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.

Painting ACEO's and sketching

Happy New Year to all of you!

Even though my new art room is not finished yet.... getting there.... I dug out my paints from the boxes and started. I missed it so much, not good for my health. And probably also not good for the people around me :-).

I started last week with painting some ACEO's and ATC's (some reference photos are from PaintMyPhoto).

And this weekend I participated in the WDE (Weekend Drawing Event) on WetCanvas. I first did a sketch of a pelican in my Toned Gray Strathmore journal.

And then moved on to a watercolor portrait of a lovely Mexican guy. I hoped to keep the colors fresh and tackle the shadows... but I made mud again... I would love to paint more watercolor portraits this year... keep on practising.

And as bonus I painted street musicians in Prague. I took the photo in 2011 but never got around painting it. But here it is, in my Moleskine watercolor journal.

Irisses - lovely flowers in watercolor

This months (July) challenge in the Florals and Botanical group in WetCanvas was all about the iris. I have used one reference photo for all 3 paintings. My initial plan was do paint an iris in Jean Haines' style, big, bold and loose. Well, that did not happen. But I did manage to create a pen and wash sketch in my Moleskine watercolor and 2 other completely different watercolor paintings.

Sketching and more sketching

I am trying to do some more sketching, sometimes in my regular sketchbook and some in a watercolor journal. I want to practice as I am going to the US later this summer for a few weeks. And I want to do a lot of sketching! I even bought a completely new Moleskine watercolor journal for the trip and I want to fill every page :-).

Sketches in my sketchbook for the WDE (Weekend Drawing Event) on WetCanvas.

Sketches from images in a travel brochure, we are travelling from Eqypt, to Africa, to Guatemala and a tropical island, in one page.

And the same page with some watercolors. What a difference that makes.

And a crab from an image on WetCanvas, pen with watercolors.

Painting with watercolors in my Moleskine watercolor journal

Yesterday was a very hot day in the Netherlands. I went swimming in the morning with my sister (we do this every Friday) and I needed to go to Utrecht in the afternoon for an appointment. I took my sketchbook with me and sketched in the 'kloosterhof', near the Dom.

Today is a completely different day, it is raining, so I decided to stay in and paint all day... I am working on 3 paintings at the same time. A painting for the Wetcanvas Weekend Drawing Event and 2 paintings of irises for the Botanical and Floral challenge this month (also on Wetcanvas). The WDE painting is a pen and watercolor sketch of a blueberry bush in my Moleskine watercolor journal ( 8 1/2" x 11 1/2" in size).