Madagaskar

I normally don't show other man's  stuff, but I gladly make an exception for this.
Look at this video from Bastien Dubois and be amazed.

Mexico

Another of my drawings was featured in a magazine from..... Mexico (!)
Printed in a town called Santiago de Queretaro.
I have no idea where they found this drawing of last years Carnaval in Hoensbroek, but here it is, page 10 of the cultural magazine "Sada y el Bombon". For the complete issue: http://issuu.com/sadabombon/docs/edicion2
Een van mijn tekeningen van het carnaval in Hoensbroek is gepubliceerd in een cultureel tijdschrift uit.... Mexico (!). 
Geen idee hoe ze eraan komen, maar ja, zo wordt Hoensbroek nog eens bekend over de wereld.

Gertie

This is Gertie, my wife. Yesterday she stood model in my art class. The first painting went totally wrong, but I was pleased about the second painting, which you see here to the left. I feel uncomfortable to paint family, but I finally feel I reached the level where I can get away with it.
50x70cm, acryl, took me an hour to paint.
Below the version by one of the other painters of the class, Tina Heins, also an excellent painting.
Portret masterclass, gisterenmorgen, Gertie stond model. Boven mijn tweede schilderij (de eerste was helemaal mislukt). Onder het schilderij van Tina Heins, een van de medecursisten, ook een schitterend resultaat.

Another of the paintings was posted by Rodney: see  http://rodneyvdb.blogspot.com/
Nice to see so many personal versions of the same subject.

Tram

Exercise in wet-in wet technique, in my wc-moleskine 13x20cm. Check out the website of Henri Arifin www.herryarifin.com and don't miss his painting demonstration on youtube.
Oefening in nat-in nat techniek. Zie de site van Henri Arifin en zijn schilderdemonstraties op youtube.

Kindercarnaval

Drawing representing the costumes of the children's parade of last year
It's part of the Carnaval festivities in Hoensbroek: on saturday each school (children and parents) dress up in different costumes, and form a colourful parade. I made this sketch based on pictures, as illustration for our local "Vasteloavend gezet D'r UUL" our local newspaper.
Kinderoptocht in Hoensbroek, de kostuums van het afgelopen jaar. Gemaakt voor de UUL, carnavalskrant.

Soft tones

Live model painting class. Exercise in smooth transitions of  tones. Mwah. I prefer the vivid style in which the texture of the brush stroke is still visible, like of last week.
Modelklas, oefening in zachte overgangen tussen tonen. Niet mijn favoriete stijl, het blijkt nu dat ik een levendigere penseelstreek eigenlijk leuker vind.

Not so much urban sketching presently. I'll have to do something about that.

Sponge

Elise, live portrait painting class. We were not allowed to use brushes, only acrylic and water, to be applied with a sponge (one of those you use to clean pots and pans). Objective was not so much to represent the model, but to figure out light, tonality and depth. 50x65cm, cost me 30 minutes to paint.
Schilderoefening: portret geschilderd met een schuursponsje; kwasten waren uit den boze. Doel was het vinden van licht, diepte en tonaliteit, en het voorkomen van details. Ik maakte 4 van deze in 2 uur.

Parade

Yes, I know it's early (Carnaval starts in March this year), but the local Carnaval newspaper asked me to rework on older sketch of the arrival of the Prince on the market square of Hoensbroek.
Een nieuwe versie van een oudere schets, gemaakt voor de carnavalskrant van Gebrook: d'r Uul. Een beetje vroeg misschien...

Bokeh

Trafficlights of the Patersweg/Akerstraat, early morning, as seen with my glasses off. I just found out that this style of unsharp images is called Bokeh. This acrylic painting on canvas 40x50cm is based on a picture I posted a few weeks ago. Schilderij van de kruising Patersweg en Akerstraat, vroeg in de morgen, gezien zonder mijn bril. Dit soort onscherpe afbeeldingen heet Bokeh.
Best wishes for the new year!

Amstenrade

Church of Amstenrade, just around the corner from my house. I tried to make a few sketches while it was snowing, but that did not work, the ink got all smudgy. And I got cold. This was the only acceptable one, which I coloured later at home. Kerk van Amstenrade, geschetst in de vallende sneeuw. Dit was de enige acceptabele schets, de rest was viezig.

