Sketching at NDSM on Saturday with the Amsterdam Urban Sketchers. I realised just how rusty I’ve got at sketching. When I lived in Amsterdam, I wouldn’t think twice about whipping the sketchbook out.
Sketching at NDSM
Exam sketches
Exam sketches. Maybe it’s not a great sign that I have time to draw the other students in my Dutch exams. Maar wat kan ik doen? I just get a bit fidgety. They’re real quick ones though. Writing is probably what I do best in Dutch. Listening to it, and actually trying to speak it, is a different story.
Oudebildtdijk
A print of Westhoek at 15×7″ on its way from Etsy to Alicia in Washington. (Thank you Alicia.) Printed on 230gsm Olmec fine art paper by King of Herrings @kingherrings.
Painted in ink, plus pencil and black biro. This is the view of the Oudebildtdijk from the sea dike at Westhoek. No one who isn’t Dutch can actually pronounce “Oudebildtdijk”. It’s impossible. But apparently it’s the longest street in the Netherlands, and where I live.
Plants and trees
A collection of drawings on Behance
Ballpoint pen portraits
I’ve wanted to draw something with a Bic biro for ages—that indigo blue kills me. Then I found that spraying a bit of isopropanol makes the ink run, and you get this great watery effect. (Though it seems to be only the magenta pigment that runs. The cyan doesn’t seem to run much).
Drawn on 300g brilliant white Clairalfa inkjet paper.
The Bob Mortimer was the first I tried this way. It looks OK… but there are probably too many lines going on.
Impermanence
Larry on the job
Portrait of Larry King hard at it.
Bob & Dylan
Bob and Dylan. Dylan and Thomas.
This is No.3 (so far) in my series of date nights with people I’d like to meet but obviously never will. I’d ask a few questions, but mostly I think I’d just let them do the talking. Or if they don’t want to talk, that’s fine too. Nothing wrong with just sitting and looking at one another.
Portrait of Morrissey
Thursday is pathetic—a portrait of Morrissey. Possibly with bigger hair than he actually has these days.
I wasn’t keen on Morrissey when he first appeared. Then I really got into him. Then I went off him again. Then I got back into him again. Funny how it goes.
Gordon Heuckeroth
Gordon Heuckeroth. This guy is on the telly a lot here. He seems to be on everything. People say he’s funny but my Dutch isn’t good enough to work out if he really is funny or not. He certainly looks like he’s funny, but it might just be an act. So I drew him backstage, waiting for his funny pill to kick in.