Amsterdam pt 3

Our last day in Amsterdam was spent just roaming the streets, mostly in the Jordaan.  Sigh!  Really nothing better!  It was, however,  a little odd to see so many trash bags left strewn about the otherwise clean streets there that day.  We assumed they were waiting for a particular trash pick up time?

Damn good apple cake! Mmmmm....

Amsterdam pt 2

Between fighting jet lag and dealing with extremely variable weather in Amsterdam, we did a lot of dodging into cafes.  Here's one in the Spui area:

...and the view from one we visited shortly before hitting the Rembrandthuis (also extremely cool!).  Pictured is the Rembrandthuis itself.

Haarlem

Before our trip, we'd been watching a DVD lecture on Dutch art and were inspired to visit the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, which is about 30 minutes west of Amsterdam.  Really glad we did.  Haarlem was just charming, and Hals' work is just jaw dropping. Highly, highly recommended!

From our vantage points from a couple different cafes on the same square (Grote Markt):

An amusing anecdote: we were walking outside another church near this main square when we heard muffled but clearly tortured screams..Mind you, this was Sunday just after mass...turns out it was this video installation in a nearby museum.  Extremely cool!  Nothing like a little Sunday afternoon black metal!

We decided to make our way back to the train station to head back to A'dam when lo and behold, we spotted an honest to goodness turning windmill in the distance!  Had to take a look.  And of course, once there i had to do a quick sketch:

Really pretty inaccurate and bad, but i was falling asleep and not making good decisions.  That's my excuse anyways.

Amsterdam pt 1

Just returned from 3 weeks in Europe - about a week in and around Amsterdam and the remaining time around Munich with family.  Unlike previous trips, I managed to get in a good deal of sketching this time somehow.  My first sketch of my pristine new sketchbook:

It was more ambitious than I had planned, considering jetlag and all.  Really doesn't look a whole lot like the Westerkerk what with all the stray marks (wasn't at my best).  Plus a van pulled up in the middle of my scene, messing up the lighting i'd been trying to get. But overall the image turned out better than i expected.  

From our second day at De Doffer:

Really rich food!

for the hell of it

based off a workshop sketch some time back...not the heaviest paper unfortunately..

for the nephew

meh, not the greatest thing in the world...looking at it again, couple of places i ought to fix.  later!

Tübingen

thinking of my cousin...