A few notes about September

Sketching in Oranjezon, a protected nature area in Vrouwenpolder.

 In Oranjezon many animals lives free, as these ponies.

The dunes of Oranjezon were formed between 1200 and 1700.

 Gulls on the beach of Oost-Kapelle

Sketches and glasses for a lamp in my atelier/livingroom.

 The lamp is ready...

Rotterdam Zoo (Diergaarde Blijdorp) celebrates birthay these month: 155 years!

Cycling in Vlissingen...

... and along Channel of Walcheren to Middelburg.

An extra table to work in my atelier. 

 The topic for the next art route in Middelburg, 7 October: pumpkins. See also my blog about pumpkins. Once when I came home from work,  I found these pumpkins on my garden table. It was a present from Anna.

 So I immediately started to working.

And two weeks later I found this beautiful specimen back on my garden table, also from Anna. 

Avifauna

Mr. Van den Brink purchased the property "Huis ter Rijn" (in Alphen a/d Rijn) as a garden for his private collection of birds. His park was in August 1949 one day open to the public. The people were so enthusiastic about his birds, that Van den Brink decided to establish a bird park. Avifauna was opened on 17 May 1950 and it was the first bird park in the world.

My parents went to Avifauna maybe between 1953 en 1955. They had a page in an album made ​​for this trip. My brother fond this page:

For my sketches in Avifauna I use a ball point pen and sometimes color pencils. I draw directly on the paper, this is why sometimes the proportions or details are incorrect. I use these sketches for further works (as paintings and linocuts) and they are also a reminder of a nice day I spent in Avifauna.

Inspiration

The "Devil and the Violin" is a folk tale I read last week:
A man played fantastic music on a violin he built himself and with his music he charmed everybody. The devil was jealous and offers the man a lot of gold for his violin. The man fond a good proposal and took the gold. The devil immediately began to play on the violin but no one stopped to listen to his music. He became angry and sought the man to complain that the violin had a problem. The man answered that nothing was wrong with the violin. He said he sold his instrument, but not his soul.
This story illustrates that something wonderful has nothing to do with training, material or to follow a certain fashion. And also that inspiration (as motivation) comes from your inner. 

Rotterdam Zoo

mei 2012 at Rotterdam Zoo: some koffie, a donut and a model for a few minutes...