Spring

Spring is in the air.

TA Cap

On Chemelot (the chemical plant where I work presently) massive renovation works take place, called TA/CAP . They do that every 10 to 15 years.
An extra of 1200 workers are brought in, continuously dismantling installations and building new ones. As the works have to be done in something like 8 weeks, works go on 24/7.
Here a sketch of one of the numerous mammoth cranes on the terrain.
Renovatie werken aan een van de productielijnen op het Chemelot terrein, Geleen.

Self portrait in process

 For artclass we had to make a painting with the theme "mirrors". I didn't like the theme, I did not want to make a painting with a person and its reflection, because you are focussing too much on the differences between the two.
So I decided to treat the theme mirror literally: a painting of a mirror and myself in it.
As I had to work on two different locations, I had to use a photo. So I decided to show that I used a camera as well. Besides, I like the idea of showing the hands, makes the self-portrait composition more interesting.
To make life more difficult, I decided to use oilpaint, for the first time on a serious painting.

First picture is the underpainting, made in acrylic on a 70x90cm canvas frame, based on a charcoal drawing.




The second picture shows the mirrorframe, painted in oil.
I realised that the portrait part was not useful as underpainting, it was already too detailed. An underpainting should determine composition and shadow/light aspects.

 Here I adapted the face, in acryl. Note that I changed things like the length of the wrist.
I also started painting the background of the face, ochre on top of the yellow-green underpainting, to give the ochre a deeper effect.

In this phase I worked on the face and hands again. It was a first time in oil, and I found oilpaint works nicely, you can push the colours into each other. But I also realised that I was working too detailed, with all kind of different touches and tiny colour transitions. Even though it comes closer to the photo, it drains life out of the painting. I already added some broader strokes, but it was too late to change the panting around. Next time I have to keep more distance
Also note that I have not yet painted my glasses, they sit on top of my face, and for that reason should be painted later (after the paint dried somewhat)
To be continued....

Lancia Fulvia

This morning when arriving at work in Geleen, I parked my car next to this vintage Lancia Fulvia. Couldn't resist making a quick sketch of it, while two interested security guards were watching me draw and paint. Unfortunately the car was in desperate need of repair. Vanmorgen vroeg op het parkeerterrein van Chemelot (Geleen), vond ik deze mooie oude Lancia Fulvia, in helaas nogal roestige en verbleekte staat.

Tsunami Japan

A year ago Japan suffered from this horrible Tsunami. I saw some footage from the devastation last sunday; some of the images stuck in my mind, and I reworked them in this drawing. Washed out Hero fountainpen ink in a large Moleskine.
Tsunami Japan, nu een jaar geleden. Afgelopen zondag zag ik wat beelden, daar moest ik wat mee, en ik verwerkte het in deze tekening. Uitgewassen vulpeninkt in een Moleskine.

Glass in progress

Not much inspiration lately. So I post here an update on my stained glass window, as of this evening. Proceeding slowly but steadily.
The size of this pane is 60x70cm. Still a long way to go.
Mijn glas in loodraam in uitvoering, de stand van vandaag. Nog een tijdje te gaan.

Factory

Still having my desk on the Chemelot plant in Geleen. The weather is nice for the time of year. So during lunchbraek I went out to draw. Not very inspiring, this view of one of the many plants on site.
Schets van een van de vele fabrieken op het Chemelot terrein.

Cortenbach

The castle of Cortenbach, in Voerendaal. Also near my home in Limburg.
Funny, we don't see it anymore, but there are a lot of these castles in our surroundings. I count at least 6 within a 5 km radius of my house. Castle Hoensbroek, Amstenrade, Terborg, Rivieren, Terworm, Cortenbach. Not all of them very large, but larger than the numerous strengthened farms that you find here.
A quick sketch made during lunchbreak, on my way between a client and the office. The weather was too nice not to go out of the car. Schets van Kasteel Cortenbach in Voerendaal.

Segura!

Carnaval in Maastricht 2012. I know, this looks like a scene from Lord of the Rings, but this an real existing  samba group. The group is called "Segura!" Escola de Samba, and they make Brazilian style Samba music. And dressed up like something between Darth Vader, Orks, and black clad samurai. Impressive suits and fantastic rhythms! Here an impression of the group that I found on youtube of the parade near where we were standing..
 

Segura! tijdens de Carnavalsoptocht van Maastricht.

Fabritius huis

This is the Fabritiushuis in Wolfhagen, a little hamlet of Schinnen. It takes a small detour when driving home from work to pass this house. The house dates back to 1611, and was renowned for being the home of the "Bokkeriejers". These were dangerous gangs who raided farms in our region in the 17th century. The bandits were so fast that people said they must have travelled on the backs of flying goats (Bokken), obviously a reference to the devil. Because of these dangerous times the buildings and barns of old farms in Limburg are grouped around an closed inner courtyard, easy to protect in hard times.
I made this drawing a few hours ago, took me about 25 minutes to draw and paint.
Fabritiushuis in Wolfhagen Schinnen. Huis van de eerste bokkerijders bende.

