
Train tracks and platform constructions are much more fun to draw with pen and watercolor rather than with CAD.

The watercolor that I’ve been using lately is the sketching set water color from Van Gogh. It’s ok, but the greens are not that great. I think I still have other water color sets from e.g. Winston & Newton somewhere in the storage/basement. But with all the remodeling in the house, I am just too lazy to look for them and use it. So my ‘temporary’ solution was to buy this Van Gogh watercolor and use it for the moment.

I went shopping in Utrecht yesterday and splurged on some journals. I shopped at a small cozy store called Bureau Bewust on the Zakendraggersteeg. This shop offers many handmade journals. The papers are made from recycled paper or paper from India. I haven’t tried any to draw or write in any of them, but they look so retro and so nice.
At Bureau Bewust, I also bought a ‘Schneider’ pen/fineliner. The pen is perfect for writing and drawing. I lost the last one I had, which remind me of a conversation I had with a co-worker a few weeks ago.
I was writing meeting minutes with my Schneider pen. My co-worker suddenly made a remark that she had the same pen too. She knew that only her boyfriend’s office used the Schneider pens and he took some home and gave it to her. Our office does not use this pen. This remark made me feel as if I stole her pen. My answer was I bought mine at a store, although at that moment I completely forgotten where I got the pen from. She replied by saying that it was possible that I got mine somewhere. So I got an indirect apologies. A week later, I couldn’t find my pen which I usually left at the office. I was not going to go and ask around about that pen. So I left it at that.
The fact that I found and bought the pen (I took care that I got enough of it), proved that I didn’t take her pen by accident. I did bought the Schneider pen, and it is just a coincidence that it is exactly the same pen as her boyfriend’s. I like the pen and that’s it. I will certainly put my name or somekind of mark on them. I don’t want them to be mistaken as hers.
It has been a very busy and totally hectic week. I had 3 deadlines in one week. My client from London was working from my office on Tuesday and Wednesday. On wednesday morning he even came at 8.45 pm! I was quite shocked when I let him in to the office.
Anyway, I managed to do several sketches in my journal. I’ll try to upload them this weekend. I’ll also try do some washes. Hopefully it won’t mess them up.
Early this evening I bought my first Moleskine sketch book. After reading raves on the sketch book from some websites, I got curious. I refused to buy it before, because It was expensive. It still is. It costed me euro 15.95,- !! That was from de Bijenkorf in Amsterdam. Hopefully, it is something.

My first try on the Everyday Matters Challenge. This is challenge #16. I drew a nail clipper. It’s not exactly a ‘favorite’ tool of mine, but I do use it regularly.

Before I left the party, I turned in the invitation that my office has received from Vitra Point. The girl, who was noting who was coming and going, gave me a translucent box with a miniature of Verner Panton classic chair in it. The color was gleaming gold. Very kitsch but cool! Too bad I had to give it to my office, since it was my office who was invited (business relation) and not me personally …

Too many people just plain refuse to throw their trash to the nearby trash can. While waiting for the tram to arrive, I made a quick sketch of what people have thrown on to the tram tracks. Cigarette butts, soft drink cans, drink bottles, etc.

Everytime I commute with public transportation, I (almost) always have these as breakfast: a cappuccino croissant and a medium size cappuccino. I buy them at Cafe T at the train station. Then I wait til my train comes, jump in it and fight for a seat. I sit down and read the newspaper people leave in the train. Cafe T’s coffee is served at a good enough temperature for me that I can finish it before I get off the train. The train travel is so fast that sometimes I have to gulp down my hot coffee. Quite dangerous for my throat. But may be I am just a slow coffee drinker.
By the way, I do eat the cow (beef) but not the bike or the stop button. They are just what I see everyday…

I commute everyday to my work in Amsterdam. From home I have to walk to the tram stop then take the tram to Utrecht. Then I have to take my usual train from station Utrecht Centraal to Duivendrecht and switch to metro to get to the Amsterdam World Trade Center. From there I have to take tram #5 in the direction of Amstelveen Binnenhof and get off at two tram stops away and vice versa for going home in the evening.
I realize that there are actually so much things happening while commuting and so many objects to record in my sketchbook. Here is one.
Connexxion is promoting the new chipknip machine for paying one’s fare instead of using the usual ticket (strippenkaart). Paying with chipknip is cheaper, they said. While sitting in front of the machine to sketch it, I realized what their logo means. Clever!
While waiting for the train to arrive in Duivendrecht, I did some sketches. In the sneltram going home, I did another sketch and analyzed some corporate logo’s. Quite an achievement, I say. In the weekend, I’ll put some color on the sketches. May be it will look nicer with some watercolor.
I’ll try to upload these sketches soon.

What a person can do in the toilet while …
:-)
These cleaning agents remind me that I have to clean the toilet pretty soon.
I haven’t been writing any entries for almost half a year now. Feel a bit guilty about it. Anyway, this is the short version. I made some progress with my therapist. However at times when I felt down, I felt like I went backward instead of forward. I’ve got a new project. Histerical person drives me crazy at my office. Some unfairness at my workplace irritates me. They are playing cat and mouse with the law, which is also very confusing.
Yesterday, I came across this e-group called Everyday Matters. The group is based on D. Gregory book with the same name. I think this group and the book will be good for me in my effort to umph my creativity. So we’ll see if I can keep up the challange of sending one sketch entry per week. I (half) promise my self that I will sketch at least one sketch a day from everyday matters…

Yesterday I went to visit the Keukenhof for the first time with several co-workers. All of us have never been to this park, also the one who was born in Holland.
The park was nice, but we were just to late in the season. We should have visited the Keukenhof sometime in the middle of April. Now they have chopped off the lots of the flowers’ head. So only the green stems and leafs were left. The flowers with their heads on had some kind of frost bite, so did not look very fresh either. The flower field was totally green; the heads have been cut too. Dissapointing!
I heard that every year they put different kind of flowers and the lay out will be different too. So I might go back next year and possibly rent a bike too to explore the surrounding area better.

On the way to Leiden and back, I sketched several objects in the train. While I was waiting for the others, I bought a cup of cappucino at the Restauratie and sketched the lady in front of me. While sitting in the train, I made a sketch of a girl sitting across me and some objects along the way.

This is my first try at sketching Wasabi. I sort of drew her silhouette. She’s solid black cat with just a few white hairs on her neck. We’ve had crazy idea of dying these white hair black by using for example a permanent marker. She would not like it, of course! But till now we still love her as she is. The original Wasabi with a few white hairs.


Today is Whitsun, 2e pinksterdag. It’s a bank holiday. I’ve got time to study my cats. The ‘figure’ drawing of a cat is mostly about Salami. A brown/black tabby cat with a recognizable mark on her forehead. She became 5 last april.