Moleskine

Digital / Misc. Objects / Moleskine / Pen & Ink — 1 Comment
7
Aug 05

No Poo Zone

…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….

Animals / Cats / Digital / Moleskine / Pen & Ink / Places / Travel — 6 Comments
7
Aug 05

City Animals

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.

Moleskine / Pen & Ink / Places / Travel — 1 Comment
7
Aug 05

One Friday in Amsterdam

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.

EDM Challenge / Moleskine / Pen & Ink — 8 Comments
21
Jul 05

My Foot!

Finally! I drew my foot last night for Everyday Matters Weekly Challenge (#23). Something terrible happened though…
I did this sketch while I was half laying in bed. I used dip pen and Bruynzeel waterproof ink. I put the ink bottle on my night stand and kept dipping in the pen whenever it ran out of ink. But you can guess already what happened. I was so focused on the drawing and getting more ink, that I was oblivious that the ink dripped on my bed sheet. Right after I finished, I turned around and put back the cap of the ink bottle, then I saw it….Sh#@! I thought. Big blob of black ink on my bed and of course it went through the bed sheet. And another one on the floor…and another one on the nightstand. Grrghhhh!!!! I should have been more careful! I just hope now that it will go away when I put some Bio-Tech on it and then wash it. Never had a waterproof ink drop anywhere. So one plus point: at least a new experience….

Note: Proportion-wise, the foot is just a tad shorter than the real version.

Commute / Markers / Misc. Objects / Moleskine / Pen & Ink — No Comments
19
Jul 05

Porta Potti

While I was waiting for the hybrid metro #51 to arrive, I saw this Porta Potti standing across the street from the metro station. They are doing some maintenance on the rail, but by looking at the amount of new steel tracks, they are probably going to replace the current tracks. So this Boels Porta Potti is placed there exclusively for these workers.
I am not sure when they are going to finish with the work. I do hope that it’s really soon, because the station is now only accessible from one side. This means that I have to walk around it all the time to get to the station or to my office. It’s not that far but an inconvenience.

Moleskine / Pen & Ink / People — 5 Comments
18
Jul 05

Little feet

I am trying to draw more people. I can tell you that it is very difficult. It is difficult enough to master the contour, but for me, I think it is more difficult to draw people without them noticing. I already have a few pages of aborted sketches. Mostly because the person keeps moving, which makes him/her very tough to draw. When they stay put long enough, I can tell that they can feel my eyes on them. A few stared back at me, which made me very uncomfortable. Usually when they catch me staring, I just don’t look up from my sketch book anymore or look else where and try to draw from my memory. So that’s why there are a couple of people sketches, which were drawn when I sat behind them.

Yesterday, it happened again. My model, a guy, who sat facing me but a few rows further, noticed that I was sketching him. He stared back at me and scrutinized me in return. I stopped right away, and found another model or part of her. There was a toddler sitting on her mom’s lap one row ahead but across the aisle. I believe she was sleeping. Her feet wearing cute little white shoes were sticking out over the arm of the seat and in clear view. So it was easy to draw. So I just drew her little feet.

Misc. Objects / Moleskine / Pen & Ink — No Comments
18
Jul 05

Hemp Lotion


An old tube of HEMP lotion from The Body Shop. I have this for a few years now, and still can’t empty it. However the tube has many dents already, which kinda interesting to draw it. But I think my drawing is not that successful. I probably should have used pencils instead of pens.

I just have too many beauty stuffs at home. Lots of bottles or tubes or jars of lotion or body milk or cream can be found in my bedroom. When the remodeling is finished, I can then rearrange my collection of stuffs and count how many of bottles of lotion I have. That would be about another 3 months or so… I hope.

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