I joined the Sketch Crawl #4 last Friday, 27.08.05, from across the ocean (in Utrecht). This was my first sketch crawl, and I enjoyed it very much. I think I was really productive, despite the fact that I wandered off to the bookstore and some other interesting small stores for a while that day.
NOTE: Click on any of the images (including the map) for larger versions.
Here is the map that show where I have been that day.
08:30
A “warm up” exercise that I did while waiting for the tram to come. I was too early. I didn’t realize that before 9 am on Saturday, the tram only comes twice an hour and not 4 times. So I had to wait for around 20 minutes or so, and what better way to spend the time than start sketching? So I drew the plants that grow behind the platfrom on the other side. There are some orange poppies too. I have never seen orange poppies at another place other than along this platform. A couple of months ago, there were even more wild poppies (red ones) growing in that area. They were very pretty but now they are dead.
09:45 After I arrived in Utrecht, I got my morning coffee and breakfast first at the station Utrecht Centraal. The station was unbelievably crowded already on early Saturday morning. I was wondering what these people would do that early. After my tummy was satisfied with a large cup of cappuccino and a cappuccino croissant from Cafe T. I went in the direction of the old center and found a bench outside the Winkel van Sinkel (a restaurant/cafe) facing the Stadhuisbrug (a bridge) and the Dom tower. A terrific postcard style kind of view. I couldn’t let the chance to sketch slip away. So I just sat down and started sketching. When I was almost finished, an older man got off his bike and approached me to see what I was doing. He took a look and started chatting about how it was in the 1800’s-1900’s and when he was still at school. How drawing was a very important subject at school and in the society back then. At his drawing/art school in Maastricht about 50 some years ago (he mentioned that he is 72), he had to draw morning and afternoon. He thinks that schools in the Netherlands nowadays teaches students too little about the importance of drawing or almost none. No one really does drawing anymore, in his opinion. So he was glad to see me sit there and draw. Me too.
10:20 Then I walked a bit further down the street on Ganzenmarkt. I stopped beside the city hall (Stadhuis) and played with these two little kittens that belong to the Children Book Store (Kinderboekwinkel) across the street from where I was the standing. One of the kittens tried to climb up the tree, but decided that it was too scary. When they left, I sketched the houses across the City Hall square on the corner of Annastraat and Korte Minrebroederstraat. These houses are very lovely. They have the best view of the cool City Hall of Utrecht and I’d love to live in one of these houses. But too bad. Most of the old (and grand) houses in the city are usually reserved as student housing for the students of the University of Utrecht. Lucky them!
11:00 I walked across the square, admiring the City Hall, then walked down Annastraat. The houses on Annastraat nicely framed part of the new City Hall. So I decided to sketch it in ink. I really love the architecture of the building. It is one of my favorite modern architecture in the Netherlands. The Spanish architect Enric Miralles, who passed away several years ago, did such a fantastic job. He thought of everything to the detail. I love how he reused the stone window frames from medieval times to frame the new wooden window frames. Some of the old stone frames are supported by steel framing behind it, which makes them look “floating”. The building is new, the square is new, but they both look like they really belong to that area. Wonderful!
12:15 lunch I went to Bigoli on Schoutenstraat to buy a sandwich. Bigoli is such a fantastic store that sells superb italian sandwiches and produce. Anytime I need something “Italian” for in the kitchen, I always go there. This time I bought an olive sandwich bread with provolone, roasted vegetables, and parmaham filling. Yum…Yum…
13:00 Back to sketching again. After lunch I wandered around the Neude (a square) a bit. I found this charming port on a dead-end street called Hoogt. I have heard of a cinema/theatre called ‘t Hoogt in Utrecht, but I had never known the location. Now I found it and this port leads to a courtyard and the entrance of the theatre. But the building that is framed by this port is actually a super tiny and super charming museum (Kruideniersmuseum), that exhibits old tools, machines, and gadget that they used a long long time ago when the museum was still a grocery store. The entrance to the exhibition part is actually a candy shop. They keep it as original as possible. Which I think is fantastic! I bought some candies, then the older lady who works there weighted my purchase on a very old scale and calculated the total price on a tiny black board. I think calculator and anything digital are not allowed in this store.
