Advent calender

I've been busy.

Right now I am painting the 2014 edition of the gnome advent calender and time is ticking. :-)

Zürich Sketchcrawl 27th Sept 2014

Hazel

We had some gorgeous weather yesterday so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to sketch outside and get away from the drawing desk.
This is a hazel tree/shrub. There are hazelnuts in the project I am currently working on, so it was nice to sketch something related to it.

Overcrowded

The Great Schaffhausen Knights’ Festival

I went to say hi to a friend at the medieval tournament in SH today. He is a member of the Company of Saynt George, a group of enthusiasts recreating the military and civil life of a Burgundian artillery unit between 1460 and 1480.


I only bought the ticket for the museum and the medieval camp, going to the turney would have more than doubled the price... which should not keep any of YOU from going there!
I sketched most of the helmets on display in the museum - even tried one on. Boy they are heavy! The knights must have had muscles in places I wouldn't even know of to support all the weight from their armor.




Then I went back to sketch my friend. Lots of children stopped and asked me questions and they were all excited about me sketching, which made me even more excited. Other members of the Company appreciated my doings as well, and I got a spot to sit on under their kitchen tent when it started to drizzle a bit. 

All in all I had a great time sketching but now my brain is fried. 

Restaurant sketch

I did a sketch of this restaurant before. This time I kept it very very loose - something I don't usually do but definitely should practise.

Corfu

I was in Corfu last week and had a lovely time relaxing (baking) in the Greek sun.

I find the sketches turned out a bit lame, but I blame the heat.

Ducks' Nest

I went down to the other side of the river yesterday. There were two ducks building their nest right there on the water. Every once in a while a big boat came along and created some rather big waves. The ducks seemed unfazed by this. The female was sitting on her eggs and the male duck took no break swimming to and fro with all sorts twigs and sticks in his beak.

I had to cut the sketching time short as my train was leaving soon and I needed to give myself about 20 minutes to walk back up to the station.

Waldfriedhof, SH

On today's fine public holiday I took my new square watercolor block, sat by the City Nursery facing the entrance to the Forest Cemetery and splashed my watercolors happily all over the page. A few people walked by, enjoying the multitude of colorful flowers after visiting their late relatives or friends. I had hoped for sunshine but the sky was overcast, leaving me with hardly any directional shadows.

I had "Die Drei Fragezeichen" for company :-)

Guardi artistico Torchon, 300g/sqm
Winsor&Newton Artists watercolors
daVinci Travel brush

Clean Dishes

I do clean my dishes, by the way.

Dirty Dishes

Paints used: Daniel Smith
- a triad of ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, aureolin yellow
- a really big size 24 brush
- a smaller size 6 brush for details.

Niklausenplatz II

As I came home from another long day at work, it was so warm outside that it was absolutely fine to put on some flip flops and sit on a arm wall to sketch.
The higher temperatures however also meant that more of the stuff that makes my throat tingle and nose itch was in the air. Which meant I needed to take the allergy meds that make my hands shaky. They still are as I am typing this. It's like drinking too much coffee.
At least my brush strokes on the trees were a little more loose :-)

Lukas watercolors
Lamy Safari
Noodler's bulletproof black ink
daVinci travel brush size 10
W&N Cotman tiny travel brush

Dirty Dishes

Most of the time when I come home, my kitchen looks like this. By the end of the week, I really cannot avoid it any longer and I have to actually do the dishes. 

Well, not tonight - I decided to sketch it all before getting my hands all soapy. I got carried away and so another evening goes by in which I leave the kitchen mess untouched. It will all be clean come Monday though. Grrrrrmppphhh.

Here is proof I do clean them.

Fields of Rapeseed

Quick sketch just before supper. 

I am not too happy with how the paper looks in scans. I prefer the moleskine watercolor sketchbook, but then I also think they should also make a portrait and not only the landscape version. So, this sketch was done in a handbook watercolor journal. 

43rd Worldwide Sketchcrawl in Neuchâtel

Here are a couple of sketches from the 3rd National Swiss Sketchcrawl!

After about an hour of sketching at the chateau we went to have lunch at a lovely warm crêperie. We were so glad to get warmed up a bit after sketching in the freezing wind outside.

 Afterwards, we went to the Neuchâtel Museum of Natural History for some more sketching and finally we all met up at the Confiserie Schmid.

Kafisatz, Winterthur

In Wirklichkeit war die Kellnerin gar nicht so gebräunt... 

Passiert halt ;-) mir ist der Pinsel ausgerutscht.

IF: Voice

Illustration Friday: Voice

Pendlerportrait

Portraying the unsuspectig commuters!

Bones

There is a taxidermy collection in my town, and I went to see it for the first time last Sunday. It was very fascinating but some of the items rather belonged in a cabinet of curiosities.

Made me feel too queasy to complete a proper sketch (Scroll all the way down to see it).
I left again after half an hour of being stared in the neck by human skeletons.

However, I can recommend it for sketch outings as the admission is free. One can sit quite undisturbed and sketch. Just remember to bring your own small folding stool.

Opening hours are 11 am to 5 pm on Sundays only.

Northern train people

... from my commute along the northern border.

Flower Bath

My poor orchid and succulents were so dry I had to give them a very long bath.
Well, I sketched them for long enough while listening to/watching the first episode of Suits and then the bath ended up being three hours overall.
I will drain the water now and put everything back to where it belongs :-).

My S8 commute

Two sketches from my commute on the S8 train today. 

When the sun is not out, everything seems so grey...

Sverige 2014

Back from Sweden. I realize I find sketching people much more interesting than drawing buildings. Also, it was very cold - sitting outside drawing buildings is something I'd rather save up for summer. 

Last Sunday, I met some of the Stockholm sketchers for a quick sketch (about 45 min) at the central train station. Next time I will need to stay for the whole thing :-)

Fjärdhundragatan.

Thank you, Anna and Przemek for a lovely week of holidays! And IKEA, of course.

Caran d'Ache Supracolor II pencils

Pentel waterbrush

Noodler's Bulletproof Black ink / Lamy Safari

HB Graphite pencil

Klingner & Rohrer Antiktusche Astoriabraun / coop fountain pen

Staedler fine liner

mostly W&N watercolors

Large Moleskine Watercolor sketchbook