Last day of 2005, time for new resolutions?
Hmm…let’s review 2005. From the many promises I made to myself, I think I manage to achieve only one. My resolutions were: loose weight (typical), loosen up a bit (relax, not to take everything too seriously, be less perfectionist), draw more, cook more often, and make Nor become a coffee addict. Guess which one I manage to achieve, and it is so successful that it is beyond my expectation? Nor is now officially a coffee junkie!
Instead of loosing weight, I’ve gained weight a bit. I did draw and cook more, but not as much as I like. My work (sometimes it can be very unpredictably demanding) seemed to be always in the way. Same reason with loosening myself up a bit. I will have to work on that one much better in 2006. But I managed to encourage Nor drink coffee. Even more than I could ever imagine.
Nor was a tea drinker and often teased me about being a coffee junkie. I said, “Well, if I could make you drink coffee by the end of the year, that would be really something”. At the start of 2005 he refused to take a sip of my Cappuccino. In the summer he started to steal a sip or two from my cup. He began drinking coffee with milk/cream at his office about 2-3 cups a day by autumn. Now, he beats me as a coffee junkie. This morning he drank a mug of Cappuccino and 5 cups of coffee with milk/cream, while I only had a mug of Cappuccino and 1 cup of coffee. Talking about fulfilling a new year’s resolution. What an achievement! Nor is officially the coffee junkie of the house.
What are my new resolutions? Pretty much the same, except for the last one. That one about a coffee addict Nor can be off the list. However, I am so intrigued by a resolution that Elizabeth Perry of the EDM group made for 2006. She has drawn every day (365 days) in 2005 and will do it again in 2006! She will fill in 12 sketchbooks, one a month! This is really amazing, and I admire her for her ability to draw every day this year. Will I be able to do the same in 2006? This is a very ambitious resolution for me. I may not be able to stick to it (just like the rest of my resolutions), but what about if I just TRY and give it a go? Hmmm…
The colors, shades, and shadows are of course not applied blind. Coloured pencils.
My cat, Pirozjki, will be leaving us next week Monday. A new year… a new home for her. It is a sad fact for us, but it is unavoidable.
More than half a year ago, we started to notice that her behaviour changed. She is afraid of the other cats, especially of the two ex-males. She rarely plays with the others. She often hides under the unfinished kitchen cabinet, beside the mobile pedestal/trolley in Nor’s office, and the latest favorite place of hers is on or beside the TV (a place where the other cats seldom bother her). She doesn’t seem to understand the word ‘play’ in cat language. When Bac or Joey approaches her, they usually want to play. But she seems to translate that into ‘intimidation’. She growls, gets irritated, runs away, and hides. When Bac gives her a cat hug (Bac’s way of showing play mood, usually to Joey but also to others), Pirozjki’s reply is a growl of ‘go away, you brute!’, ‘you’re suffocating me!’ (Bac is heavier and larger), ‘help! I am being strangled’. But she usually doesn’t hiss and doesn’t give Bac (or other cats who is being a pest) a slap or two in his face, just to show his place. I noticed that Red and Salami do this to him or Joey when they are being annoying. However, Pirozjki is apperently not that assertive. Her rank went down to the bottom of the list in our household about 6 months ago, or so we think. We kept hoping that she would somehow ‘fight’ back, but it is just not happening.
So after waiting for months and seeing that the cat is not getting anymore comfortable, we made a tough final decision last week. We would look for a new home for Pirozjki where she will be the only cat. No more cat hugs or attempts to strangle.
We placed an ad online the day after Christmas. Yesterday a young lady called and wanted to take a look. She came with her mom and liked Pirozjki right at once. We like her too and we think she will give our cat a good home. We will take Pirozjki and all her favorite things monday evening next week to her new home and will take a look at her new environment.
NOTE: This drawing is also an entry for Everyday Matters Challenge #44. Coloured pencils on Moleskine. Please click on image for larger view.
Happy Holidays everyone! A belated Merry Christmas to those celebrating.
I was very busy at work and at home in the last couple of weeks. Luckily the pressure is over and I hope to spend more time doing some sketches. At work I was busy with…what else? Work, of course. It’s the end of the year and everything needs to be done before everybody is on holiday. Typical. At home, I was busy preparing what to cook for Xmas. We had to do big time grocery shopping and cooking. I even bought some stuffs at the Albert Cuyp Markt in Amsterdam, which I can’t find at the local market near where we live.
