Sketching the Louwman museum

Yesterday I went with a group of Urban Sketchers to the Louwman museum in The Hague. It is too cold to sketch outside and we looked for an indoor location. The Louwman museum is great! They have a beautiful collection of classic cars and the staff is really nice and welcoming. We stayed all afternoon, sketching, drinking coffee and talk.

I made a lot of sketches, I love that place!!

I started with a continious line drawing. Just a few minutes. I love how loose the drawing is.

The original model of this car had a larger hood, but it didn't fit my paper ;-)

A Gregoire 12/14 HP Coupé de Voyage, I loved the turquoise color!

A quick sketch of the Cord L-29 Carbriolet

A double decker omnibus. I love all the adds on the front, sides and back. With stairs to climb and find a seat on the roof.

And... of course a Bugatti. Lovely little car.

Watercolor month

Did you know July is Watercolor month? You are invited to work with watercolors and you can post you work in the Facebook group.

I am not participating every day but I do try to be creative every day. Either by painting, sketching or making a new journal. Everything counts for me ;-)

Sketchcrawl Gouda 9 July 2016

Sketchcrawl Gouda 9 July 2016

Vases - in b/w and watercolor

A new journal 

Testing the paper with a quick sketch - reference image from PMP

Kids playing - reference image from PMP

Hotel des Indes - Urban sketchers Den Haag 3 July 2016

Korte Voorhout - Urban sketchers Den Haag 3 July 2016

One week in Greece

Yesterday I came home after a lovely week in Greece. My sister and I rented a villa in Gialova, at the westcoast of the Peloponnesos.

This is the week in sketches.

A blue door with a lovely iron balcony. I got a bit lost in the design...

View from next to the villa on the village of Gialova and the Navarino bay in the distance. Sitting on our terrace we would enjoy and stare at this view for hours ;-)

Villa Thea at Eleonas Holiday Houses in Gialova, the villa came with a private pool

Sitting on the Golden Beach 

Looking at the remains of an old castle at Golden Beach

Sketching at Pylos Castle

The view from our terrace early in the morning. The island in Navarino Bay with great reflections in the water. And a bit to the right, the view of Golden Beach and the Gialova lagoon. Lots of birdlife to be seen in the early months of the year.

Sketchcrawl in Den Haag and more

Yesterday I joined the Urban Sketchers in The Hague / Den Haag for a lovely afternoon of sketching. The weather was a bit unpredictable, luckily just a few little drops when we started, and later on cloudy, but dry. We started in the area of the Mauritshuis, home of the famous Vermeer paintings (girl with the pearl earring and View on Delft) and some Rembrandts etc. The Mauritshuis is housed in a beautiful building btw.

Just around the corner of the Mauritshuis is the Binnenhof, the place were the Dutch government is housed.

• From Wikipedia: The Binnenhof (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɪnə(n)ɦɔf]; English: Inner Court) is a complex of buildings in the city centre of The Hague, next to the Hofvijver lake. It houses the meeting place of both houses of the States General of the Netherlands, as well as the Ministry of General Affairs and the office of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Built primarily in the 13th century, the Gothic castle originally functioned as residence of the counts of Holland and became the political centre of the Dutch Republic in 1584. It is counted among the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites. The Binnenhof is the oldest House of Parliament in the world still in use.

My first sketch is made there, looking at the Ridderzaal from the side, the main entrance is behind the tower.

The Binnenhof

(in ink (watersoluble with my new Lamy fountain pen) and a bit of watercolor)

After one hour I moved to the other side of the Binnenhof, to the Hofvijver. You have a great view of all the buildings over a little lake. I sat there for another 2 hours, enjoying, looking at the buildings, sketching and enjoying the people that strolled along the Hofvijver. Did not have enough time to use my watercolors, maybe I will add them later.

Hofvijver view

(PITT pens)

After the 3 hours the whole group went for a drink on one of the terraces of the Plein and showed our sketchbooks. Lovely sketches and great group!

And today, Sunday, I made 2 sketches in my Moleskine watercolor journal for the Weekend Drawing Event on WetCanvas. One river otter and one quick sketch of a botanical garden.

The weekend is almost over and I have a busy week ahead. And then.... on Saturday.... I will go on holiday for one week, to Greece. I hope to do some painting/sketching there... tbc :-)

Tulips, a lobster and some sketches

Last months WetCanvas Floral challenge was all about tulips. I picked one of the reference photos and painted it twice. Once with watercolors only and the other one with pen and watercolors. Both in my Moleskine watercolor journal.

And I participated in a few WDE's (Weekend Drawing Event) on WetCanvas.

WDE 20 May 2016 - An old door in Greece, with brown  PITT pen, a brown Tombow pen and water

WDE 20 May 2016 - I was fascinated by the clearness of the water on the reference image. And I am really happy with my attempt. In watercolors only.

WDE 29 May 2016 - A juicy yummie looking lobster with pen and watercolors.

WDE 2 June 2016 - Two sketches in a square Handbook journal. The left one with my new Lamy pen and the right one with a Pilot Sign Pens. Both new pens, and both with ink that is not waterproof. But I do like the effect with the watercolors.

Sketching in Utrecht

Utrecht is one of my favorite places on the world. First of all, I was born in Utrecht ;-). And I still live in a village very close to Utrecht. So yesterday I took the bus into town and walked to the Dom Square (Domplein). The Dom tower, the Dom church and the Pandhof are all on the Square. The Pandhof is the garden of the old church and I love this place. It is beautiful and peaceful in the middle of a busy city center.
I was sketching in a new watercolor journal, the Travelogue from Hand Book. Love the paper and the format (I used the square). Both sides of the book stay flat, really enjoyed working in it.

Black and white sketch in pen (on site)

Colored sketch with watercolors (added at home)

Hello again

WOW, it has been a long time since I blogged anything. October 2015 was the last one, after my vacation on Samos in Greece... In the meantime lots has happened, my mother passed away in December and my sister and I were extremely busy with not only getting thru all the paperwork but also with clearing my mothers' house. Very stressful and emotional... My sister and I went almost 2 weeks to Curacao in February to recover and actually take some time to let everything sink in.

And now it is already May, I have been painting and sketching in between. I will show you the sketches of Curacao later.

This weekend I participated in the WetCanvas Weekend Drawing event. I choose the image of some beautiful red pomegranates. I decided to paint them with watercolors in layers. Pfff very painful process that needs a lot (too much?) patience. In the meantime I did a 5 minute watercolor sketch that came out really nice and another one in gouache. I love the spontanity in these 2 quicker paintings.

 Pomegranates in watercolor - 5 hrs. On 300gr Fabriano Artistico. 10" x 7"

Pomegranates in watercolor - 5 minutes. In Moleskine watercolor journal. 11" x 8"

Pomegranates in gouache - 45 minutes. In Moleskine watercolor journal. 11" x 8"