Painting, Sketching & Enjoying Arts
The pencil was invented in France. More precisely, it was invented and patented in 1795 by Nicolas-Jacques Conté. This is fairly standard Wikipedia knowledge, but
There isn’t much to say about this sketch, except that it’s based on a photo I took with my phone in a hotel lobby. The
The Carry On series includes 31 comedy films made between 1930 and 2001, all featuring a recurring cast of actors. I’ve watched many of them,
To unite a country, having a common enemy often helps. For Europeans right now, that enemy is Russia. Even though Russia hasn’t invaded any Western
Mon Oncle is a colour movie and according to Wikipedia the first one in colour made by Tati. Mr. Hulot, a character made up by
Monsieur Hulot, a character created by Jacques Tati, is in a modern part of Paris. It’s unclear why he is in this place made of
We had lunch at a restaurant in Venice, away from the busy tourist areas—if such places exist. In front of us, a local man, who
Roald Dahl wrote Boy as a story about his childhood. One of the funny parts is about a dead mouse and a sweet-shop owner. Some
A film Directed by William Kentridge a painter, director, designer and probably philosopher on art and life in general. There is much going on in
Because I don’t have an art background, I decided to read “The Story of Art” by Gombrich from cover to cover. To help me remember
I chose to read “The Mallow Coloured Garden” as a farewell gesture to the children’s books that once captivated me, and which I now plan
What are we doing at school is a good question and depicted in this watercolour reconstruction of a still in a 9 x 9 cm
I really enjoyed “The Illusionist” movie because of its awesome animation. The story might not be super inspiring, but the visuals are amazing. The atmosphere
Last year marked the 100th anniversary of Maria Callas’ birth, and many people celebrated this milestone. Despite not being a huge opera fan, I was
Lavender Fields In the winter, the famous French lavender fields don’t have much color. All the pretty flowers have been picked, and what’s left are
Nearby a small village Rustrel is a national park called French Colorado. It is a colourfull landscape with its ochre earth. The colour has been
View from my holiday apartment in Ferrassieres. I made a similar sketch a year ago during a summer on the same paper with watercolour. This
This sketch depicts the distant hotel in Ferrassières. I encounter this scenery each time I return from a stroll with my dog. It accurately reflects
The colossal statue at the Royal Academy is truly remarkable and impossible to overlook. A closer look reveals that the man is depicted with a
Instead of creating a photo album, I opted to assemble a holiday sketch album. Taking photos is undoubtedly simpler, and perhaps for capturing memories might
Starting with Drunken Master as a first martial arts movie is great. The whole mysticism around kung-fu is broken into laughter. Jackie Chan knows best
Venice is probably my favorite place to be. My first visit was when I was very young and I remember only the ice cream and
Using ink I tried to recreate a picture Child with a dove by Picasso . A postcard with that picture was in my room when
Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a documentary movie by Werner Herzog. It describes the research, but also the emotions around the Chauvet Cave in Southern France.
Artificial Intelligence is in the air. Making complicated pictures with just a few text prompts is easy. Although laws of physics are not always obeyed
My uncle invited me to visit him but unfortunately I could not. To good thing is that it gave me the opportunity to make a
It is really a small sketchbook. Just 9×9 cm. I have no idea how I got it and initially no idea what to use it
It is spring according to the calendar but it is cold, windy and it is raining. You might say, it is typical Dutch weather but
The end of winter finally. I made two sketches and don’t really know which i like more. Maybe the initial simple one was the best.
So what to do when you are approx. 30 years old and just have been admitted to a Ninja school and your terror-Teddy doesn’t approve?
What to do when in the London Metro travelling from one side of the city to the other? It turns out people do a lot.
So, it was cold during the night of 13 December in the Netherlands. And there is some ice on the canals. So there are immediately
Wadden Sea National Park is the northern part of the Netherlands. It is partly sea with impressive tides and partly a collection of islands.https://www.waddensea-worldheritage.org For
During the ’22 Venice Biennale (the Milk of Dreams) https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2022I stayed in a wonderful hotel. Nothing really special except that on the 4th floor there
If I had the money I would have spend it on this small sculpture in bronze of a hunting dog. It was for sale at
Marker Wadden and the nature there gave such an inspiration I had to make more sketches. And sketching sand is something I haven’t done before so
Yesterday it was revealed that using specific cameras it was possible to look through the superficial layers of ‘Het Melkmeisje’. The picture is made by
Markermeer (Marker Lake) is not a lake but a part of Ijsselmeer (Ijssel Lake). IJsselmeer however is not a lake but reclaimed piece of the
Cleaning up my mother’s house I discovered this old sketch. I haven’t seen it for decades but once it was there, I immediately remembered it.
In the past years we made several trips to Provence and the sketches, aquarelles and paintings start to merge into one big holiday. Initially I
Our friends have a small and very nice second home in Belgium (Ardennen). It is a different country but just about 3 h away from
The Rally museums is actually a group of 5 museums founded by the banker Harry Recanati. The museum in Marbella is one of them. The
It must have been me who made this sketch when I was a teenager. I remember it vaguely and the signature is certainly mine. The
Not far away from Marbella, there is a nice old city called Ronda. It is on two high cliffs with a canyon in between with