Noah's Ark

 

Another project, another style. 

This is the design for a new stained glass window, the Ark of Noah. 

I visited an exhibition on ancient Russian icons in the Hermitage-Amsterdam last year and was fascinated by the towered medieval cities these artists painted in the background. I made sketches, but I didn't post them; just put the images in that dusty area in the back of my head. They popped up when I was thinking about a new window, in which I wanted to incorporate glass-emaille and grisaille painting. That was a month ago. In the meantime I already cut the glass pieces, assembled as shown below. The pane will be about 60x70cm. 

Above linedrawing was painted with a black Pentel paintbrush on a sheet of A4, then scanned and coloured in GIMP (open source Photoshop).

Mijn nieuwe ontwerp voor een glas in loodraam: de ark van Noah. Geinspireerd door russische iconen. De figuren moeten worden gebrandschilderd in twee verschillende technieken: glasemaille en grissaille techniek. Inmiddels heb ik de stukken glas al gesneden en gerangschikt. Afmeting ongeveer 60x70cm.

Merkelbeek

Last wednesday I ran my weekly short round, 8km circling Oirsbeek, Merkelbeek and Amstenrade. The sun set beautifully over the hills. I went there again this evening to sketch and paint the scene, unfortunately less sun, but still a nice view.

Gate in Amstenrade

I felt like sketching this evening. Stayed close to home this time.
A gate in one of the outbuildings of the Castle of Amstenrade, just opposite the church.
Poort in een van de bijgebouwen van kasteel Amstenrade, tegenover het laantje naar de kerk.

Skeleton

I started with this drawing during lunchtime on Friday, without any idea where it would lead to. I set off with an idea about a whale flying over an oiltanker and ended up with a Mosasaurus in deep sea. A mind can make strange detours.
Noodlers Bullet black ink in a 21x30 WC-moleskine book.

Landscape in the sun

At last, after months of painstaking work, I finished my first real stained glass window.
I did it all by myself: the image, the design, choosing colours and textures, cutting the glass, mounting the lead frames, soldering, finishing, and adding glasspaint.
Size about 60x60cm.

Here it is, in all it's glory. It's even better when the sun hits the pane, but its practically impossible to make a decent photograph of it; the world behind the pane always shines through.

Floriade

Last friday I visited the Floriade in Venlo with a group of fellow architects of the BNA.
The floriade is a park exhibition organised once every 10 years in the Netherlands.
We visited the Innovatoren by architect Jo Coenen and Villa Flora with its impressive energy saving installations.
But most impressing was the painting I saw on the 12th and highest floor of the tower. It was a 3D painting by Patrick Hughes, and I have never seen such a mindboggling painting in my life. I can describe here how it works, but not what it does to your mind when you see it in reality. I can only say it's made in reversed perspective, if you have the chance go and see for yourself (the exhibition is not open to normal public by the way).
I made the above sketch in 5 minutes from that 12th floor, looking over the park.

On request: a video of a similar painting by Patrick Hughes: note that the filmer moves in the other direction than what you would expect. And it's oilpiant on wood!
http://vimeo.com/26867701
Also an explanation by the artist:
http://vimeo.com/40144443 

Eindhoven rain

I had to spend a day in our Tebodin office in Eindhoven.
We could not get outside during luchtime.
So I decided to draw the view from the 3rd floor of the office, the backside of some houses across the street.

All it ever does is rain.

Ma 80

Last saturday my mother turned 80. A genuine milestone.
We organised a family gathering with dinner and bowling in the castle of Limbricht.
Which brought an occasion for a nice photograph of my mother, my brother, our partners and our children.
I thank all present (also those friends not showing in this picture) for giving my mother such a unforgettable day.
80e verjaardag van mijn moeder, een familiefeest in kasteel Limbricht.
Een kans voor een mooie familiefoto.
Ik bedank allen, ook alle vrienden die niet op deze foto staan, voor deze onvergetelijke dag.

Last art class

The final art class was last saturday. I can hardly wait untill the holidays are over for a new series of model/portrait painting.
Even though I still have an unfinished painting on my easel, this is the last painting of  this year's class. Acryl, size about 50x60cm, live model, it took me 2 hours to paint.
I tried to keep the structure of the brush strokes visible, and the colourpalette limited (ultramarine and burnt sienna).

Exposition Kerkrade

 

Our artclass, together with other amateur artists from the VAZOM artschool, were invited to a group exhibition in the old cityhall of Kerkrade.

The exhibition has as theme "mirrors", and was opened this very evening. There were speeches and Arvo Pärt music, wine and nice conversation.
Paintings look totally different in this setting compared to the easel at home. It was nice to see all these fine results displayed together in the exposition room. Here you see me proudly standing in front of my selfportrait "me, myself and I".

The exposition runs until July 6th.

Pinkpop 2012

Yesterday we went to Pinkpop, which is one of the largest popfestivals in Europe, just a few kilometers from my house. The event takes three days, and featured bands like Linkin Park, the Cure and Bruce Springsteen (among others).

We only went on Monday (together with 61.000 other visitors) for Herbert Grönemeyer, the Specials and the Boss. We had the best weather imaginable, sunny all day, even hot at times. It stayed warm until we went home at 11 at night (I have had my share of rainy Pinkpop a few years ago).

Above sketch shows the performance of Serena Pryne (I had never heard of before).
I find it very hard to draw at festivals or stadium concerts, you are always too far from the performer, and if you are close enough, it's too crowded to draw (believe me, I tried). Besides, you never seem to get the dynamic of the performance. 

I made this drawing at home, by memory, it was an easy scene to memorize. A nice exercise by the way, I checked with photographs and I think I caught it well.

