black oil pastel. I kind of like the effect of the underground. It took me an hour to make the portrait; 40x60cm.
Portret, droge pastel en siberisch krijt op geprepareed papier.

Shipbreaking

 

Still trying out my flex pen. This time a drawing inspired by a photograph of Edward Burtynsky of a shipbreaker yard in Bangladesh. The flexpen should be used before adding the colour, it loses it's subtlety when drawing on painted parts. Tekening gebaseerd op een foto van Burtynsky van een scheepssloperij in Bangladesh. Probeersels van mijn nieuwe flexpen.

Dumpster

Lunchbreak yesterday. I wanted to try out my new flex pen, but I had no opportunity to sketch later that day. So I looked out of the office (it's on the first floor) and just drew what I saw, a dumpster on the parking lot next tothe office. The pen feels very fine. Uitzicht vanuit ons kantoor, op de vuilcontainer op de parkeerplaats. Testen van mijn nieuwe flex pen.

Noodlers flex pen

Yeah. My long awaited Noodlers flex pen arrived. Took some effort and many weeks waiting before this one arrived from Goulet pens, California. Cost more on shipping and taxes than the pen itself ($ 14). It's a fountain pen with a very flexible nib, so you can draw lively lines with different thickness, just by pushing hard. My first trials are very satisfying; I used Bullet Black waterproof ink in the test above. Mijn nieuwe Noodlers flex vulpen arriveerde per post uit Californië. Hierboven de eerste probeersels, met watervaste vulpeninkt (Noodlers bullet black)

Pastels

I am very busy at the moment, no time to sketch. Trying to meet heavy deadlines at work, painting class, stained steel class, sports (running), family and household, and preparing little surprise presents for my family (Sinterklaas-St Nicholas  is coming up in two weeks). Obviously I can't show those self-made surprises here yet. So can only post what I did yesterday morning during art-class: a live model drawing, pastel on brown packaging paper, 50x70cm. Took me an hour to make.
Modelklas, gisterenmorgen, getekend met pastel op bruin pakpapier. Moeilijk vanwege het felle tegenlicht.

Room with a view

 

Last friday Rob Carey had this beautiful sketch on his blog, the view from his classroom window. 

http://kunst-by-rob.blogspot.com/2011/11/across-way.html

By sheer accident I also drew the view from my office window that same day. Spot the 10 differences. And try to tell who is the lucky guy. Afgelopen vrijdag tekende ik het uitzicht vanuit mijn kantoorplek. Toevallig deed Rob Carey hetzelfde vanuit zijn klaslokaal (zie link). Zoek de 10 verschillen.

Art class Yvonne

 

Art class, live portrait drawings, pastels on grey carton. Not my favourite material, but I think it turned out OK. Each took me about an hour to make, dimensions 50x70cm. Portretschilderen/tekenen, naar levend model, dit keer Yvonne. Pastel op grijs karton, niet mijn favoriet materiaal, maar wel leerzaam. Ook niet ontevreden eigenlijk.

 

Night of the Proms

Yesterday evening my wife, a friend and I went to Antwerp, to the yearly Night of the Proms. A combination of classical and popmusic. This year -among others- featuring the diva's (4 soprano's) Angie Stone (real old fashioned soul), Mike Hucknall (leadsinger of Simply Red) and the highlight of the evening: Seal. He knew how to play the public.
Gisteravond Night of the Proms in Antwerpen. Met dit jaar: de Diva's Angie Stone, Mike Hucknall en vooral... Seal. Geweldig.