Sunny day - perfect for sketching

Today was a lovely sunny day, a great day to go to Utrecht and do some sketching. First I visited the Old Hortus in Utrecht, since a few months they have the Victoria Amazonia in their collection.

From the Wikipedia:

Victoria is a genus of water-lilies, in the plant family Nymphaeaceae, with very large green leaves that lie flat on the water's surface. Victoria amazonica has a leaf that is up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) in diameter, on a stalk up to 8 metres (26 ft) in length. The genus name was given in honour of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Victoria amazonica is native to the shallow waters of the Amazon River basin, such as oxbow lakes and bayous. It is depicted in the Guyanese coat of arms. The flowers are white the first night they are open and become pink the second night. They are up to 40 cm in diameter, and are pollinated by scarab beetles.

And on their café's terrace I started with a latte, moving on to ordering lunch. It was so lovely in the sunshine!

Then I headed back to the busstop, but decided to do another sketch on the Korte Minrebroederstraat. This is the square behind the city hall. The square and all the beautiful buildings are nicely renovated with lots and lots of terraces. Oh... and lot's of bikes of course ;-)

Tomorrow I have a meeting in Amsterdam, and then I go on vacation for a week. Greece, here I come!

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

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"

Sketching San Diego

Life has taken it normal pace again. I have been busy with visiting family and friends, drinking coffee, going out for lunch and looking for a new assignment in the meantime. I am not in a hurry to start work again, I really enjoy my time off.

I have been going thru all the pictures I took while I was in San Diego, and found a few more to sketch. In my Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.

Mission San Luis Rey (Oceanside) on the left and the rocky shores of La Jolla on the right.

Two beautiful Asian sculptures (seen in the San Diego Museum of Art)

Balboa Park near the lily pond

And with added watercolors 

I will be leaving for another week holiday soon, I am going to Greece this time, with my sister. Hopefully we can catch the last sun of this summer :-).

Last week in San Diego

My last week in San Diego has started... A few more days to go before I fly home. I have really enjoyed myself, and still am, but I am alzo looking forward to go home. Unfortunately I cannot taken the nice weather with me..

First let me show you some of the seascapes I painted last week.

Friday I went to San Diego old town. The place where the first Europeans settled. It has lovely old buildings,  most of them are small museums you can visit. And lots of shops and restaurants. All Mexican. Nice to walk around, sketch and browse. 

And on Saturday I went on the weekly outing with the San Diego Urban Sketchers. To Encinitas this week. To sketch at the annual Woodie Fest. A fest with all classic cars, woodies, cars with wood. Built to transport surfboards. It was really fun,  but extremely hot and humid this Saturday. 

Sunday it was so hot, it was beter inside than outside. I did go to the Seaport Village in San Diego to look around. It is next to the water and has beautiful views. 

And today is already Monday, my last few days in San Diego. There is a storm coming our way so I drove to Balboa Park to sketch this morning. And it stayed dry all afternoon, actually it still is... I walked around, sketched the tower of the museum of man from the Alcazar garden and visited the museum. Great museum, a bit small but with lovely exhibitions of Maya's, mummies and interesting stuff on genes, dna ,  etc.

After a nice lunch I went back to La Jolla, taking the scenic drive. 

Still enjoying San Diego

Another few days have past and I am still busy. This area has lots to offer and so many places to visit.

On Monday I drove to Point Loma to the Cabrillo national monument. In the park there is a nice visitor center with information on the landscape and on Cabrillo, who came to America long time ago as an explorer. They also show regular video's, I watch one about the tidalpools at cabrillo. The best time to view the tidalpools is actually the winter and/or a low tides,  so nothing to see today..
So instead I walked up to the lighthouse and the monument and drove to a few viewpoints with impressive rocks.

 And then it rained in California. I have been to California many times but never had any rain. No problem,  also on my list is the Maya exposition in the Natural History museum. A beautiful and interesting exposition and museum and many hours later I leave the museum and the rain has stopped. 

The sun is shining again on Wednesday.  Time for a visit to the first mission built in California, Mission San Diego de Alcala. Lovely location, built against a hillside and with a lovely courtyard garden.

And today I drove up north on the Pacific Highway 101. To Carlsbad actually to visit the outlets. Shop until you drop! And yes, I am tired when done. Time to go back and watch another amazing sunset. Oh, and I have been painting a few seascapes today, but it is now too dark to make nice pictures. I will show them in the next blogpost. 

Feeling hot hot hot

It has been really hot the last few days. The best way to stay cool is actually to go shopping and stay in airconditioned stores or go to the beach. Lol.

Yesterday, live returned back to normal after the labor day weekend. I went to Balboa Park in San Diego,  after a short stop at the local Dick Blick store. The park has beautiful buildings, most of the buildings are either from the 1915-1916 Panama California Exposition or from the 1935-1936 Pacific International Exposition.

I visited the visitor center for a map and a cup of coffee. First stop was the Timken Museum of Art, one of Vermeer's paintings  (the woman in blue reading a letter ) is visiting from Amsterdam.

Next on my list was the botanical building and the waterlilies pond.

I walked thru a part of the park to the Spanish Village Arts center but did not visit any of the artists  .. it was so hot... I will come back another time.

I visited the San Diego museum of art instead with a great exposition on Coney Is land. Nice and cool inside! 

And on my way to the carpark I started this sketch of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. 

Hello from San Diego

I have arrived in San Diego and have already been busy. I flew in on Friday, making one stop in Salt Lake City and arrived in the late afternoon. After picking up my rental car I found my way to the cottage easily. I unpacked my bag, had a small bite to eat and went for a walk. The beach is just at the end of the road and there was a beautiful sunset.

And then  I went to sleep. The time difference with Europe is 9 hours, so I was feeling pretty exhausted.

On Saturday morning I went to a meeting with the San Diego Urban Sketchers. We met at Presidio park, one the early European settlement. We sketched for 2 hours and then showed our work. I had a great time, it is a nice and welcoming group. 

It is already Sunday. I went to the farmers market this morning and bought lovely ripe peaches, tomatoes and some vegetables. Oh yeah... And a mini pecan pie ;-).

At Aaronbrothers I bought painting papers and a few brushes. I love the labor day sales! And after a visit to the beach  (it is hot here), it is time for siësta.  

Painting holiday in the Netherlands

Last week I went on a 5 day painting holiday in the Netherlands. In the National Park 'De Wieden'. A beautiful part of the Netherlands with lots of water and beautiful landscapes. I focused on working with watercolors, but also did some sketching. As you see, I made several paintings of the same view :-).