This panoramic view was drawn and painted while relaxing during the performance of Mumford and sons. We sat on an elevated terrace, overlooking the public in front of the main stage. I little later I dozed off in the warm late afternoon. Beer to blame.

Also two pictures I took during the show of Bruce Springsteen and the performance of Herbert Grönemeyer. Both were unbelievable fantastic.
And so were the acts of Seasick Steve (with his self built guitars), the Specials (music from my youth) and James Morrisson ( a bit soft for a festival like this, but very well perfomed).

Three for Ackland

Three for Ackland.
The Urban Sketchers organisation asked us to contribute to an exposition, in order to raise money for the USK.
The exposition will be held in the Ackland museum, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
I decided to contribute, and made these three drawings for the occasion. I made them on three different continents, three different places, three different cultures, all of which I visited within one week.
First USA, Baton Rouge for business, then back home, Amstenrade in the Netherlands, and after that a citytrip to Istanbul with my wife.
I attached a real token of each place to the drawings: a Hagia Sofia entrance ticket, a part of the package of flowerseeds that I bought at the gardencentre which forms part of the castle, and the label of a bottle of Louisiana chilli sauce.

Kasteel

The castle of Amstenrade, a few hundred meters from my house. I made this drawing before I returned home after work. While I was drawing this scene a member of the family (yes, the castle is still inhabited by a count) came around to warn me that I had to be careful because I was standing in the middle of driveway. I did. Well, I assume in reality she was just curious what I was doing....... ;)
Schets van ons kasteel; dat van Amstenrade dus. Terwijl ik de tekening in inkt zette, kwam een lid van de familie van de graaf kijken wat ik daar stond te doen. Op dat moment stond ik in het midden van de inrit, en dat is nou niet de meest veilige plek. Je moet soms wat risico nemen voor een mooie prent.

Garden

I haven't drawn a decent sketch in weeks, too much occupied with work and garden. As Spiderman would say: with a big garden comes big responsibilities. We have something like 800m2 of garden, that's a lot for Dutch standards. And a lot of work too.
After I finished pulling weeds today, I made this drawing of our walnut tree, which stands in the middle of the backlawn in between the 2 gardensheds.
Al een tijdje geen tekeningen meergemaakt, te druk met werk en tuin. De hele hemelvaartvakantie onkruid geruimd, genoeg te doen. Dit is een schets van de walnotenboom in onze achtertuin.

Blue Mosque

 

Sketch of the Blue Mosque, (Sultan Ahmet Camii), as seen from our hotel room, nr. 308 of the Citadel Hotel in Istanbul. This is the last of the sketches that I made in our short trip; and I made this one specially for the Auckland Urban Sketchers exhibition. I had to bend awkwardly over the television set to draw this view, that's why the lines are a bit wobbly and not very straight.

It was the smallest hotel room I even slept in, but who cares, you're mostly outside on the Istanbul streets anyway. 

I case you haven't noticed: I am very occupied with work, home and garden at the moment; hardly any time to sketch or even keep up my blogs.

Topkapi in Istanbul

The top sketch is of the Topkapi palace; the famous palace of the Sultan and his thousand wife's. It's a labyrinth of buildings and courtyards, I made this sketch in one of the less crowded ones. I had problems with the paint, I was standing in the burning sun (pretty hot for Spring), and the paint dried quickly.
Below the view from the 1st floor gallery of the Hagia Sophia, one of the most impressive buildings I know. You feel the weight of the centuries on your shoulders when walking through this (original Roman empire) building.
Boven een schets van het Topkapi paleis, onder een schets van de preekstoel (of hoe heet zoiets in de Islam) vanaf de omloop in de Hagia Sofia.

Grand Bazaar

Another day, another terrace within the Bazaar, another cup of coffee. The man on the table next to us ( I think they were a Russian couple) noticed me drawing him; when they left he bent over to me and said: "You were drawing us right? My grandfather did the same, he was always drawing everybody". He briskly turned and walked away. I would have loved to see his grandfathers drawings.

Istanbul

Two days after my return from Louisiana and the sketchcrawl, my wife and I left for Istanbul for our wedding anniversary. That was already two weeks ago. We had the early morning flight from Düsseldorf, and arrived in Turkey around noon. So we had all day to explore the city.
I made these sketches that Monday; one is the view from the Galata bridge (crossing the Golden Horn) with all these fishermen and the view to the famous Yeni Mosque.
The second was while we were sitting for a nice cup of coffee in the famous Grand Bazaar, watching a bored salesman waiting for clients.
Een korte stedentrip naar Istanbul. We hadden de vroege morgenvlucht en hadden nog alle tijd om de stad te verkennen. Deze schetsen zijn die eerste dag gemaakt: de Galata brug en een wachtende verkoper in de Grote Bazaar.

More sketchcrawl

Two more of the paintings that I drew during the sketchcrawl, made in the library, looking through the large windows to the rain outside.
More sketches of the other contributors on sketchcrawllimburg.blogspot

Sketchcrawl

Nico Jamin and I organised a sketchcrawl event in Heerlen, already almost 2 weeks ago (time flies).
At first it was raining, we even had hail, so we stayed inside the Glaspaleis. Later the weather became better, and I made this painting of the yearly Spring market in the centre of Heerlen while kneeling on the ground. My daughter told me afterwards that I attracted a large crowd behind me. But I can tell you I didn't notice it at all, far too concentrated on drawing&painting. Watercoour on Schut 300 gram paper 24x30cm.
Sketchcrawl in Heerlen, de jaarmarkt.
More results from the sketchcrawl on http://sketchcrawllimburg.blogspot.com/