14:00 Time to have my afternoon coffee, so I went to Brandmeester’s on the Korte Jansstraat. They sell quality coffee, thee, and also coffee/thee machines ranging from 10 euros (e.g. percolator) to 1000+ euros (e.g. Jura coffee machines). There was a line of people there, but I didn’t have to wait that long luckily. I had a cup of cappucino and then an ice cold hazelnut lattecino. The Brandmeester’s has only bar tables but not chairs. While standing by one of the tables and enjoying my cappuccino/lattecino, I sketched the view across the street from the Brandmeester’s. I will check out that building with lots of books next time. I was not sure if it is a store, because of the closed curtain behind the door. But it did/does display old (used) books. The building itself looks a bit run down but with a “character”.
15:30 Recharged by caffeine, I walked further down Korte Jansstraat in the direction of the Dom church. I had been wanting to sketch the castle on behind the church on Achter de Dom (the street’s name) for quite a long time, but somehow something kept me from doing it. So during the sketch crawl day, I had the feeling that I had to do it then or would never do it at all if I keep on delaying it. I took a left turn and stood leaning against the wall of a building on Voetiusstraat facing the castle. I believe that the castle is actually an old part of the Dom, but now it is occupied by some departments of the University of Utrecht (just as most old buildings in the city). So now it is called Het Academie Gebouw (Academy Building).
16:00 Since I noticed the books across the street from the Brandmeester’s, I could not stop thinking about them. I am such a book addict (and also an art goodies addict). So I went to Broese, my favorite bookstore on Stadhuisbrug, and browsed their collection (as if it was any different than last week…). But hey, I found a book about Van Gogh’s early sketches. I am not a big fan of Van Gogh’s famous work, I am much more into “older” painters like Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Johannes Vermeer, and Jeroen (Hieronymus) Bosch, but I admit I like his early sketches especially the ones done in ink.
17:00 After the bookstore visit, I decided to go home. It was already 5 pm anyway, not to mentioned that I needed to cook dinner. While waiting for the tram on Moreelsepark, I sketched the view across the platform (sort of becoming a habit of me…). The area and the building (Hoog Catharijne) are not very nice, but I decided to give it a try anyway. Well…I believe, my sketch turned out to be a lot better than the reality and a whole lot cleaner…(my prerogative as an artist to left out the trash from my sketchbook).
There has been a discussion on the Everyday Matters Group about doing some speedy blind contour drawing while being in a car and stopping for a red light. Hmmm…one thing, it is not advised when you are the driver, but it can certainly be done when you are the passenger. That’s what I did this morning. I didn’t do it “blind” nor while waiting for a red light. I did it while we were on the highway going to work. So everything passed by so quickly that I had to start while the object is still in a distance. If I couldn’t finished the sketch after we passed by the object, I had to draw whatever is left from what I could memorized. So they are very quick sketches of 5-10 seconds in ink. I colored the page in the car too, and at home I applied a bit of water with a brush. It was really fun and challenging to do.
Where were these sketches made? Where are these things located?
- Classic windmill on the left is located in Breukelen.
- Classic windmill on the right is located in Vinkeveen.
- We passed by this motorcyclist while approaching Holendrecht
- Modern windmill on the right is located near Holendrecht
- In the bottom middle, is station Amsterdam RAI
- The cranes are located nearby the station.
- The trash containers in the middle are located near the ING House
Quick sketches since Salami kept moving…The orange spot on the head was added later.
A field of poppies. An exercise. Colored pencils on red ingres paper.
A lazy sunday sketch of one of my cats. Salami…and she does look a bit like the sausage  . She is one of the fattest cats in our house. Her competitors are Bacardi (a ragdoll) and Pirojzki (a.k.a. Michelin cat).
It is unfortunate that I don’t have a color pencil that matches her orangey coat. That orange/vermillion I used is actually way too orange.
