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 :-)