Carport Cactus

 Faber-Castell Pitt, S+B, 14 x 21 cm

Cactus_v2

 Faber Castell Pitt S+B, 14,5 x 15,5 cm

Cactus_v1

 Faber-Castell Pitt S+B, 10 x 14,5 cm

Calatrava Bridge

 

The Bee Keepers Garden

Last week we've had a little vacation in Mayrhofen, Austria. We didn't do much: the children mostly wanted to swim in the nearby swimming pool. The wife and I mostly read books, magazines and the latest news on our smartphones.
Mayrhofen is a very quiet place after the snow has disappeared. Also a very neat place. I found it difficult to find interesting points of view for sketching. When everything looks so well organized it tends to be boring. The houses all look very tidy. Luckily enough I found an interesting view from one of the balconies of our appartement into the backyard of the neighbours' house. The neighbour turns out to be a bee keeper and I've tried to capture some bees in flight.
Black ink sketch with Visconti pen on Moleskine.

The Road Ahead

Knowing what to expect behind the horizon is many people's wish. Only few people can predict what will cross our paths. Mostly they make a guess to keep the customer satisfied. Maybe it's best to follow your own path heading towards the year to come.
With this thought in mind I made this sketch. May your trip be safe!

Oyster

Sometimes it's just fun to make a quick sketch with ballpoint. This is a sketch of a Japanese Oyster. They can also be found in other parts of the world. They're named Japanese, but that doesn't mean they can only be found in the waters around Japan. They can also be found in the Mediterranean or in the North Sea. Even on the shores of a tiny little Chinese island. But that can cause diplomatic tension nowadays.

Camping Sketcher

Last week we went out camping. The weather was fine, the children enjoyed playing in the mud and the campsite wasn't too crowded. So good opportunities for finally reading a good book and making some sketches. I've not had the time nor the peace of mind to do those things for a long time. Now, after a few days back at the office I still have difficulties picking up the usual pace, going from deadline to deadline. This afternoon I've decided not to bother too much about that. Actually this evening I picked up working at a painting which has been patiently waiting for me on the easel. It was fun getting to know each other again. Also says my wife and our kids.
The sketch shows the tent my son and I used. My wife and daughter camped next to us, in their own one.

Whisky tour

At this time of the year I often develop an appetite for whisky. As does my father-in-law. We are planning to make a whisky tour in Scotland next year, not by our own car, but by bus. Looks a bit more sensible to us, although we're not notorious in our drinking habits. Just nipping is good enough.
To get in the mood I made this sketch, but I think it would be much better to make a ink and watercolor piece out of it.

Sketched Citroën HY

As a result of this week's topic on Illustration Friday, namely "Transportation", I got inspired and made this sketch of an old van. It's the Citroën HY, which bring back good memories of childhood days.
Pencil sketch from a photograph.

Sketchbook #4

Illustration Friday Atmosphere

In this sketch I've tried to catch the atmosphere of a sunny morning in a quiet French village. What you see is a little service station, with the Citroen 2CV AZU in front of it.

Troll

Last week I've read a short story about a little, grumpy, ugly man. It was a very funny story by the Dutch author Peter Schaap. Almost from the beginning of that story I've had a certain type of person in mind. After I've read the story I almost automatically drew this sketch in my sketchbook.

Sketchbook

Some faces I've sketched, just to try out a new sketching-pen. It turned out to be a nice piece of equipment.

Happy Bags

Among many other time-occupying activities I'm working on a commisioned job. It's supposed to be an eyecatcher on a new website, build by a friend of mine. The sketches took some effort, because I had a bit of a hard time drawing bags with a funny and happy outlook.

Now I've inked it, it looks more promising then I expected. All I have to do now is colouring the drawing, in the exact same colours I've coloured other drawing about two years ago... Wish me luck.

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!

Hard work

Last week I was very busy with maintaining jobs in and around our house and garden. Spring is coming, I guess you know what I mean by that. So there wasn't very much time left to make my usual amount of drawings.
In the very rare spare moments I had during the nights, I've been busy sketching a new piece for my homepage. I had that "splendid" idea to make a drawing that linked on the drawing which can be seen for the past two years on my homepage. I actually didn't believe it was already two years ago I opened my website. Time flies when you'r having fun, so to say.
Anyway, to make a long story short, the sketch became a bit of a pain in the ass, because somehow halfway the first sketch something about the perspective angle didn't feel right. So I made another sketch, and another sketch, and another one, only to end up at the first sketch again. Then I realised that the small mistake I made just gives this drawing its character. Now I only have to make a few typographical adjustments and ink and color it. I'll keep you informed about the progress on this one.

Holiday sketches

The summerly conditions made me look for sketches I made on holidays I've had in the past. The sketch which most dated back, was the one I made in 1988, due to a vacation in the former Republic of Yugoslavia.
I went by bus, a terrible way to travel: it took more than 27 hours to get to our destination! Anyway, the weather, the scenery and the company of some fellow travelers made it a pleasant stay. When I got home (again: after more than a 27 hours journey by bus...) I somehow managed to stay in the holiday mood and made the sketch above. Or rather: a sketched collage.
Technique: pen and watercolor on Canson 300 grs. Unfortunately the dimension of the original is to big for my little scanner, but I guess you get the picture (so to say) of what it is like in Istria.

Folding your chute

Yesterday I folded my emergency parachute, which by the way I never hope to use during paragliding. There's always one stage when folding the chute I tend to forget. So last year I made this little sketch and, believe it or not, I didn't had to look at the sketch to know what I had to do! I simply memorized it.

Ship full of questions

I am still struggling with the sketch of Cornelius Playfull's ship. Somehow I have the feeling that it's not very clear in this stadium on what scale I'm working. I mean: the scale of the ship versus the children. I am not even sure if I'll draw three or five children. I'm always told that 'three is a crowd', but on this ship I get the feeling that five kids makes more 'crowd' than three. But keeping that in mind I don't know yet where I can place five children logically. And what about a shark? Or a treasure? Or an island in the background? Questions, questions, questions.