Drawings From The Past

This will be the final post with the last four drawings I made back in 1994 for an exhibition which was going to be held, but never took place. In previous posts I've mentioned the reasons why the exhibition never took place. Because this all took place about 15 years ago, memories can be different from what exactly happened and you get curious about what experienced others , but I lost track of the people who were involved with that project, so I can't check the facts.
Anyway, the top drawing was an interpretation of an typical alley in Leiden, influenced by the work the Dutch illustrator Anton Pieck made. Although you might say that didn't work out.
I also tried to make two drawings of buildings in front of water: always a challenge.

A high level of "Addams Family atmosphere" when I look at them now. The building below is an old part of the city wall, build in the 14th century.

And I'm not sure in what era the buildings of this last drawing were build, but it must be about two hundred years ago. I couldn't find any information about this place, mainly because it's in Rabac, an old village in Croatia.

That's the beauty of an archive: you're surprised when you get a glimps of old work and get curious about when, why and how you've made it.

Going To The Chapel

Back in my hometown there still is a monastery. I made this drawing as part of the exhibition that never took place in 1994. I thought it was a nice building to draw, especially because the village was very expending then. Many houses were build and it looked like the public garden surrounding the place had to make place for a new road and parking places. Luckily that plan never worked out.
During my childhood days I remember seeing nuns walking in our village. My father always used to say: "A nun on the square, brings rain in the air". Of course this was a joke, but sometimes he was right and the day after we saw a nun it started to rain!
Years later my father was frequently asked to play the organ in the monastery's chapel, or, as he sometimes called it: "he had to play with the nuns". A bit naughty, my father isn't he? I remember one day, when I was already adolescent, the organ in the chapel was out of order due to maintenance. My father asked me to help bring in a wooden pipe-organ, owned by a fellow organplayer in our village who was willingly enough to lend out his very expensive pipe-organ for free. All for the good cause, of course. His only demand was that the organ was transported by me. Why, I don't know, I guess because I had a big stationcar at that time. Anyway, everything went well, until we had to bring in the organ into the chapel and my hand got stuck between the organ and the posting of the door. Before I knew it I said something very inappropriate at that time and place and I still can remember the look on the face of the nun who was accompanying us. I'm still very sorry, sister.

Not The House Of My Father

Another advantage of cleaning up archives, is the joy of finding drawings which were long time forgotten. For instance the drawing I've made of this cottage in the village I was born. I'm not sure in which year I've made this pendrawing, but it must be around 1994, cause it's made with the same sizes and drawingpaper I used for the drawings I made for the exhibition that never took place (read my previous post).
This cottage stands on the corner of the street where my father was born. His elderly house didn't look a bit of what it looked like when my father lived there, so I choose this house as subject of my artistic needs. The house my father lived in was also in use as a bakery and a little shop. My father started his own bakery when he got married and my uncle inherited the bakery my grandfather started. Over the years the building was reshapen to the demands of modern entrepeneurship and architectural ideas of how a bakeryshop should look like. That is: according to my uncle. That didn't turn out to be a pretty sight, as you might expect.
Luckily my father had some very old sketches in his possession, which were made in the 1930's by his old neighbour. Using these sketches and some old black and white photographs, I've made a coloured pendrawing. This drawing still hangs on the wall above my father's organ, back in my parents house.

Black and white with pen and ink

After I'd made several drawings for the local newspaper, the editor-in-chief told me that the readers were very pleased with my drawings. As a result the publisher used them for greeting cards. People could buy them in a set of six different drawings. The editor-in-chief also told me that his brother knew a gallery where they might wanted to have an exhibition with my drawings. Wow, that sounded great!
I was a bit naive and forgot to ask "who, where, when, why?" and started to make several drawings in pen and ink instead. Below you can see what kind of detail I'd put in it. I soon found out it was hard labor to make these kind of drawings. But it was worth it, I thought. And they sure looked better then the drawings I made for the newspaper!

The location is Istria, where I've been in the summer of 1988. It was part of The Republic of Yugoslavia. With very angry-looking soldiers at the border, checking your passport for a very long time without saying a word. It happened to be a nice holiday, though. I've met friendly people, the weather was splendid and the drinks and food were very low priced. At the end I've treated the whole group of about 25 people on the greatest icecream they've ever had. And still had money left!

I've brought my sketchbook with me and with the help of several photographs I could make this drawing back at home.

Of course the exhibition never took place. Due to several problems with local legislations and other very important management and business terms, the gallery never opened and so my drawings ended somewhere in my archive. Until now, because I now can use my blog to share these drawings with you.

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.