April, 2006
29
Apr 06
Queen’s Day
Queen’s day falls on Sunday (tomorrow) this year. And the government does not allow the country to celebrate it on a Sunday, so the celebration is today. Every year on Queen’s day, people sell what they have and want to get rid of (read: junk) on the streets. The cities are usually packed with people. Everywhere, there will be (loud) music, drinks (mostly beer), food, and the color of orange (Dutch national’s color).
I was very excited this morning. I was already thinking of what I wanted to buy and so on. However, we went too early. We were there at about 10.30 a.m. and people were just started to take their stuffs out. After a couple of hours, the sky did not co-operate. Rain and ice poured on to the streets. Yes, ice! People covered whatever they were trying to sell with plastic. We couldn’t see anything and got really annoyed. We decided to go home, empty handed.
Then one way or another we ended up at IKEA and bought lamps for our bookcase. Queen’s day this year didn’t turn out as we expected.
24
Apr 06
Pens II
The second entry for my Toolbox. More pens in my collection. Some of them are meant for writing/calligraphy. However, until this moment I haven’t learned that much on calligraphy. Which is such a shame, I think. I do have problem in dividing my time between drawing/sketching/journaling, cooking, calligraphy (all my hobbies), and work. I am still hoping that soon I will be able to give more time on exercising calligraphy.
Other categories in my toolbox will follow. Oh, and in reality, the Rotring Artpen does not look as fat and short as I have drawn it 
.
23
Apr 06
Sketch Crawl – Den Bosch
I joined the Worldwide Sketch Crawl yesterday from Den Bosch (‘s Hertogenbosch). Den Bosch is located south of Utrecht and only 30 minutes by train. It was still quite cold yesterday, but the sun did show up in the afternoon. I think, everybody must have checked the weather channel the day before just to make sure the weather would co-operate. Loads of domestic tourists were there to explore the city by foot or by boat. One can go around (under) the city by boat, see sketch #2 below. So may be I’ll do that the next time I am there and I think a boat ride around (and under) Den Bosch at night time will be very cool! Click on images to enlarge.
1. Uilenburgstraatje, Den Bosch. A corner of ther street.
2. Uilenburgstraatje, Den bosch. Another corner of the same street.
3. Zuidwal, Den Bosch.
4. Station Den Bosch. A person on another platform has had a great shopping day.
5. In the train on the way back, Den Bosch – Utrecht. A fellow passenger.
17
Apr 06
Pens I
I am starting to illustrate art materials that I own to post them on the page ‘Toolbox’ on this blog (see link under Main Menu, right). This is the first part of category Pens. The rest will follow.
15
Apr 06
Pathe Rembrandt
We went to the cinema (Pathe Rembrandt, Utrecht) this morning to watch Ice Age 2. We went to the earliest show, which played at 10:45 a.m. And we liked the experience very much. Not only we only had to pay 4.50 euro per person (compare to 8.50 euro full price, evening show), we also had the whole viewing room for ourself. A private cinema! I changed my mind 3 times before I finally decided on the ultimate seats for us.
About the film, I found Ice Age 2 slightly dissapointing. It was not as funny as the first one. May be too much drama rather than stupidity? The funniest was the squirrel and his effort to keep his acorn (he kept loosing it all the time).
14
Apr 06
Grote Kerk, Den Haag
Easter weekend is always a long weekend. Today is Good Friday. And although it is not a national/bank holiday in Holland, my office is closed anyway. Then Monday is 2nd day of Easter, which is a national/bank holiday. After checking on the internet on how the weather would be in the rest of the country today, I decided to go to Den Haag (the Hague). They said that this afternoon it would be sunny there, and they were right. It was a beautiful day just to be outside. While sitting on a terrace of a cafe and waiting for my lunch to be served, I drew this church ‘de Grote Kerk’ which is located right across where I sat.
12
Apr 06
Ribeye steaks
Hergo in Amsterdam is one of the best butcher I found so far (the other is Chateaubriand in Heemstede). They sell fresh very high quality meat, that most local butchers and all supermarkets cannot beat. So sometimes during lunch time, I buy meat at Hergo and carry it all the way back to Utrecht. Today, I bought two Irish ribeye steaks for dinner. And they were superb!
10
Apr 06
Oil lamp
An oil lamp which was on the table of Restaurant/Tapas bar Abrikoos (Oude Gracht a/d Werf, Utrecht). We were there Friday evening. The place was packed with people, which was amazing considering that the food was just ok. The serve mix match mediterranean food: tapas + mezze. The place is cozy, but the tapas they served is no way near the tapas of Barcelona. It’s just dutch tapas.
9
Apr 06
Fanta art
Fanta orange, one of my favorite drinks, and some rambling. I think I have come to a point where I need new inspirations of what subjects to draw. I know that there are still many and I can do them in other medium, etc. But they all do not seem to be really interesting…everything just seems ‘bland’. Hmm…(thinking).
4
Apr 06
Boro
The interior of Restaurant Balkangrill Boro on Oudegracht a/d Werf in Utrecht. This was our table, when we were there for dinner a couple of days before Red’s death. I made a simple line drawing sketch back then, and used it as a reference for this pastel drawing I did yesterday and today. Although I am still learning to handle pastel, I think I like the medium. Using pastel makes me feel like a child again who is playing with her crayons. I also like the fact that I have to work less uptight with pastel.
2
Apr 06
Koolrabi and the old paper box
Click to enlarge
Our cats love to sleep in a box full old paper. Today, Kool claimed the box for the whole afternoon. Sorry to other kitties.
1
Apr 06
Salami 29.03.06
Click to enlarge.
My fat cat Salami (and the squashed couch). Graphite pencils and watersoluble graphite pencils.