In my region there is an active Urban Sketching Group that organizes monthly events. I know the founders and I taught a Leporello- workshop to a group of sketchers last september but only once joined a Sketchers-event (back in 2023, see this blogpost.) Last month however, I noticed the next sketching event would be in the library in my town and I informed my son about it. Wouldn’t it be nice if he would come over and we would go sketch together? He was enthousiastic about it too and so he came to visit us and we went to go sketch together.

A lot of sketchers (almost 20) gathered in the library and then spread out over different parts of the building to start drawing. I didn’t stay in one place but found different spots to draw. Here are my sketches

Bookcases

A spot in the library with a small table and chairs

Again: chairs

A boy with headphone studying in a corner of the library

And here’s what my son drew:

view of the town from the library window

And again: view of the town

Next my son went to the big stairs and while he stood there I took a photo…

… while he drew the stairs and added me in his drawing, walking downstairs

Another view on the stairs

After two hours of drawing, the group gathered again to look at each other’s work and take photos. (My son and I are on the right.)

After that, we picked up a lunch on our way home to my beloved. We spend the rest of the afternoon in my atelier and watching the women’s cyclocross world championships on tv before my son took a train back home again. It was such a lovely day, I’m still smiling thinking about it!

I wish you a lovely Sunday,
go do something nice,
be creative,
make a drawing,
kiss the ones you love and
enjoy life.

Here’s (some of my) results:

And here’s an overview of sketches that the participants made:

We had great fun sketching each other and it was good practice for me. To sketch and draw more is one of my goals for next year and I hope to join this group more often in 2024.

One of my colleagues will certainly benefit from the extra time I have because I made her a beautiful card: it’s her birthday this week and she moved into a new home last month. I took the photo of my desk yesterday when I was in the middle of creating that card.

(click on the images to enlarge)

WOYWW #723

… and here’s the end result.

And of course I still keep my weekly Chronicles art journaling going. I started in 2010 with creating a weekly spread so this is the fourteenth (!) journal I’m filling… btw: all my journals can be viewed on my website – and here’s the latest spreads

Chronicles: Week 12

Chronicles: Week 13

That lady standing on one leg might need some explanation because she’s not just there to look beautiful: some time ago, after a walk on the beach and over the dunes, I forced my hip. After weeks of struggling with pain in my groin and knee, I went to the doctor and he send me to the physiotherapist. The physiotherapist gave me tips and exercises and he said that the problem should be resolved within a few weeks. One of those exercises is, that I have to alternately balance on one leg. I’m now wobbling on one leg a few times a day – and no, I don’t look as elegant as that woman on my spread. I’m more like an old stork (or maybe even less elegant than a stork) but hey, it works because the pain is almost gone!

Sketchbook revival 2023

Mid-March I signed up for the free Sketchbook Revival workshop… but I already knew I wouldn’t have time to watch all the free video-tutorials and/or work with all the lessons (the workshop closes on April 20th) so I picked out my preferences to watch and even created some pages. Last week, I watched a video with Toni Burt which tutorial I liked very much. When the weather gets better I’d like to go outside and draw more, so this was a start to work with the techniques she showed (I used a photo of our apartment complex as a reference.) It’s a bit overdone but I still like the outcome.

It’s been two months since I joined WOYWW, I hope you liked seeing me and my workdesk again and I plan on visiting ‘the workdesk gang’ in the following days. Enjoy your day and ‘see ya!’

Friday haiku

The photo was taken by my friend Lena Schreijenberg

I submit this haiku to Recuerda Mi Corazon where our lovely hostess Rebecca brings us all together to share a haiku on Friday: Haiku my Heart

Watercolor challenge

I was disrupted too last week… I found a watercolor challenge on Facebook and I thought it would be nice to try watercolour painting again. I meant to finish this painting before the due date (which was Wednesday.) I created the first pencil sketch but had to order new micro pens to finish the image I had in mind. I purchased those before the weekend but it took ’till Wednesday evening before the materials were delivered… so I could finish my painting only on Thursday and by that time I lost interest and ‘cut corners’ (is that the phrase?) finishing it… I’m not satisfied at all but I show you the challenge photo and my painting anyway.

The given photo

and my take on it

This is a lesson I needed to be reminded on: when you lose interest and cannot put on the concentration, you better not start at all.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, enjoy your weekend!

Je t’embrasse

The photo is made by my friend Lena Schreijenberg

I submit this haiku to Recuerda Mi Corazon where our lovely hostess Rebecca brings us all together to share a haiku on Friday: Haiku my Heart.

It was a nice, sunny day. Here’s me sitting in the shadow of a tree, sketching the bridge in the distance.

I go out and sketch every now and then and I found out I am a ‘free sketcher’. I try to capture the feel and mood more than trying to draw accurate. For instance, I don’t know if the poles of the fence are the right number…

When I see this sketch, I think back on a lovely day.

Enjoy your weekend.
Go do something fun.
Sketch a bridge!

And now it’s on to the regular desk-sharing again… here’s mine.

WOYWW #522

Last week, Elizabeth (Altered Book Lover) asked me “(…) what is the “thing” to the right of your water? It is metal and has “curls” on it. Looks like it’s in back of a tuna type can.” The ‘thing’ (I don’t know what it’s called either) wasn’t in use last week so I understand your curiosity Elizabeth… with the brushes hanging in, it’s purpose becomes more clear…

It’s for hanging wet brushes so they can drip and dry…

~~~~~~~~

The day that some (a lot) of you were at the crop, I spend the afternoon with my former neighbour Frederika and we went into town to go ‘Urban Sketching.’ There was a choir-festival in town and there were all kind of choirs (pop, a capella, classic, religious) on every corner and square. We visited the old Abbey and sat in the beautiful, botanical garden courtyard while behind our backs, in the old course of the Abbey, a choir was singing. Here’s a photo of Frederika (see the people behind the windows? That’s where the choir sang..)

This is the scenery she’s sketching.

And here’s the sketch she made.

Later, we went to the Abbey-square where they put up tables where we could sit, drink coffee and I pulled out my watercolors.

It was a sunny day and it was so nice to sit under the big trees, watch the people and listen to the choir.

It tried to capture the ‘feel’ of this scenery in a sketch

We had a wonderful day, Frederika and I. We will defenitely do this again someday soon! And since I got enthusiastic about “Urban Sketching,” there is a Quirky Dutch Summer post in the make about this topic. Speaking about Quirky Dutch Summer…

It’s creative, it’s inspiring, it’s educational, it’s fun and it’s for free!
YOU DON’T WANNA MISS IT!!! (see top menu of this blog or click the link.)