The first drawing

As I was searching through my things last week, I did not only found drawings I made for an exhibition which never took place, but also a set of drawings I made as a presentation for the local newspaper. The intention was to make one drawing a week of a place of interest, along with a short story about the history of that place. The editor-in-chief wasn't totally against my proposal, but he found the drawing a bit to much Charles Dickens-like. He thought a line drawing was more appropiate for a newspaper. I also remember a phrase of him: "Bricks, I want to see more bricks! You drawing people always suggest there are bricks, but never draw them! You're just to lazy to draw bricks! I want to see bricks!" So I drew the same object much more in his taste and got the assignment:

When I look back now, I think I should have stayed more to the original style, which is somewhat warmer in a way. And less bricks to be drawn...

Anyway, I've learned a lot back then. And not only about the history of the town, I must say. One specific lesson I've learned, is that you can't expect that the reader of a newspaper (or any other medium) knows what you mean with your drawing, painting or photo. There has to be a context in which it fits.

Study in black and white

It's been a while since I've posted, but this week I saw this drawing of Terry Banderas. He made a study of Eucalypthus trees and besides it's a very good piece, it also inspired me to pick up my pencil.
I made a study in black and white, which was taught me by Michael Warr in his marvelous book Capturing Texture. Best is to draw the same subject three or four times, so I'll keep you people informed what progress I make in this technique/subject. It's for sure a big difference regarding to the drawings I made 15 years ago for an exhibition which never took place. But that's a totally different story.

Holy Chair

With Autumn slowly sneaking in into our weather system, it's time to clean up the garden. Sadly enough that also means our relax chairs are going into their wintersleep in our little shed. These chairs are my favourites, I call them my Holy Chair. It's so nice to sit and relax in them after a hard days work. Enjoying the evening sun and reading a book or listen to some music.
With Autumn knocking on our door it's about time to do some paintwork outside and inside our house. So I guess I won't be posting a while, or on a very low pace, due to other urgent matters during my spare time.

Illustration Friday Strong

During the past summer we've spend a lot of time in our garden. There we can sit on our bench or, which I prefer, our relaxing garden chairs. They're quite strong. We're let them standing outside during the summermonths and although we are using them now for about seven years, the fabric still looks good. The only thing we have to renew every other year are the rubber bands. Strangely enough the bands useally break when we're having visitors. A bit abarrassing, I'm not pointing any finger, but let's just say that the chairs are used to our load...
Ink and watercolor on a summer's day in the garden.

Holy Mother

There are many ways in which Maria as Holy Mother makes her appearances. Some are painted, others are sculpted and some are a combination of both. There are also different types of clothing possible, but I prefer the basic version as you can see on the drawing above. It's a sculpted and handpainted version, glued on a piece of painted wood. Probably made in China.
This one was a birthday gift by close friends of ours, one out of a set of three: Maria, Joseph and the happy couple with the Holy Child. These three pieces also found their way to our toilet's Wall of Fame and Other Religious Artifacts. According to some people it's becoming a real must-see when visiting our house.

Illustration Friday - Caution

As we all know: knives are sharp! Funny enough, when I made this drawing I pointed my pen into my finger while cleaning it...
Ink and watercolor, 10 x 15 cm

Holy Water

It's one of the hottest days this year so far, at least in our part of the world. Therefore it's also quite hot in house and around my sketchingtable. So I don't draw that much these days.
This is the second piece regarding our toilet. This is a very cute sculpture to pour Holy Water in. In these kind of temperatures water is a very much wanted good.
So, from behind a sweaty keyboard I give you all my best blessings and now I'm of to our little inflatable swimming pool!
Ink and (not so holy) watercolor, 10 x 15 cm.

Holy Smoke

My wife has a certain habit: she collects Catholic paterfernalia to lighten up our toilet. For instance several religious candles. I drew one just to let you see in what kind of environment we are doing our "you-know-what" thing.
Apart from the somewhat unique setting our toilet is also a great place to get inspired about what to draw when I am really having an illustrator's block. Over the years I've made several sketches of the objects in our toilet and I've planned to work some of those sketches out.

Neuveville, part two

The sketch with watercolor I posted yesterday looks somehow a bit "weak". After adding lines in ink the whole sketch looks much more powerfull to me. Perhaps because I'm more familiar to this style of drawing: good old ink and watercolor and occasionally a pen drawing. That's the thing for me.

Neuveville, Switzerland

Neuveville is a quite, little town on the shores of Lake Biel in Switzerland. I made this quick watercolor sketch of the city gate, while I spend a day there waiting for some better weather to paraglide in the hills closeby.

It was a sunny day, people were having fun at the shores of the lake: sailing, walking, cycling, roller skating. Just having a good time on their day off at Ascension Day. Too bad I didn't fly on that day!

Col de Peyresourde

One of the most hard to climb mountains on your bicycle is the Peyresourde in the French Pyrenees, some people told me. Somehow that's always a big motivation for me to try out something. A couple of old cyclists told me the night before I've planned the trip terrifying stories of guys who didn't made it and had to stop on the so called "Field of Death", stranded just with the pass in sight. Well, as you can imagine, that aren't the stories you like to hear before what is supposed to be a nice ride through the countryside!
Anyway, I must admit I was a bit scared the more I reached the "Field of Death" only to find out it's a nice green field and I was almost whistling when I drove by. So far, so good. The climb turned out to be a long, but manageable one. Although I was a bit worn out when I reached the top. It's just a pity that this years edition of the Tour de France don't pass this pass...

Tourmalet

One of the prettiest climbs I've ever made, was the climb to the top of Col du Tourmalet back in the summer of '96. It was the last day of our stay in the French Pyrenees and the weather was just perfect: sunny, no wind and nice temperatures. Although I'm not a great climber on the bike and will never be, I enjoyed every bit of it. I can even remember a great part of that day. For instance the paragliders who've started on one of the slopes near the top. That was the first time I saw paragliders and I felt immediately for that sport. Or the fellow cyclists I spoke during the climb. There were even Americans from California, trying to ride the famous mountains of the Tour de France: Peyresourde, Col du Menton, Aubisque, Tourmalet, Portillon and so on and so on. A bit to much, I guess, but that's what Americans are known for ;-). At least they were cycling their way to the top. Unless the numerous guys that passed by in cars with their bikes on the roof, only just to make the descent. Cheaters!