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.

Botanic garden

Just a block away from my hotel there was the beautiful and famous Botanic garden of Singapore. I went inside to sketch, an hour early before work. I used the paper that Paul and Tia treated the evening before, to force me to use pre-splashed paper. The blue colour you see in the drawing was randomly applied the night before, without even knowing what I would draw. I was surprised to see how it somehow fitted perfectly into the painting!
Just after I finished the above sketch a woman came down and sat herself on the stone on the left, to meditate and stare into the water.

USK singapore: Tia and Paul

 Last thursday I met two of my favourite Urban Sketchers from Singapore: Tia Boon Sim and Paul Wang. We had dinner in the University Club restaurant, we showed our drawings, and exchanged experiences. It was great to see the beautiful drawings of Tia and Paul in reality; like so often, they are so much better in real life than on the screen.

They also showed me some tricks, like using the calligraphy fountainpen Hero 501-1 (which I managed to buy the next day) and splashing random colour splashes on paper as preparation for an Urban sketch.

I learned a lot, and will try to use it in my own work. Afgelopen donderdagavond had ik een ontmoeting met twee Singapore Urban sketchers: Tia en Paul Wang. Het was geweldig mede USK-ers te ontmoeten en ervaringen uit te wisselen.

Dragons and lions

I returned home from Singapore this morning, brrrr.... from 30 degrees to minus 17, on frozen trainstations, waiting for trains that don't arrive. Winter in Holland. Only sketches left of my trip.
Last Tuesday we were having our lunch in a courtyard of a large office and shopping complex, when quite unexpectedly a group of 20 performers arrived to show us a traditional dragon dance. Drums, music, acrobatics, a showfight of lions and dragons. Most impressive was that the lion (with 2 men under it) jumped and tumbled over a set of columns, each at least 2,5 meter high. It was so well done that the dragons and lions really looked alive.

Exploded fish

Dinner yesterday evening, here in Singapore. At first I thought I had a barbequed bird on my plate, but it was really a fish. Thai deep fried three flavor fish. It tasted the way it looks. Diner in Singapore, in een foodcourt. Je weet niet altijd wat je besteld, dit keer deze ontplofte vis. Hij smaakte zoals hij uitziet: op z'n nederlands gezegd: Thai-taai.

Contrasting colours

Art class today: we had to paint our live model with contrasting colours (those on the opposite sides of the colour wheel, like blue-orange or yellow-purple). In my case cadmium red and phtalo green.
Using these colours results in enhancing each other, red becomes even more red when placed next to green.
Secondly: when mixing opposite colours you get the most beautiful greys and blacks.

Here I show three stages of the painting: the charcoal drawing, the high contrast basic painting, and finally the adding of red-green greys. I was suprised by the result: here it looks like the model got a heavy sunburn, but in reality the painting looks more harmonic than on these pictures.

Glassworks

My stained glass window in progress: I cut out all the pieces. Now I have to mount them into the lead profiles.
Size 600x600mm
Glas in lood raam naar eigen ontwerp: status update. Het glas heb ik nu eindelijk op maat gemaakt, nu nog in het lood zetten.

Chinatown

Last of the sketches of my trip to Singapore a week ago. Above the buddhist temple in the middle of Chinatown (Buddha's tooth is supposed to lie there), I was nearly run over while sitting at the roadcurb drawing this. The other sketch I made while waiting for our orders, on Smith Street in Chinatown. I'll have to go to Singapore again on short term, so more sketches to be expected. Suggestions for subjects?
De laatste paar schetsen uit Singapore van mijn zakentrip, een week geleden.

Hiromi Kawakami

In the plane I read a Japanese novel by Hiromi Kawakami: "de tas van de leraar". A lovestory of a woman and her (retired) high school teacher. I am not into romantic novels, but I love the way Japanese novels are written: so full of quiet observations of life and nature. Fantastic. Drew/painted this in the plane, some of the lines are quite wobbly. Gelezen: een Japans boek van Hiromi Kawakami: "de tas van de leraar". Fantastisch boek.

Foodcourt

Singapore has foodcourts in most shopping malls, mostly located on the subterranean bottom levels. All around you will find stalls serving all kinds of mostly asian and indian food. Each stall has it's speciality: Korean, Thai, Indian, hot pot, soup, Malaysian etc. And a limited number of dishes; all prepared in full view, within a few minutes while you waiting at the counter. I had delicious pad thai in this foodcourt in the Marina Sands building.

Japanese food

Dinner in Singapore in a Japanese buffet restaurant. Delicious.

Gallardo

Singapore is a strange city: in Chinatown you can find (relative) poverty, and only 3 metrostops away you find yourself on a parking lot in front of a shopping mall featuring 8 Lamborghini's. Yes. Eight!
Among minor stuff like BMW 7 series, Mercedes S-class and Maserati quattraporte.
I drew this white Gallardo while my collegues were patiently waiting for me; I had no choice but to paint it at home. Getekend: één van de acht (!) Lamborghini Gallardo's op een parkeerplaats ergens in Singapore.

Orchard road

Due to the jetlag I woke up too early (there is 7 hours time difference with Singapore). So I made an early morning walk, and painted this old house, just across the street from my hotel.
Vroege morgen wandeling door Singapore; een tekening van een licht verwaarloosd huis midden in dichte begroeiing, gelegen aan de overzijde van het hotel.

Singapore Dragon

This morning I returned - after a 14 hour flight - from Singapore. Although on business, in the evenings me and my colleagues took the opportunity to catch the spirit of the town. Singapore was preparing for the Chinese new year (22 or 23 January). They put up this huge dragon on the roadcrossing at the entrance of Chinatown. All brightly lit in the evening (I may post that picture later). And all of Chinatown was filled with stalls selling golden and red paper lanterns and wishing cards. All these colours and lights. Bezoek aan Chinatown, deze draak stond bij de entree van Chinatown, voor de viering van het Chinese nieuwe jaar.

Singapore

A quick impression of Singapore, where I am at this moment.

Breuker aovend

I made this image of the "Breuker Leedjeskonkoer" for the local Carnaval newspaper. It shows a music group "Julie en de de Muppe" who sing funny dialect songs. Not so much resemblance here, the drawing was only loosely based on some blurry photographs, this image was more meant to catch the spirit of the evening.
Breuker Leedjeskonkoer, een tekening voor de carnavalskrant "der Uul". Getekend de groep "Julie en de Muppe", zonder veel op gelijkenis te letten, de tekening was meer bedoeld om de sfeer te schetsen.

Maastricht winterland

Last week we went shopping in Maastricht. It was very crowded in town, especially on the Vrijthof (the central square). The icerink was full of skaters.
Dagje shoppen in Maastricht, het was verschrikkelijk druk.