Bike ride in the dunes and harbor

Dad and I went for a bike ride in the dunes near Scheveningen and Den Haag. These dunes protect the inland areas from flooding. The pictures give a sense of the muted colors and somber beauty of the dunes.

We stopped by the harbor on our way out of town. I always enjoy the brightly colored boats and unusual shapes that can be found there.

On our way out to the dunes, I mad my dad stop so I could take a picture of our front gate with spiderweb.

Dad enjoys the crossword puzzle in the teahouse

It's cold in the teahouse, but dad likes to go out there for the crossword puzzle and a coffee. Here's some sketches of him puzzling.

Winter at East Twin Lake, Minnesota

I've been taking an abstract painting class at the International Art Club of the Hague. This is a painting of a lake in north-central Minnesota in winter, from memory. It is kind of an abstract landscape, in that it comes entirely from what I remember, without reference to a photo. Painting this way is very liberating, allowing me to "see" and apply the paint in a very different way. Because I am not trying to represent what is in front of me, I am free to explore the paint's texture and color and its application becomes much looser and freer.

Oil painting - part 2

Yesterday, I had an hour to do some more painting and so worked on the project from the day before. Here's what the painting looks like now. Fortunately, we've had two sunny days in a row, so I've had ideal conditions for outdoor painting. The house is lit by the late afternoon sun.

It is still in progress, and will change significantly. I am starting to get some of the colors down, but have a lot of work to do. For example, the darks can get darker, and some of the whites that are not in sunlight should be darker.

Oil painting - the first step

Yesterday, I had a little bit of time to do some painting, and I grabbed at the chance. I set up the easel outside, and did a "quick" oil-painting sketch of the house. This is the stage where you get the main form down, and a sense of the lights and darks in the painting. This stage is called the underpainting, and is unfinished. It takes 5 minutes to an hour plus to get this down on canvas, depending on how rusty your drawing skills are and how long it takes the creative juices to start flowing. For me, this took an hour and a half, since for the first hour and 20 minutes I insisted on painting rather awful schwack.