Sketches

Saturday 31 December 2011

Painting


The last post of this year. I wanted to do some painting again, this was based on a sketch of the Chemelot terrain, in Geleen. I posted it last October: http://www.renefijten.blogspot.com/2011/10/chemelot.html. Acryl 50x40cm.
Schilderij van het Chemelot terrein, Geleen, gebaseerd op een schets van 19 oktober.

Thursday 29 December 2011

Ludwig Museum

In Köln (Cologne) Rianne and I visited the Ludwig Museum for the exhibition "Before the law", with post-war modern sculpture. Personally I did not see anything that touched me.
I  found the regular exhibition to be better, with fantastic works of Roy Lichtenstein, Picasso and Max Ernst. Much to learn from them.
Here a sketch of a sculpture of Reg Butler, "figure in space", which was at display in front of a window overlooking the railroadbridge crossing the river Rhein.
Rianne en ik bezochten de tentoonstelling "Before the law" in het Ludwig museum in Keulen. Een bronzen beeld van Reg Butler, voor een raam met uitzicht op de Rijn.

Monday 26 December 2011

La Pavoni

Last friday my daughter Rianne and I went to Köln, (Cologne), for visiting modern art and cute specialised shops. We had some tea and a perfect double espresso in a café next to the Kolomba museum. They had a huge amount of expresso machines on display, among others this fantastic huge La Pavoni.
Een heerlijke espresso in caffé perfetto, in Keulen. Daar stond deze prachtige La Pavoni espressomachine.

Wednesday 21 December 2011

First window

My first stained glass window pane.
Actually it was an exercise panel (of my own design), to get acquainted with all the different aspects of stained glass making.
Of course, just by looking at it I am reminded of all the places where I went wrong.
I tell you, making this was not easy at all, all these tiny little pieces which never seem to fit!
But in the end it was worth all the trouble. 
Mijn eerste glas-in-lood oefen paneel, 30x40cm. Als ik ernaar kijk zie ik alle plekken waar ik de fout in ging. Volgende keer moet het beter kunnen.

Tuesday 20 December 2011

Paysage

Yesterday I finished my first stained glass window. I will show it here later, I have to clean it first before I can make a decent picture.
This is my design for the next piece, 60x60cm. A fantasy landscape.
Ontwerp voor een glas in lood raam, ik heb mijn eerste oefenraam nu af.

Sunday 18 December 2011

First snow

This is the winter weather I like: this morning we woke up with a thin fresh layer of snow and crispy fresh air under a pale blue early morning sky. So I took my running shoes for a nice 12km through the hills, woods and fields around where I live. All I could hear were the crows and the crispy sound of fresh snow under my feet.

I had forgotten about this sketch of our visit to the Aachen Weihnachtsmarkt two weeks ago. I only drew a few lines back then, it was drizzling all the time, so I finished it yesterday evening. Always beautiful, these German Christmas markets.

Saturday 17 December 2011

Ron

The last of our drawings of pastel on coloured paper. This was today's live model, Ron. The drawing actually resembled him. 50x60cm., took me an hour to make.

Presently I can only post these kind of works; it's a busy time of year, not only with work but also private. I wish I could go out and sketch something. Anything.
Maybe in a week or so, when the Christmas holiday sets in.

Tuesday 13 December 2011

White drape

Art class, last saturday. We are still proceeding on the pastel on prepared paper, this time accompanied with black oil pastels (siberisch krijt). The white cloth was done with acrylic paint. The model was very good, she stood still holding up the drape for two hours!
I am not 100% satisfied, I think I worked too long on this one (almost 2 hours).
about 40x60

Sunday 11 December 2011

Gertie 50 jaar


Gertie, my wife, celebrates her 50st birthday today. As the Dutch saying goes: she saw Sarah today. I can only wish for many more beautiful years together.
Above the surprise present I made for her, a small 3D-composition (25x25) of pictures of her youth.
And at the left the party invitation I made for our friends and family, which will be held tonight.
Gertie heeft Sarah gezien vandaag: 50 jaar! Boven de surprise die ik voor haar heb gemaakt, gemaakt van gescande en bewerkte oude foto's. Links de uitnodiging voor het feestje vanavond.

Thursday 8 December 2011

Annlee

This is the surprise gift for my son, Mart. Two years ago I visited the Modern Tate in London with him, and he still talks about the "Annlee" art exhibition. Also known as: "No ghost, just a shell", referring to the fact that non-real or virtual figures seem to be alive, but are just alive in our minds.
Unfortunately the poster was not available anymore, so I painted this piece as an personal version of the Annlee theme.
50x70cm, acrylic on prepared carton, I also used Chinese advertisement leaflets that I brought from a trip to Shanghai.
Surprise voor Mart, een poster voor een tentoonstelling in het Modern Tate over een Manga figuur "Annlee".

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Surpise!

These are the suprise presents that I prepared for my family this year.
I showed the present for my wife in the previous post. The mirror was for Bob, he broke the right hand mirror of their new (old) car, I made a stained glass one for him.
The chicken clock was for Brenda, she visited the Rihanna concert, but had to wait for hours before Rihanna entered the stage.
The bachelor degree certificate was for Rianne, her cat Noortje needed a lot of attention this year.
I will post the painting I made for Mart separately.






Saturday 3 December 2011

Sint and Smurf

Sinterklaas, december 5th, time for giving presents and making little suprises. Here is the one I made for my wife Gertie. I wrote a rhyme with it, describing how Sinterklaas hired smurfs to help him (he ran out of Pieten), and they filled our house with smurfs. This makes fun of the fact that since a few weeks our children flew out, they live on their own now.
Sinterklaassurprise voor Gertie. Ons huis vol smurfen, ter vervanging van de kids, die tegenwoordig op kamers wonen.