Sketching in the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam

Yesterday I went to the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam, with the Rotterdam Urban Sketchers. We visited the PowerMask exhibition, I visited for the second time. Too much too see!

Here are my sketches from yesterday, all done with a black fineliner.

 

 

And this is the sketch I did last time, with watersoluble oil pastel (on a pre-colored watercolor background).

Sketchcrawl at Crazy Saturday in Gouda

This Saturday it was Crazy Saturday in Gouda. The town hosted a festival from the Middle Ages, complete with a market, lots of music and people dressed as from the Middle Ages. Lords and ladies in beautiful costumes and all kinds of working class and crazy people.

The festival included the Sketchcrawl, so you could see sketchers all over town! I had a great time!

I started with the beautiful town hall on the market square, this is only a small part of it.

Then we listened to some music, they danced around a lot, could not capture them well..

And later in the afternoon I sketched the gate to the Museum of Gouda.

Holiday sketches from Greece - part 2

As promised here are more sketches from my vacation last week in Greece.

Holiday Essentials - sparkling water with lemon, a good book, sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses. Oooohh... and a sketchbook of course...:-)!

We went to Olympia one day, a step back in history. Just a 2 hours drive away.

A quick watercolor sketch of the view from our balcony over Navarino Bay.

My sister (and I) drinking a frappé (cold coffee) on a terrace in Gialova

This was our home for the holiday. A beautiful villa. Eleonas Holiday Houses in Gialova. 

Holiday sketches from Greece - 1

Last week I was on holiday in Greece, in the Peloponnessos. Besides sight seeing, soaking up the sun, drinking frappés I also did some sketching.

This was the villa we were staying. Villa Aylaki at Eleonas Holiday Houses.

And this is the amazing view from the villa, over Navarino bay. With Pylos on the left, and Sfaktiria (the bigger island) in the middle. To the right is the view on the Golden Beach and the lagoon (not in the sketch). We can sit here for hours and watch the boats come in, watch the light change.....

The rocks at the end of the Golden Beach, I love the color of the water!

And a lazy sketch on the beach. My feet, slippers and watershoes :-).

I will post more sketches tomorrow.

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!

National Sketchcrawl Urban Sketchers NL

Yesterday was the 3rd National Sketchcrawl of the Urban Sketchers Netherlands in 2017. We already sketched in Haarlem (March), Utrecht (May) and yesterday we were in 's-Hertogenbosch. A beautiful city with great places to sketch.

I sketched the Sint Jans cathedral twice, once from the Parade and once from the other side. And then sketched a statue outside the Noord-Brabants museum. It was a great day, luckily with good weather, nice people and lots of sketching!

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.