Now the sketch below doesn’t really have anything to do with the holiday season. It is the only sketch I made in the last 2 weeks. I had to go to London on 15/12 (afternoon) on business. I flew back the next morning and it was such ashame that I didn’t have any time to sketch anything else. My stay was really short, less than 24 hours. Everything was done in a rush. I think the most enjoyable moment during my trip was when I had a full English Breakfast at the hotel the morning I flew back. That was just so… comforting and satisfying.
I made above sketch during the flight to London Heathrow from Schiphol with British Midland. I started before the boats and harbour (somewhere at the edge of England) were visible, and finished somehow with them on view. The wing of the airplane is too small in comparison to the size of the window.
I had a red pencil with me yesterday. The pencil is not exactly an art/artist’s colored pencil. It is just a regular cheap pencil, only it was red instead of black graphite. I thought I would do a little experiment with it, and so I did. Well, the red pencil actually makes my umbrella look like it is suffering from chicken pox. So it seems that I may have to carry a graphite pencil in the future.
A couple of months ago I wrote a little bit about ‘Chocolate Letters’. Well, here is a sketch of a chocolate letter that I still have to eat (before Nor steals it). This one (the letter E) is made of 135 g pure/bittersweet chocolate from Droste. Droste, is a famous chocolate factory in Holland that produces chocolate letters (seasonal/end of year), chocolate bars, filled chocolate, and cacao powder.
Although the sketch above shows my collection of the PITT pens from Faber-Castell that I used for the train sketch (see previous post below), it is actually done by using dip pen + ink (bordeaux) + watercolor.
A sketch that I did on Tuesday last week, but couldn’t finish it until yesterday. It is of a train that is operated by the Dutch Railway (Nederlandse Spoorwegen). They operate several types of trains, and this is one of them. One of the older models, I think.
I was at the Naarden-Bussum station when I sketched this. I was waiting for another train, which would take me back to Amsterdam.
Personally, I think that the end result is a bit overworked. I did the colouring at home. Pen/Ink/Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (markers).
A late post for Blind Contour Friday. It shows a ‘wayfarer’, a ticket machine in trams. Colour was not applied blind.
Yesterday was so bad… I ended up in Burger King twice!
And I am a supporter of gastronomy??? Knowing what I ate yesterday, I am slightly ashamed now. Yes, I visited BK 2x yesterday. Yes, I ordered almost the same thing. I ate at BK Amsterdam Centraal station for lunch, right after a site visit. Then my dinner was at BK Amsterdam Amstel station. The dinner was actually unexpected. I worked late, went home late, and guess what? A train broke down between Amsterdam and Utrecht and made the rail traffic irregular. What traffic? There was not a single train on sight for 1 hour. So I called Nor asked him to pick me up. I’d figure that it would still get me faster than any trains.
After that I went to wait for him at Burger King. I was starving and needed to eat. Other options were not that appetizing and all of them are fast food as well.
So now you see my sketches of what I consumed from de Kiosk, Smuller, and BK. All of them are fast food chain available at larger train stations. And you think: she claims that she loves gastronomy and cooking? Well… I still love gastronomy despite my consumption of fast food. I can only really cook in the weekend. I do think that train travel is not very healthy and it is making me fat right now …may be some money back from the NS (Dutch Railway) as a compensation?
Here is a view of some stuffs I have on my nightstand.
The sketch is done in pen/ink (Rotring XONOX) and color pencils.
Phew! At last I can breathe again!
My ‘doom’ period lasted longer than I thought. It was just not such a fine time. I was busy, and unfortunately I felt down at the same time. In combination with the Thanksgiving dinner, where in the end I had to go home late, it was just too much for me. I got sick last week Monday. I did not go to work until Thursday and could not work. It was a very very bad cold. I felt like a dying fish (slimy and could not breathe, had to gasp for air every second). What I could do during daytime was try to sleep with a huge headache on the couch accompanied by several cats. The cats have been very helpfull. How? It was cold outside, but inside the house I felt even colder due to the cold and fever I had. The cats provided me with some extra body heat on top of the blanket I was using. So it was very cozy!.
Now I can breathe again. It is not yet back to normal, but it is getting there. However I am still trying to get over this ‘doom’ period and to get some more confidence back. I just have to try to face the world instead of hide.
Since the last post, I only managed to get a few sketches done. Often I didn’t feel like sketching. However, I forced my self to do some, which actually helped me feel better. I am hoping that I will get back to do 3-4 sketches a week again soon.
I did the above sketch on the train, before I got sick. I had a guidebook for Brussel with me, but I couldn’t figure out if we should go to Brussel or Frankfurt for a daytrip. I still can’t.
Just a doodle.
After I got a bit of my strength back, I made the sketch above. I used dip pen and ink (bordeaux/burgundy) and watercolor.
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