Snow

Record breaking snow here in South Limburg, over 40cm, which is once every 100 years.
The view from my bedroom window this morning, looking over the gardens.
Rekordhoogte sneeuw vanmorgen, meer dan 40 cm. Gezien vanuit mijn slaapkamer raam.

Tibbets

Hiroshima by refarch
Sometimes I make music, I made this a few years ago. I composed the piece and played all the instruments myself, using a keyboard, electronic synthesizers (VSTI), drum sequencers, looped samples and sofware programs like Music Maker and Acid. For the background voice I used vocoder software (turns written text into voice; I can't sing). The narrative is a real sample of the voice of the pilot Paul Tibbets, who flew Enola Gay.
Soms maak ik muziek, dit stuk heb ik helemaal zelf gecomponeerd en ingespeeld, m.b.v. keyboard, mijn laptop en synthesizer software.

Valkenburg

Early morning, driving to my work. I stopped briefly in Valkenburg to make this sketch. I added the colour at home; it was way too cold.
Op weg naar kantoor, even gestopt in Valkenburg voor deze schets. Aquarel thuis toegevoegd, het was toch wel erg koud buiten.

Art class

This morning, live model painting. Vanmorgen, kunstklasje onder de bezielende leiding van Annemiek Jongen. Dit is Natasha. Acryl 110x70cm (!).

Winter

Winterscene in Moelingen (Belgium), I saw this on my way to work, and stopped for a quick sketch.
Winter in Moelingen (BE). Op mijn weg naar werk, even gestopt voor een kleine vlugge schets.

Mart

My son, Mart, stood as model for the art class of last Saturday. I never drew family before, too scared  I guess, and I can tell you I felt uneasy throughout the process. Fortunately it worked out well; this 70x110cm painting really looks like him. What's more, the painting is also a vivid representation of my brother Roger in his younger years.... which tells a few things.
Mijn zoon Mart was model in het kustklasje van afgelopen zaterdag. Ik voelde me erg ongemakkelijk tijdens het schilderen, maar gelukkig kon ik trots zijn op het resultaat. Niet alleen leek het op Mart; het leek zelfs nog meer op mijn broer Roger in zijn jongere jaren. Erg bijzonder.

Meneer Kusters

Waiting room in the hospital, this man was before me, the nurse called him meneer Kusters when it was his turn at the doctor. Drawn on location.
Wachtkamer in het ziekenhuis, deze man werd voor mij naar binnen geroepen. Ter plekke getekend.

Lineart Gent

With 2 artclass collegues we visited the Modern art expo in Gent, last Friday. We walked around for 6 hours (!) and saw many inspiring paintings and objects of art, incredible.
I particularly liked the painting style of Georges Schelstraete. This is my own futile attempt to see how he gets the light into his paintings.
Bezocht: de Lineart kunstbeurs in Gent, afgelopen vrijdag. Een enorme hoeveelheid kunstvoorwerpen en schilderijen. Je doet er wel veel ideeen op. Hier een (vergeefse) poging in de stijl van Georges Schelstraete. Hoe hij dat licht pakt; moeilijk, moeilijk.

Sinterklaas

Surprise gifts for the Sinterklaas celebration (St. Nicholas). I handpainted these mugs with caricatures of my children and their friends. Did not dare to draw Brenda,  the girlfriend of my son Mart, but she is a big fan of Rihanna, so I painted that (bottom right). As tradition requires, I wrote funny poems to accompany these gifts. 
Sinterklaas surprises voor mijn kinderen+aanhang. Rechtsonder een karikatuur van de zangeres Rihanna (voor Brenda).

Santa Claus

Rotterdam last week; this is a large statue called "Santa Claus" by the american sculptor Paul McCarthy. The statue caused a lot of controversy and had to be relocated a few times because of protests. Maybe you will understand if you know that locals called it  "Kabouter Buttplug". Controversieel beeld in Rotterdam van de kunstenaar McCarthy, in de volksmond ook wel bekend als "Kabouter Buttplug". Mooi contrast met de oudhollandse oliebollenbakker erachter. Traditie versus de moderne tijd.