Click to enlarge.
Uhm…another entry from that same seminar. I did the drawing in the train, put some color at home. This shows that I need a break. I am stuck in the same theme for 3 entries in a row! And that red eyes! Big mistake….now the character (me) looks like a Dracula.
Click to enlarge.
I realize that I can’t possibly keep up with doing a journal page everyday. If only I had 2 bodies with one soul (kind of scary, isn’t it) that could do all I need/want to do in one day. One would be at the office doing my dayjob….the other one could run around, see, observe, analyse, and draw much much more interesting things…Or if one day could be 48 hours instead of 24? May be that’s not such a good idea either…since that might mean that I have to work longer too… Hmmm. Whatever. I will just have to try to manage/balance my day as good as possible. Or make a better time management.
So here is a journal page of 16.08 on the late side, since today is 21.08. Most of the next pages that I will post will also be “late”. They are not going to be posted on the day they are made.
By the way, I have included a delicious but very strong Cranberry Punch recipe in the drawing. We made it yesterday, and boy, it really helped me forget a nasty week
Click to enlarge.
OK, this is the color version of Yesterday (a post from a few days back). I am actually not sure which one is better. There is something “unsettled” in this color version, which I can’t figure out. May be it’s the use of too many color in too many areas? I don’t know…But it was still very fun to do it!
Click to enlarge.
My first sketches of JosephGuy a.k.a. Joey, one of my cats. He is a Silver Maine Coon and has quite a large body frame. However, when he is sleeping, he can fold himself to be really short/small that even in reality he always looks out of proportion in his sleeping position.
These two were done last weekend and I think drawing cats on a lazy Sunday afternoon is very relaxing.
Oh! Oh! I’ve been tagged! By Maggie at Designerm. I had never been tagged before so…. Maggie, can my Five Idiosyncrasies wait for a few more days? Please….
Click to enlarge.
A drawing I made during a seminar in which I almost fell asleep halfway. The second half was so boring….zzzz….zzzz. But hey..it’s also an entry for everyday matters challenge #10. During the seminar I suddenly thought of the challenges that I still need to do (if I want to). This is one of them and the seminar really helped me focus..lol. I used the ballpoint pen they gave me and the back of the hard copy of their powerpoint presentation.
Just as some other members of the Everyday Matters group, I really like Tom Judd’s work. All of those overlapping lines and doodles. It’s so exciting!. So I also decided to give it a try. Despite the bad day that I had yesterday, it ended really well because of this journal page! It was so much fun to do. The result suprised me. I didn’t intend to make it look cartoony, but it turned out that way. May be it’s just my ’style’. Next time I will try to be a bit looser and may be put less stuff on the page. This one looks just a tad too densed.
Oh and I am planning to color this one too. I will post the result sometime this week.
Note: that derailed train…I didn’t make it up, it was real and mentioned on the radio, in the news.
Click to enlarge.
Many people may disagree with me, but I love Starbucks. I think it is very unfortunate that they only have a warehouse in Holland and not a few coffee bars. (Note: I can’t call Starbucks as a ‘coffee shop’ here, it might just be mistaken as a place where you can buy and smoke pot. So I’d better call Starbucks as a coffee ‘bar’). Yes it may be bad for the local economy (or something like that I heard)…but man, where else can you order a Venti Decaf Fat Free Cappuccino with Whipped Cream??? (OK I am over exaggerating my order here…and OK, in the US you might get this at other places, e.g. Pete’s Coffee in SF/Berkeley) Or a Frappuccino? And something that makes me even more jealous…got an e-mail from a colleague who works in San Francisco….They have Frappuccino ICE CREAM!!!! I drooled all over my desk when I read his e-mail. Even Bali has several Starbucks…why not here?! The closest Starbucks is in London Heathrow. Can they just open a very small kiosk outside their warehouse in Amsterdam’s harbour???