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.

Parade Carnaval

Sketch made during the Carnaval parade of Hoensbroek. I don't even know the name of the group. I made the sketch on three different locations, each time they would pass before I had chance to look up. I made some splashes of colour on location to define which colours were where, but did the finishing at home.
Optocht in Hoensbroek, een van de verklede groepen. Schets gemaakt op drie verschillende plekken, de groep was meestal voorbij nadat ik de eerste lijnen op papier had gezet.

't is nieks...

't is nieks en 't weurd nieks. That is how the "Zaate herremenie" (the fun-brassband) of Hoensbroek is called. Free translated the band's name means: "it's nothing and it never will be anything". I guess no further explanation  is needed. Drawn during the Hoensbroek Carnaval parade.
De zaate herremenie van Gebrook, 't is nieks en 't weurd nieks. Getekend tijdens de optocht van Hoensbroek.

Schmink

My neighbors Rene and Marij play in a "Zaate herremenie" which means "drunken brassband". That says it all.
This morning, before playing in the Carnaval parade of Hoensbroek, they dressed up in colourfull and warm clothes and painted their faces with schmink (special facial paint, I have no idea if that word exists in English). I was there to assist and make sketches of the process. Which you see here.  
It wasn´t easy making these sketches, during the process they kept moving around.


Onze buren spelen in een zaate herremenie. Hierbij de schetsen die ik vanmorgen maakte bij het schminken van de gezichten, voorafgaand aan de optocht van Hoensbroek.

Art class: Rob

Art class today, exercise in contrast (more contrast where you want to lead the eye, less contrast where less emphasises is needed).
I was pretty pleased with this portrait, it more or less looked like the guy.
Acrylic, 50x60cm, took me two hours to make.
Portret cursus, een oefening in contrastverschillen. Soms lukt een portet wonderwel.

Koerennen 2012

 

Yesterday evening Carnaval started with our local Hoensbroek tradition: Kowrenne (Cowrunning).
Unfortunately no cowrunning for us this year. With pain in my heart I have to state that after 14 successful years we had to stop with our group "de Föhners". We couldn't get enough runners together anymore.
But luckily enough there are new groups to continue the tradition, and I had a good time yesterday evening watching the games as a spectator. And enough opportunity to draw. The top sketch is of the group "Breuker Kamaraode" who won the prize of the Most Beautiful Cow (of the world). Well deserved.

Geen koerennen voor ons meer, dit jaar. Na 14 jaar zijn we gestopt met de Föhners. Gelukkig zijn er nieuwe groepen om de traditie voort te zetten. De Breuker Kamaraode gefeliciteerd met de "Sjoenste Kow" prijs.

Crash

 

Every few years I reread the book "Crash" by J.G. Ballard, one of my favourite authors. When I started out with this drawing I had no idea it would be a reference to that book. I just started drawing on the top left side with an underpass, and continued clockwise drawing without plan. Suddenly I found I had drawn "Crash" without realising it. It was a strange experience.

The drawing was made with my Lamy Accent fountainpen, but filled with chinese Hero ink (see linework version).

After that I waterbrushed the drawing, and even though Hero ink is not waterproof, it only bleeds to a limited amount: the lines are still clear. I did not use extra Chinese ink in the washes, just what came off from the linework.

Raffles hotel

The last of my Singapore sketches. I made this one right after I bought the pen, in an art shop just behind the Raffles hotel.
On my way back to the metro I walked through the hotel complex, which is kept in the original British colonial style. The hotel has numerous inner courtyards, and this is one of them.
The statue in the middle is of sir Raffles; I was told he founded Singapore.

Hero pen 501-1

 

Tia and Paul tipped me about a Chinese fountainpen, a Hero 501-1, used in China for calligraphy writing. The top of the nib turns up 45 degrees, so you get very lively, thick and beautiful black lines. I also bought Hero ink, even though it's not as waterproof as Noodlers, it still keeps up strong lines. Above sketch was made with this pen: one of the huge beautiful rain trees that line Orchard avenue. Most trees have different leaves on the lower branches, looks like a parasite plant.

Betty, in memoriam

You may remember the sketch above, I posted it on January 5th. It was quite chilling to learn that Betty, the woman with the red hat (second to the right) unexpectedly died last December, about when I made the drawing (at the time I didn't know).
July, lead singer of the group, made this poem to commemorate her. It's written in our local dialect, which even regular Dutch won't understand.
The drawing was made for our local Carnaval newspaper, "d'r Uul", which came in today. The paper featured some of my drawings of Cowrunning and the carnaval parade of last year.