French school at night

These photos are of the French school next door, at night. I like the shadow of the tree on the building.

Life in Osh

Scheveningen water tower and dunes

Today I packed up my bike, and went off to draw the Scheveningen water tower and dunes. It was windy, but a nice temp. It felt good to get out of the studio and work from the landscape. Here is the drawing that came out of today's effort.

Camille visits

Camille stopped by for a few days, on her way home from Botswana. She is showing her handmade skirt that she bought at a traditional market - check out the glorious hand-stitched gold thread in the fabric.

Our orchids are in full bloom now, and are in the kitchen window. Love the plants in Holland.

Studio space, flowers

So, these pictures represent a corner of my studio space, and a couple of self portraits. I was happy with the last portrait, it is more of a sketch really but I feel as if I am getting closer to where I want to be with my drawing skills. The first portrait is too dark, and really I am not that grim usually. I love the studio, it is a wonderful place to work, and totally dedicated to artmaking. A room of one's own, I guess.

I have the evening free, to myself, and plan to spend it working on more sketches and portraits. To really make it perfect, I biked down
to our favorite wine store (our new friend Ingmar owns it) and bought a good bottle of pinot. I will drink it while I do the sketching. Hopefully, the next blog entry will have something to show for it and not just drunken scratchings.

Gracie the dog

We are sitting Gracie, a cute chocolate black lab mix. That's her and her favorite toy, a cat. She likes to bite it fiercely, looking for the squeek toy inside. This should have been a tip-off for us with regards to our own cat, but more on that later.

It's been going well and she's really cute, and loves to play fetch and is soft and smells good. She likes to give kisses. T and I each fed her dinner unbeknownst to the other, leading to an unfortunate overcapacity of food in her system, and despite an evening walk there was a large-ish, fragrant incident on the bath mat in the bathroom. Between the time that I found the incident, and the time it took to find a plastic bag to clean up, all evidence of an incident disappeared. No more kisses from Gracie.

Then, Gracie encountered Shiva, our cat. Perhaps Gracie was looking for the chew toy inside. The ensuing cat chase looked like certain untimely demise for our 17 year old cat. Back and forth, around the yard, there went the cat, followed by Gracie, followed by me all at full speed. The cat ended up tottering on a railing 15 feet above a concrete pad, back to the drop, fending off the biting demon terror. Brave cat. All ended well, but there it is. Still, on the whole, its been a good time and we love the dog. The cat, not so much.

A great night at the International Art Club of the Hague

Henny is a great model, and everything clicked last night at the International Art Club of the Hague. I really had fun. The two self portraits (my most willing model) were done yesterday, and a week ago respectively.

Orchid drawing

I have started drawing on Wednesday mornings with the International art club of the Hague, and this is the drawing that came from last Wednesday. It's basically open studio space, and you pick whatever you want to draw and spend a few hours painting or drawing in the company of others, with a break or two for coffee. Very collegial, lots of fun. And a good way to practice a little Dutch.

The picture of the plant is up because it is a strange-looking jungle plant from our garden, and I hope that someone can identify it...

Tamara and I took a 40 km bike ride into the dunes yesterday, and had Pannekoeken for lunch. Beautiful ride through the mist blowing in from the ocean, and the sun broke out for the first time in days after the ride.

A day in the life of...

Holland is big on flowers, both cut and potted. We have these on our kitchen windowsill. Orchids grow well here in the high humidity. That's one thing we've learned: nothing ever dries out here. There's a whole different system for doing and drying dishes. Air dry? FORGET ABOUT IT! We still try though. Air dried laundry? 72 hours.

The other pics are all taken over 24 hours. A couple of kitchen pics, since we had a request for more interiors. And, I couldn't help but include this pic of dinner crayfish marinating in rosemary and garlic. River crayfish are also a big deal here. Ours were served with roasted red peppers blended in a cream sauce and balanced with lemon juice and sambal. Finally, there's a pic of Tamara and our resident ducks.

I figured out we really did move to the Netherlands this morning when the alarm went off. It only took 3 months to figure this out. As the haze cleared, and my dreams merged with reality, I heard someone sneezing and gargling. Wait, no, that's someone speaking. A foreign language. That was weird. Why would someone be speaking a foreign language on NPR? Was it already 5 a.m., and time for my commute to ICPRB in DC?
wait...
Is this Holland? A dream? (Listening) ...
No! Dutch!
we really moved here....

Clair's stained glass window, and paintings by my cousins Jim and John Hagen

My former next-door neighbor, Clair Garman, made a stained glass window that matches the ironwork of our bedframe. We have installed the window next to the bed, where it looks great and makes our new house feel like home.

Also, you can see to the left of the bed two paintings. The winter-scape is an awesome painting by my cousin John Hagen, who is a professional artist. The lighthouse is one of the best paintings by my other cousin Jim Hagen, who I think could have been a professional artist but chose to do engineering and business instead. As I look at these paintings while lying in bed just before going to sleep, and they inspire me - I hope to do art as well as my cousins.

Some sketches

These are just a couple of drawings, trying to get in art shape!

Japanese garden, the Hague

Tamara's mother, Jacqueline, and I found a quiet day to go explore the Japanese garden in the Hague on the Clingendael estate, which is now owned by the city. This garden is open only for a few weeks in late May and early June. It is well worth a visit, especially if you like paths lined with thousands of flowering azaleas and rhododendrons. This would be a good place to set up an easel.