Le Louis XV

This small painting was started in 2017 when I called it "Heatwave in May" to reflect the surprisingly early summer weather that hit Belgium that year. But that's no longer unusual since we had 20°C at the end of February in 2019. 

I just added some finishing touches and changed the title to the name of the restaurant that currently occupies the 18th century pavilion in Wolvendael Park.

Once I finetune a system for walking around with a few wet 10x15's, oil paints, and a chair, I could try sketching in oil at an outdoor USK event. 

"Le Louis XV"
18x13cm oil on canvas panel
(private collection, Bruxelles) 

"Clouds at Isaac Point" (final version)

I worked some more on this beachscape at the start of 2019. Here are the first stages: link. The US Virgin Islands was a great Virtual Paintout destination for practising ocean waves and sandy terrain. I look forward to "visiting" there again.

"Clouds at Isaac Point"
Oil on 8x10 inch canva
(private collection, Anderlecht)

#Inktober2018

#Inktober2018 - "flowing"

 Click for my Inktober album on Flickr: CH Inktober 2018

This month is "Inktober", a daily drawing challenge taking place on social media. Jake Parker started this back in October 2009 to practise his "inking skills" and it caught on. He publishes a new prompt list every year to help everyone find ideas and motivation here: The Official List

I had never participated before but after following last year's submissions, I couldn't resist trying one or two of the prompts. After that, it's difficult to stop. In my opinion, they are designed to keep you going: easy ones interspersed with more difficult ones. Some people stick to a particular theme or style while others use alternate prompt lists. In my case, I'm just experimenting with some supplies I own but seldom use and trying to make it to the end of the month.

Flickr groups displaying work by other participants:
  Inktober 2018
  Flickr Inktober 2018

Virtual Paintout - Amsterdam - September 2018

As usual, I spent hours looking for the perfect Google Street View scene and finally settled on one of the first ones I found: 570 Prinsengracht

"Bike Tour"
15x10cm oil on canvas panel

Street View Malta - September 2018

This is the final version of the painting started when the Virtual Paintout was in Malta back in July 2017.
Based on this image:  Google Street View

"Marsaxlokk Harbour"
13x18cm oil on canvas
(private collection, Naples)

Virtual Paintout - U.S. Virgin Islands II - August 2018 (first stages)

After concentrating on urban sketching in coloured pencil for months, it was nice using oil paints again. I plan to continue working on this painting but had to sign and photograph today in order to meet the deadline for Bill Guffey's VPO site.

Here's the link I used: Google Street View

The three previous stages:

Link to final version

"Clouds at Isaac Point"
8x10inch oil on canvas
(private collection, Brussels)

Virtual Paintout - U.S. Virgin Islands - August 2018

What a great surprise this month: the Virtual Paintout is back and Bill Guffey selected the US Virgin Islands for his first paintout in nearly a year. 

As soon as I found out, I began visiting St. Croix in Street View. The Google images date from summer 2016 so a year before Irma and Maria struck the island. I didn't want to paint views of people's homes while wondering if they had resisted the category 5 hurricanes, so I settled on some quiet beachscapes. 

Here's the Google Street View link: The beach at Sandy Point 

“Sandy Point”
13x18 cm oil on canvas panel

Virtual Tour of the European Union

3/2018: I've just published the first draft of my "28 Member States of the European Union" page:

Link to EU 28

Season's Greetings!

At the beginning of December, I usually start to think about sending out some greeting cards to try to carry on the tradition. That's probably why my interest was sparked by these two red and green antique cars during a recent Urban Sketching event in Brussels. They will serve as my virtual greeting card here on Blogger. 

 

Happy holidays everyone!

"1910 at Autoworld"
Colored pencil in A4 Moleskine sketchbook

Virtual Paintout - Malta - July 2017 (first stages)

First stage of a 13x18cm oil painting
of the harbour at Marsaxlokk
(private colleciton, Naples)

I didn't want to miss the Virtual Paintout in Malta so I spent the last weekend of the month travelling through the country in Google Street View. I had barely started the above seascape when I discovered an unusual beach with rectangular bassins further up the coast.  (Street View Link)

A sign read :

" Do not pass or stroll through Salt Pans. 

Do not litter in Salt Pans. 

Do not wash clothes or anything in Salt Pans.” 

This was intriguing so I checked a few Internet sites and found out that salt production was an ancient industry in Malta, probably dating back to Roman times. The process involves leaving sea water to evaporate in "pans" (the flat areas) until the salt residue can be collected and moved to storage areas on higher ground. 

In my sketch below, tourists are visiting the Kwejni Salt Pans:

"The Salt Pans"

Coloured pencil in 20.7x29.6cm sketchbook