Sketchcrawl: Deurne, Sterckshof

Last Saturday we had a Sketchrawl inside the Sterckshof.  This a a castle build for fun. No one ever really lived in it but many women where courted in there.
As of writing this it's for sale, but until it's sold it's rented out to artists as studio spaces. A very good idea in my opinion.
But enough jaki-di-jak here are the sketches.

July sketches

Sooooo july has almost passed. I made 2 sketches, Weather was very unreliable and time just flies by.

But enough excuses, here we go!

This first one is a nice view of the Carolus Boromeus church peeking out above the treetops. Made this one during breakfast while waiting for a haircut.

 

Sketch number 2 was made while I visited KSA Tarcidall (my local youth organisation, where I was leader for 8 years) during their summer camp. I left the people out since it's still difficult for me.

Medieval Reenactment sketchcrawl

Today was that day! The first sketchcrawl I organised. There is a Medieval Reenactment at a local park in my city. It started a long time as a very small fair but has grown over the year to one of the biggest in europe.
 But enough about the fair let's talk sketching...
 I made a small mistake: I said 10 o'clock in the information but the facebook event said 11.
 3 people turned up 2 of them never having attend any kind of Urban sketching event!
After some small chit-chat we all went our own ways. (We agreed to meetup a few hours later for pictures)
The weather was lovely and sketching went well. I sketched 2 stalls and a small table. I did walk around a while to look how everyone was doing. So only 2 sketches...

At the end we took some pictures and went our seperate ways. 2 of them stayed and sketched even more. I needed to get some bread in the oven...

Quondam and how to turn boring meetings in quality time...

I organised a sketchcrawl at one of the biggest renaissance fair in Belgium. Sadly it was on very short notice and the weather was rather sad so no people came. No problem for me, I can help myself So i went by myself.  I only made 2 sketches since the weather was just not nice. (I heard it cleared up after I got home but to late...

 

This Tuesday I was in a boring meeting where I hadn't too much to do so I spent the time sketching the people around the table. I'm getting better with faces. Now for the bodies...

Holiday and family weekend.

Thursday was a National Holiday and the weather was just soooo nice that I "had" to go out and sketch. After a small bike around the city I went to sketch a small square. (sketched there before)

There where a lot of different music buskers, great atmosphere!

 

This weekend was the yearly big family weekend. I found a little bit of time to  sketch the house where we stayed.

Busy times...

A lot of time has passed and a lot has happend.

1. I started working Part time.
2. Bought a new tube of Ultramarine blue light (Blockx)
3. got a commission for a sky line of antwerp.
4. Went on a Sketchcrawl in Rotterdam.

Here are the sketches from the last few weeks. A lot less then before due to working every afternoon from Monday - Friday.

  Cathedral of Antwerp.

A market stall. 

From the Sketchcrawl in Rotterdam. This is at the old harbor

This is inside the market hall of Rotterdam.

The next sketches are try-outs for the commission.

Getting the white stuff...

I was running out of flour and since I bake a lot of bread I needed some. There is a mill where I  sort of know the miller.
Since the weather was really nice it was the perfect time for a bike ride to the mill for some flour and a sketch.
With 21° Celsius and a clear sky I set of on a 23 km bike ride. One hour and a half later I arrived.
After a a nice sketch, some nice talking and a look inside the mill I got the flour I needed for free (!)
The small bar next to the mill asked if they could get a copy of the sketch to hang on their wall.
The ride back was tiring. (I hadn't had a decent meal that day).
Great day!!

Students, pilgrims and old buildings

 Did not a lot of sketching these last few days due to some volunteer work, bad weather and house work. But did got to squeeze in 2 sketching moments.

 

This first one is a election week for the university students organisation. Not a very detailed one but first try at sketching a crowd.

 

Number 2 is the backside of the Pilgrim Hostel. This concept was started for people who hike or bike to santiago de compostella. It's located in a 14th century old building.

 

And finally there is the old building on the Lijwaadmarkt number 9 . Half of it is a cocktail lounge.

That's about it. I am turning 26 this april and my spouses asked what I wanted for my birthday. So I gave them a list of art supplies. They can choose.

Painting to distract myself...

Made 2 sketches yesterday. One of a popup restaurant from a TV sohw, another from the back of the gate of the art university.