Oh well… while I am still waiting for future Starbucks to open in Holland…I found a place that I frequent most weekends to sooth my annoyance: Mockamore in Utrecht. They do not have Venti Decaf Cappucino or a Fat Free version but they do serve ice cold Frappiato with Bountys chocolate! A good enough substitute for me at the moment.
Inspired by Amanda’s map on Craftmonkeys, I drew this map of Amsterdam to show the locations I have been to on Aug. 05, 2005. Once I got off the tram, I went everywhere by foot.
If you haven’t read my story about the locations shown on this map and you’d like to do so, please click on the following links:
- One Friday in Amsterdam
- City Animals
- No Poo Zone
- De Gedempte Begijnensloot te Amsterdam
- Lanskroon Banketbakkerij
Note: For those who do not know, the vertical triple-X is actually the logo of the city of Amsterdam.
After the museum visit, I did a little bit of window shopping. This turned out to be a very good decision! I finally found a great art supply store right in the middle of Amsterdam. How could I have missed that before??? Vlieger sinds 1869 on Amstel 34 in Amsterdam. Lovely store, 2 floors of art gadgets and necessities. The 1st floor is dedicated exclusively for papers. Beautiful papers. They made my hands itch to make something.
And then I ended up feeling hungry at Lanskroon. A tearoom that looks very cozy from outside. I ordered a piece of strawberry pie and a cup of coffee. The coffee was great, but the crust of the pie was just a bit too hard. I couldn’t finish the pie, but then I had enough. And it gave me a chance to draw the leftover.
I finished the drawing, paid for my coffee and pie, and went to catch a tram to go to the train station. It was still raining.
The Amsterdam Historical Museum is actually quite big, but not as big as the Rijksmuseum. The building the museum occupies consists actually of several smaller buildings. It used to be separate houses, which are now connected to each other from the inside. After I finished going through the City Animals exhibition pieces, I felt quite tired and did not feel like going on to the next exhibitions that the museum were holding: the history of Amsterdam (permanent collection) and the Tattoos. I was very much interested in visiting “The history of Amsterdam” and I think it is a “must see” exhibition, however I decided to keep it for next time. But I still wanted to just browse the rest of the museum.
So I went through a door and was surprised that I was standing on an indoor bridge on the first floor. On one side, the bridge overlooks a beautifull hall that houses some supersize paintings that are part of the history of Amsterdam collection and on another side it overlooks an old street: Gedempte Begijnensloot. Despite the rainy weather, the view from the bridge was beautiful, that I decided to draw it…
…then came the doggy section of the exhibition. I found these two signage most interesting compared to others. It’s the No Poo Zone signage for dogs of the city of Amsterdam. If you do let your dog does its necessity around this signage, you’ll get a fine.
I think it is nice that the city provides these signs on some areas. However, it is really unfortunate that people here still let their dogs poo almost everywhere. Although, I have to admit that Amsterdammers in general are much more responsible than Utrechtenaar (people from Utrecht) regarding dogs and poops. Some Utrechtenaars let their dogs poo and pee inside Hoog Catharijne (a shopping mall), which is very very disgusting and irresponsible and also asocial, in my opinion.
Ok, I’ll stop talking about poop and I’ll write something else….
After having breakfast at Cafe Luna, I went back to the museum, bought a ticket, and stepped into the exhibition hall. Turned right, turned around a bit, and I frozed.
 There was a dead kitty on a display platform. He must have been no older than 10 weeks and got run over by some car. They didn’t say when it happened (that is beside the point), but they explained that it is part of city life. When people, animals, cars, bikes etc. get thrown into a city together, this is what happened. (I left this first bit of the exhibition feeling angry and slightly sad. I am just partial to kitties…)
 I walked across the hall to the ‘bird section’ and found this: “A sparrow and a pot”. According to the explanation, the pot itself is called “De Spreeuwenpot” Sparrows pot) and it is from the 17th century. I am not sure if they still do this nowadays, but in the old days, the sparrows used to make a nest inside pots that hung outside some houses in Amsterdam. There is even a photo of a wall of an old house showing that this had become a symbol. Someone in the past has let the image of a sparrow and its pot be carved in limestone along with the text “In De Sprevpot” (old dutch spelling).
