The walk of the Croissants

Last weekend T and I went to Paris. (3.5 hours by Thalys, the fast train, 39 eurosehap if you plan in advance.) The first morning out, we encountered a very yummy croissant. So we christened the day the "walk of the croissants" and decided to eat our way through Paris. Here's our chronicle of that lovely Saturday. We're still dieting.

A wet day at the beach

Wind, hail, and rain made for a great day in Holland on the beach. I did finish the painting, but was it worth it?

Opening

So, I ducked into a local gallery to avoid the rain a couple of months ago. After talking with the owner, he asked to see my work. To make a long story short, I am part of a show now in the Hague, and the opening will be April 4 at 5:00 p.m at Weimar Galerie 55. Hope to see you there!

Stormy day

Both of these were painted on the same day, a day in which the wind was blowing in from the ocean at about 40 mph or so, very very windy. I got sand in the paint, in the brushes, in my eyes mouth and ears, and man was it great to be alive and outdoors!

Portrait

I enjoyed making these portraits. These are from 20 to 30 minute poses from a live model in a weekly drawing session at the International Art Club of the Hague.

Winter painting in the rain

Yesterday was great - I had just enough time to bike way out into the dunes to paint an ancient farmhouse. I've been waiting for a drizzly and overcast day to paint this scene. I was nearly done when it started to rain in earnest. To finish the painting, I had to keep blowing the droplets of water off of the canvas to see the oil paint. It was cold too. It was fantastic, invigorating, and possibly certifiable.

To stay warm I wear snowpants, layers of shirts, a heavy sweater and raincoat, fingerless mittens, hiking boots and wool socks.

Temple of Ramses III (Ramesses III) near Luxor

The hieroglyphs show piles of severed hands (top) and toungues (bottom) of the defeated Libyans at the Temple of Ramses III near Luxor. The temple dates to the12th century BC. I wouldn't want to be a prisoner of war in this era! Brutal.

The camel market at Burqash

Burqash is a thriving camel market near Cairo. We hired a driver and checked it out on the busiest day, Friday morning. It was well worth the trip. These are big animals, and you can see them being herded around for inspection at auction. The herders use big sticks to control the animals. It is strange to see pickup trucks tooling down the road with a couple or more camels in the bed. The camels with blue marks have been sold in a lot. Unfortunately, our driver did not have room for us to buy a camel.

How to plein air paint by bicycle

These pics were taken yesterday, and show the final painting after a days work. It was lots of fun!






This entry is for some fellow artists who wanted to know what equipment I take out into the dunes on my bicycle to do oil painting.

I bring just a few paints:

Cerulean Blue
French Ultramarine
Alizarin Crimson
Cadmuim Red Light
Lemon Yellow Hue
Cadmium Yellow Light
Burnt Umber
Magenta Quinacridone

With these paints, you can mix any color. I store them in a small cardboard box along with some plastic bags to hold the used paper towels, and a small jar of solvent for cleaning out my brushes.

During the cold rainy season in Holland, when temps are 30 to 40 degrees, I need to bring warm clothes. (This is most of the time in Holland.) I bring a heavy raincoat that can get dirty with oilpaint. (I look like a bum when I go out painting but it keeps the people away.) I wear a thin water wicking layer shirt next to my skin, followed by a t-shirt, then the thickest wool sweater I own, knit by my Mom. I have some great fingerless mittens, with a little flap that covers the fingers when they get too cold.

The paintbrushes are stored upright in my painiers, inside a paper towel tube. The paper towels are essential for clean-up. Don't forget a plastic bag to hold the used paper towels.

A sketch pad, pencil, and charcoal are used for composition design and for doing a quick value sketch. These drawings are not in any way valuable, they are just to get down the ideas and are thrown away. Don't get hung up on the value drawing, it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. I also bring a camera, which can help me to frame and see in 2 dimensions, as well as design a composition.

I bring water, hot tea in a bright red thermous (the warm happy color makes me happy out in the dunes.) Don't forget a lunch, a peanut butter and jelly. What an American.

To carry the canvases, I bring tupperware containers that into which I can store the canvas. These can be strapped to the top of the bike rack or in the bottom of the panier.

Don't forget an easel and a pallette. I mix my paints in the tray inside my easel. The easel folds up around the tray, so everything stays clean. I just leave the paints there, which means I never have to clean them up and I can just keep on using them day after day. In this cold weather, the paint stays good for up to a week.

I bring a tire patch kit, a pump, and tools for the bike. I also carry a screwdriver to tighten the screws on my easel which are always loosening on the cobblestones.

Everthing packs away nicely into panniers.

Pics from Cairo

All pics here were taken at the Khan al Kalili market in Cairo, Egypt. The colors, sights, sounds, and smells are overwhelming. It was loads of fun.

The top photo is of a coal vendors shop window. He sold coal from the front, and you can see his scale in the photo.

The next picture shows a donkey or horse driven cart, bringing a farmer's produce to market.

The next pic is a street view of a shop selling sisha pipes, commonly smoked by men in Cairo.

The potato vendor shown below is squeezing a potato to test for readiness - it was, and was delicious.

The next two scenes are views of the street.

Last week's bombing in Khan el-Khalili, Egypt

Khan el-Khalili was bombed in a terrorist attack last week. Khan el-Khalili is a major market in the Old City of Cairo, and is one of Cairo's main attractions for tourists and Egyptians. We were there twice over the last couple of weeks, once a few days before the bombing and again just a couple of hours before the attack. The pictures, from our first visit, make the event real to me in a way that newspaper headlines cannot. While I am glad that the beautiful little boy pictured below was there several days before the bombing, it is bittersweet knowing that others were hurt in his place. The pictures were taken at approximately the exact place that the bombing occurred.