Joseph Roth, sign of the times - Joseph Roth, teken van de tijd

De Bedachtzamen (The Thoughtful) is the name of a collective of writers and their homonymous blog. They consider the themes of time and melancholy as their driving force and write about painting, poetry, music and literature; pre-eminently forms of expression in which time and melancholy constantly seep through, according to their manifesto.
For a new blog contribution, an article about Joseph Roth, they asked me if they could use one of my portrait drawings of Joseph Roth. If you're able to read Dutch or are satisfied to use an online translation service, you can read the article "Joseph Roth, sign of the times" here.

De Bedachtzamen is de naam van een schrijverscollectief en hun gelijknamige blog. Zij beschouwen de thema’s tijd en melancholie als hun stuwende kracht en schrijven over schilderkunst, poëzie, muziek en literatuur; bij uitstek uitingsvormen waar tijd en melancholie voortdurend in doorsijpelen, aldus hun manifest.
Voor een nieuwe blogbijdrage, een artikel over Joseph Roth, benaderden zij mij met de vraag of zij een van mijn portrettekeningen van Joseph Roth mochten gebruiken. Lees hier het mooie artikel "Joseph Roth, teken van de tijd".

The Intruder

Sketch from imagination with a bit of Vallotton in mind, revisiting the theme of a previous sketch

Brushes App
iPad

The Separation - Leave Your Key On The Way Out

Sketch from imagination with a bit of Vallotton in mind, revisiting the theme of a previous sketch

Brushes App
iPad

The Visitor

Sketch from imagination with a bit of Vallotton in mind.

With the title I toyed with the ambiguity that Vallotton's work often has. Who is the visitor? Is it the man with the top hat entering the apartment of his lady friend? Or is that man entering his own apartment and about to stumble on a surprise visitor awaiting his return?

Although not correct, I prefer it without a figure-shade.

Brushes App
iPad

Joseph Roth Society - New Year's Wish

Pleasantly surprised to find that my sketch of Joseph Roth was used for the New Year's wish of the Joseph Roth Society Netherlands-Flanders on Facebook!

We wensen u een 2016 met veel nieuwe Roth-ontdekkingen. Wilt u lid worden van het JRG? Contacteer ons! Met dank voor het portret aan Rodney van den Beemd.
Posted by Joseph Roth Genootschap on Friday, 8 January 2016

A Dream's Embrace (2)

An altered version of the previous post, sketch from imagination with a bit of Vallotton in mind.

Brushes App
iPad

A Dream's Embrace

Sketch from imagination with a bit of Vallotton in mind.

Brushes App
iPad

Unterwegs - En Route

Sketch from imagination

#crisis #despair #refugee

Brushes App
iPad

Joseph Roth

Quick sketch roughly based on a photo of Joseph Roth

Zen Brush App
iPad

A few weeks later I was pleasantly surprised to find that my sketch of Joseph Roth was used for the New Year's wish of the Joseph Roth Society Netherlands-Flanders on Facebook!

We wensen u een 2016 met veel nieuwe Roth-ontdekkingen. Wilt u lid worden van het JRG? Contacteer ons! Met dank voor het portret aan Rodney van den Beemd.
Posted by Joseph Roth Genootschap on Friday, 8 January 2016

Reflections on an Artist's Dream

This is my main entry for an exhibition of artwork created using an iPad or other similar mobile tablet device, employing the theme of "Secrets & Stories" as their source of inspiration at West Ox Arts Gallery in Oxford (UK). The Secrets & Stories-based theme behind this work is that of an artist and his passion for and entanglement with his subject. The concept could of course refer to any artist and subject. This work however specifically is about Oxford-based artist and friend Martin Beek, who over the last year has submerged himself in the process of portraying a vast array of landscape views in the Oxford area. I used an earlier iPad-portrait drawing of Martin to represent the artist himself. Then mirrored it with its preliminary sketch combined with a collage of an iPad-landscape drawing I recently did of a sunlit autumn woodland to depict the artist's dream, the entanglement with his subject and the process of getting to grips with it: a mind spinning with images and impressions, an eye both catching and caught by the light, an artists's path, fragmented, anything but straightforward. I titled it "Reflections on an Artist's Dream (A Wider Picture - Martin Beek Diptych)"; the subtitle could of course refer to the expanded width in terms of a diptych portrait, but particularly is meant as a hint to David Hockney's "A Bigger Picture" which over the last year has been one of Martin's sources of inspiration. Mijn bijdrage voor een groepsexpositie met het thema "Geheimen & Verhalen" van werken gemaakt met behulp van een iPad of een ander soortgelijk mobiel tablet-apparaat.

Merry Christmas

Seasonally dressed up version of a quick iPad-sketch (Brushes App) I did earlier (Bear).

Sunlit Autumn Woodland (Impression)

Quick experimental (digital) sketch (iPad, Brushes App) from memory and imagniation after a sunny autumn walk through the fields and woodlands where I live, inspired by David Hockney's work that I saw a few days before, during a visit to his "A Bigger Picture" exhibition in Cologne.

Wer zeigt mir den Weg? (doodle)

Doodle, just one of many.

Brushes App
iPad

Rafael

Quick and rough iPad-sketch (Brushes App), experimenting with contrasting red and green colours. The perspective of the guitar and strings in the reference photo triggered me to echo this in a music staff. Portrait for Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr. Snelle iPad-schets (Brushes App). Portret voor Julia Kay's Portrait Party op Flickr.

Chapel in the Woods - Leenderkapel

In the town where I live there is an early 17th century chapel which lies very picturesquely on top of a hill in the middle of the woods, known as the "Leenderkapel". I decided to do some sketches of it in different styles and with different techniques, just experimenting with colours, materials, moods, styles and techniques without focusing on an actual representation. De "Leenderkapel" is een pittoresk kapelletje op de top van een heuvel midden in een bos in Landgraaf. Over de afgelopen weken heb ik er een aantal schetsen van gemaakt, experimenterend met kleuren, materialen, stemmingen, stijlen en technieken, zonder gerichtheid op een realistische weergave.

Jutta

Quick and rough iPad-sketch (Brushes App). Portrait for Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr. Snelle iPad-schets (Brushes App). Portret voor Julia Kay's Portrait Party op Flickr.

Bear

An oldie I didn't get around to posting earlier. Quick (digital) sketch (iPad, Brushes App).

Colour theory, cold-warm contrast

Life drawing and painting, focused on achieving depth or accentuation through colour, in particular the use of cold-warm contrast. The result is very much unfinished. Acrylic on paper. At home I did a quick iPad-sketch (Brushes App) of the same subject from memory. Portret & model-tekenen/schilderen, gericht op diepte- of accentwerking door middel van kleur, met name koud-warm contrast.

Isabel

Quick and rough iPad-sketch (Brushes App). I'm finding that iPad-sketching is quite "handy" in trying to achieve my resolution to draw something every day, however quick and messy. Portrait for Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr. Snelle iPad-schets (Brushes App). Portret voor Julia Kay's Portrait Party op Flickr.

Martin

Quick and rough iPad-sketch (Brushes App). I kind of like roughly messing around with iPad-sketching, but don't know if I'll really develop the patience to dig into all the possibilities and nuances I see in many of the digital works by others. Portrait for Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr. Snelle iPad-schets (Brushes App). Portret voor Julia Kay's Portrait Party op Flickr.