Then I reached the vermin zone. This piece really caught my eyes.”A damaged book and a mouse”. Mice are long time residents of Amsterdam. With all the canals all around the city, they are quite happy to live alongside the Amsterdammers. There was one or two in my old office. I saw one running accros the warehouse at IKEA Amsterdam a few weeks ago. This part of the exhibition shows what mice can do to your house, e.g. eat your antique book collection, chew on cables, etc. While I was busy reading and drawing this piece, there was even a mouse trying to chew my shoe….kidding…it was a fake mouse, like the one that my cats have. They put a sensor on the floor, so whenever a person steps on that particular spot a small white mouse pops out from its little but lighted hole under the cabinet.
Last friday I took a day off from work and I decided to go to Amsterdam. Not that I went to work after all, but I went to Het Amsterdams Historisch Museum (the Amsterdam Historical Museum). I wanted to see the exhibition ‘Stadse Beesten’ (City Animals) that will end on September 4. Just as the title says, the exhibition is about animals that live in Amsterdam in the past and now, their life, the danger of living in a city, and how Amsterdammers deal with this. It is an interesting exhibition and I had the chance to draw a few items from the exhibition. Funnily, the Museum encourages young visitors to draw or take photos of things from this exhibition. They even hold a photo and drawing contest, although I am not sure if the contest applies to adult visitors as well. Not that I am going to try to enter the contest … The next several posts will be about my day off and the exhibition. I can say that I had a very creative and productive day, despite the fact that it rained the whole day.
I took tram #2 to go to the center of Amsterdam from a station near Nor’s office. This tram passes by areas that I’d never been to before. It runs along the Koninginneweg and Willemsparkweg. These two streets are parallel to the Vondelpark. It is a wonderful area, full of beautiful grand old houses. One of the street that crosses the Willemsparkweg seems to be a shopping street and the small stores look very chic. I am not sure if it is Emmastraat or Cornelis Schuytstraat, but for sure, I will go back there and check it out.
I arrived a bit too early at my destination, the museum was still closed. So I decided to wait at its neighbour, Cafe Luna on Kalverstraat, and get some more breakfast. I was still hungry .
When I walked in, there was already one customer inside and only one staff in view. The girl ignored me for quite sometime that made me get slightly irritated. But that was before I saw the notice ‘AUB vooraan bestellen’. Oops, that’s why she was ‘ignoring’ me. I had to order at the counter. So I did. I wanted a Dutch pancake, but she said that she could not make that because she had no help. Strange, I thought. So I decided to get a ham and cheese toast instead, with a cup of cappuccino. My order came pretty quick, I ate it and started drawing the interior of Cafe Luna. The decor is quite interesting. They put black and white stripe wallpaper everywhere and in some parts the pattern actually emphasizes the leaning walls. From where I was sitting, I could see on the mirror that the wall behind me and the toilet door aren’t straight at all.
A part of the unique character of Amsterdam.
WARNING: Don’t read this post if you are reading the book or planning to read the book in the future.
I have finished reading the book. It is quite hefty, just as the previous one (book #5) and not as exciting as book #1, 2, and 3. The story line feels dragged and does not flow very well. Real excitement happened only in the last chapters, in which Dumbledore died because Snape cursed him with “Avra Kedavra” and got buried (shame..). So I am pretty sure that he is dead 100% this time and can’t be saved by his crying Phoenix or other means. Although, I might be completely wrong here.
When I finished 50 % of the book, I had a strong feeling that the Half-blood Prince was Voldermort. That was proven to be really wrong. It was Snape after all. At the end I am just as confused as Harry, Hermione, Ron, Prof. McDonagall, etc about Severus Snape. Is he or is he not one of the good guy?. Well, I guess I have to wait another 2 years or so for the answer.
The rest of the book is mainly about how the friendship between the characters is starting to change into a relationship and the dilemma that they face. Harry and friends are growing up.
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