But that's not the point. Today Brussels International Airport was under attack. A terrorist attack killed several people and injured many more. A very sad day for Belgium and indeed Humanity.  Painting my sketches helped me relax a bit.

 Love for the world...

Going to disappear

Sketched the old scout buildings again. This time with the sqaure in front of it.
It's fun to flip through my drawings and see how I evolve sketching the same building.
The birdge on the right side was at a 90 degrees angle to the rest of the sketch. Couldn't get them right...

The old tram station.

This building was used to store the trams after their shift was done. Now it's mostly used for doing repairs on them. Was a great sketch.

Catching up and a new sketchbook!

I didn't update this blog for some days. So here is the catch up entry.

First I started in a new sketchbook. For the first page I felt like making a title page.

(Inspiration came from Liz steel)

The first sketch is the Radisson next tot the Central station in Antwerp. That day was awefull... The weather was soo gray, wet and cold. I did the pencil and inking on location but after that I had to go back to paint it.

 

A few days after that the weather was a bit bette. Still colder but not wet.I painted the greenhouse of the botanical gardens next to the ST. Elisabeth hospital. A small but fun garden.  

Rainy day and a new brush.

Yesterday was (as are most of the lately) a very wet day. So drawing outside was outside the question. Luckily there is the Central Station. A big part of it is more a shopping mall. So I propped up my little seat there and drew the view.

 

On other news: I got my new brush on monday! It's a Rosemary & co R9.

I got  this brush recommended by the blog of the lovely Jane Blundell.
This brush is amazing:
- Holds insane amounts of water.
- Has a fine point.
- Is big enough to fill large areas.

I needed to get used to it though. It behaves a bit different from my previous synthetic one.
But I really like it. (especially for such a low price)

Not feeling good today...

Today I didn't feel great! Soreness in my throat have been bugging me the last week and it seems like it's catching up with me. But I still sketched my tea and honey...

 

Rainy wet day and the old stock exchange

Very rainy today so I needed to find a dry place to sketch. Luckily we have one of the oldest stock exchanges in the world. Although this was more like a spice market, it can be retraced to the stock market. I did the pencil and inking on location but for painting the weather was still to cold so I did it at home.
Next time i'll try to "zoom out" more.

Busy week!

WOW! That last week was busy, I did have a little bit of time to sketch but was nowhere near a scanner. So blogging was put on the down low.
So here are my sketches of that week.

 

 This is on a small square. I did mess up the bollards.

 

  This is the house in the Herb garden. (Used to house the gardener)

Made in Gent. One of the oldest buildings in the city. (now a restaurant)

A small bakery in Gent.

Elzenveld, Antwerp

I remembered there was an old hospital (which has a new Hospital right next to it) right in the centre of antwerp. So, Took a short bike ride, set up my chair and sketched a bit. This is the small church  from the central square. Nowadays it is a Hotel and seminar.

Back again: 3th sketch

Had to sketch again but it was (again) later on the day so I went to the same old building. Good training to sketch the same thing regularly.

I used an Extra Fine Japanese fountain pen, so it's really hair fine!. Still need to work on the green part but i'll get it... (hopefully before they're demolished)

Here is the last time I sketched it.

Sketching and sketchbooks

The weather wa the last days very rainy and cold. So I didn't sketch that much. But yesterday was warmer and most importantly dry. So I jumped on my new bike, found a nice spot an sketch it.

This is a secret alley right in the centre of Antwerp. It dates from 159. It used to house shoemakers and the poorest people in the city. (Not anymore: Expensive restaurants, antiques stores and art galleries are now situated there)

On other news: I'm getting through my sketchbook quickly. I am already over halfway. So I needed a new. Sadly there aren't too many art stores in my city and most of them have the same 2-3 watercolor 

sketchbooks. (Mostly Moleskine = Big price). So some time back I decided  wanted to make my own and this week was that week. I took some researching and about 3 days but in the end I got 1 A5 and 3 harmonica sketchbooks. The harmonica ones are made with the leftover pieces of paper.

Buying all the supplies wasn't cheap but most of those are thing I can use multiple times or are a buy-once-use-for-a-long-time deal. So in the end the diy sketchbook is cheaper for me. And something you made yourself is much more worth it.

A little church...

This little church is hidden right in the Centre of Antwerp? It used to be a small Monastery.