Self-Portrait Watercolour Study

Practising (very) wet-in-wet watercolour portrait painting on a quick self-portrait sketch. Oefenen met (zeer) nat-in-nat portret aquarel op een snelle zelfportet schets.

A Toast to Bonnard

After visiting the "Bonnard" exhibition in Wuppertal, I set out to do a playful sketch with some aspects of his work in mind, particularly colour, perspective, an interior (table) scene and a cat making an appearance. I used my mother's dining room as a base for a rough and distorted sketch of an interior and then added the rest from imagination. Ink pen and watercolour. Speelse schets gebaseerd op impressies van het werk van Pierre Bonnard in de "Bonnard" expositie in Wuppertal.

Bonnard

Visited the "Bonnard" exhibition in Wuppertal. It gives a very nice insight into his life and development as an artist and of different aspects of his work. Like his use of colour and unusual perspectives and his fondness for intimate domestic interior scenes and uniting interior and exterior through open windows and doors. Many items on loan from around the world, quite a few coming from private collections. Bezoek gebracht aan de "Bonnard" expositie in Wuppertal, die een mooi inzicht geeft in zijn leven en ontwikkeling als kunstenaar en van de verschillende aspecten van zijn werk.
(Bonnard: Magier der Farbe, Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, 14.9.2010 - 30.1.2011)

eGGheads on Newton

I've been intending to do some kind of cartoon based on some ideas I've had for quite a while, but didn't find it particularly easy to think up characters and a specific angle for such a cartoon. After a lot of doodling and trying things out I eventually came up with this cartoon named "eGGheads". The name of the cartoon of course refers to the shape of the characters heads, but furthermore it also hints on the definition of the word "egghead"; the Oxford Dictionary defines "egghead" as an informal noun meaning "a highly academic or studious person; an intellectual". In this sense the word is also used in a BBC general knowledge quiz show in which teams from all over the UK battle to beat the "Eggheads", a team of five highly regarded quiz and game show champions (including Mastermind and Brain of Britain). The concept of my cartoon is that of a brainy and rather fierce egghead character (a true representative of his kind according to the above definition) that likes to share (or is it just plain showing off?) his knowledge and meets up with some rather laid-back egghead characters (certainly no true representatives of their kind according to the above definition), perhaps best to be described as the bad eggs in the bunch. I hope you enjoy it. Ik liep al een tijdje rond met wat ideeën voor een strip en uiteindelijk is dit het resultaat geworden; vooralsnog alleen in het Engels.

Vineyard Tasting

With the wine harvest season coming up in this part of the world, grape picking and wine tasting holidays are being advertised with "tasty" photos. One of them in particular caught my eye and I used it for a watercolour sketch. Met de wijnoogst voor de deur worden druivenpluk- en wijnproeverij vakanties geadverteerd met "smakelijke" foto's. Een daarvan heb ik gebruikt als basis voor een aquarel.

Sunflowers

Some sunflowers in the garden broke off during a storm and thus wound up in a rather small vase on the dining room table, looking very picturesque. I tried to catch this in a watercolour. Not particularly satisfied with the result, but still, here it is. Door de storm omgewaaide zonnebloemen uit de tuin zien er in een vaasje op de eetkamertafel nog zeer schilderachtig uit. Hier een poging om het in een aquarel te vangen.

Sun King

In 1986, in the wake of their successful album "Love", British rock band The Cult performed at the Pinkpop festival in Geleen in the south of The Netherlands, near to where I live. As a young rock music and guitar enthusiast I enjoyed this performance very much, especially guitarist Billy Duffy's powerful guitar riffs and his use of mouthwatering Gretsch hollowbody electric guitars. In 1992 the band was back at Pinkpop (now in Landgraaf, the town where the festival is organized since 1988 and also the town where I now live) but this time delivered an ill-famed performance leading to the band being banned from future perfomances at the festival. Yesterday, 18 years later and after the ban was lifted, The Cult played the Pinkpop stage once again, now during the festival's Classic edition. This time I didn't go, but a photo in last weeks newspaper announcing the band's return to the festival and showing Billy Duffy in a heroic rock guitarist pose with one of his Gretsches triggered me to do a sketch instead. "Sun King", the title of the opening track from The Cult's 1989 "Sonic Temple" album again showcasing Billy's guitar work, seemed to be an appropriate title for this sketch. Ink pen and watercolour. Schets naar een foto in de krant van The Cult-gitarist Billy Duffy in actie met een van zijn prachtige Gretsch hollowbody elektrische gitaren. The Cult stond dit weekend voor de derde keer op het Pinkpop podium, dit keer in de Classic editie van het festival.

Dark Clouds over Étretat

Another sketch of Étretat, this time based on a photo by Olivier Mériel in a photography exhibition in Giverny, Normandy. Ink pen and watercolour. Donkere wolken boven Étretat. Wederom een schets van Étretat gebaseerd op een foto in een expositie.

Playing with Water

Used lots of water for an experiment in (very) wet-in-wet watercolour painting. Veel water gebruikt voor een experiment met (zeer) nat-in-nat aquarelleren.

Agapanthus

A huge agapanthus on the backyard terrace came into bloom this week and provided a nice subject for a quick watercolour sketch. Een grote agapanthus op het terras in de achtertuin kwam deze week tot bloei en bood een mooi onderwerp voor een aquarel.