Commuting

Hello folks, it's been a while! I've been neglecting this blog. In fact, I might continue to do so.
In the meantime, here's a sketch:

Qin - The eternal emperor and his terracotta warriors

I went to the Historical Museum of Bern today to see the Qin exhibition.
Somehow, it felt like a bigger (and much more foreign) version of the Celtic Glauberg exhibition I went to in May.

The exhibition lasts until November 17th of this year. If you want to go and see it, buy the tickets online and show it at the SBB counter when buying your train ticket. You will get 10% off.

Also, download the official audio guide app from either iTunes or the Android app store.
The app runs in German, English, French and Italian.
You may save only 1 CHF, but if you go there to sketch, you will be thankful you only need to put in your earplugs and not have one hand occupied with the museum's audio guide device.

With each audio segment a related picture of one of the exhibits is shown on the screen. I can revisit what I have seen and heard today, which I think is really nice.

✎

When I got on the train in Zurich, an elderly couple with visitors from Sweden sat on the remaining free seats around me. There was one very blonde little girl with them as well.
I was already sketching at that point, just finishing up a few brush strokes before moving on to a light pencil sketch of the items on the little table in front of me.
I am not good at guessing the age of little kids, I only know that girl was past the three word sentence stage (yes, this is the linguist talking here) and she wanted something from the lady opposite her.
She was at first misunderstood, in the end it turned out she wanted to swap seats with that lady so she could watch me sketch.
After a couple minutes that girl got out her own sketchpad and coloured pencils.
I loved it.
The two of us sitting there sketching away, no words needed!

 Qin Dynasty (Wikipedia)

At the Qin exhibition there were a lot of items with very intricate and detailed patterns carved on them, which I quite enjoyed drawing.

I did give the armor made out of small stone plates a try, but soon gave up.

This armor was made to be a burial object, not an actual defense against swords or arrows. It weights over 18 kilos and would have broken apart quickly if someone did actually wanted to have a stab at it.

One of the museum employees walked over and asked if I was comfortable and had all I need. He was looking at my sketches and seemed happy. I saw him again later on and we nodded at each other, smiling. I'd like to think that my sketching made at least two people happy today.

After two hours of wandering around I felt quite hungry and thirsty, and got something Asian to eat at the museum restaurant. They had these nice little cups as decoration on the tables:

My museum ticket was also valid for the other permanent exhibitions. I did go to have a peek, but decided I could not take in any other cultures for today and left. I would love to come back though and sketch my way through the American Indian and Ancient Egypt sections.

I also tried to do a couple of thumbnail sketches from the train window as a memory exercise on the way back. Not satisfied with it though.

And then, that was it! I filled my A5 Moleskine Watercolor sketchbook, and it took me much longer than I want to admit.

Surprise visit

I traveled to visit my sister for her birthday this weekend. It was a surprise visit. Next day we were joined by our brother and his wife, which was the second surprise. I love a good and pleasant surprise like that!

Getting there proved to be a bit tricky as there was severe weather the night before, and parts of the train tracks were still flooded and full with fallen trees and torn off branches. The fast trains were cancelled, the loudspeaker information was not always as informative as it could have been but in the end we got there. 

When I say we, I mean a group of four lovely ladies (sisters + their daughters) from the States and myself. I was glad to have a bit of company as we made our way towards the big city with the regional trains and the rain replacement bus service. 

I'd like to think I was able to take out some of the stress that comes with public transport hiccups in a foreign country for them. Thanks for the company!

So, traveling did not go too smooth this time as on the way back I had quite an upset stomach, but I did  manage to do a sketch or two of my fellow passengers.

IF: Wings

I have long wanted to try out Angela Rizza's way of creating her beautiful glowing illustrations, and this week's Illustration Friday challenge gave me the perfect excuse.

I am still quite new to Photoshop and tablets but I find most learning in art comes by doing.

Thanks Angela for sharing your WIPs and step-by-step work process!

original sketch

C'an Picafort

Just back from holidays.
Mallorca is warm, sunny and the beach in the north I was at was rather huge, considering the other beaches of the island.
However, for various reasons, Mallorca is best enjoyed for one week - no longer.

Before I left, I bought a brand spanking new palette of Winsor and Newton Artist's Water Colour half pans and a size 10 daVinci travel brush. It was quite expensive, all in all, but the difference in quality is so obvious when painting, it was worth it.
I think if you buy something expensive but then make very good use of it, it is money well invested.

I am still fiddling around with finding the right sketchbook size for on location watercolor sketching, but for now the Moleskine Large Watercolor (A5) sketchbook best fits my needs.
How do I know? I ran out of pages.
Next time I should just pack an single empty A5 sketchbook instead of the A4, A5 and A6.

First tryout of my new palette at the beach.

Girls playing cards at the bar tables

This woman spent forever to find out which position is best for reading a thick paperback.
I don't think she found out, but she made for a very life-drawing-class-like subject,
moving every 5 minutes, if not more often.

Balcony view

Balcony view on the one day it was raining a lot.

View from the bar

People at the pool

Holiday time is reading time! I love my Kindle 3G Keyboard.

Beach of C'an Picafort. On some days, the sea is so still, you can walk through the water and see everything.
On this day, the sea was a mix of water and sand. 

Beach of C'an Picafort again. Squeezing out the last lines of my edding 1800 profipen 0.1.
I have ordered Pigma Microns now to try out. They are hard to come by in my part of the world. 

Hotel room. 

View down from the balcony.

Trying to pass time while it was raining outside.

The pool palm tree.

Ze Germans at the beach.

Watching the Reading vs Tottenham Hotspur match at a British bar. 

People at the travel agent's and the hotel lobby. Very shiny floor tiles.

Obligatory in-flight sketch with a Rotring Tikky Graphic 0.3. I prefer 0.1 for A5 formats.

Mama & Papa

Since it has just been mother's day, and today was father's day in some places, I thought I'd dedicate this one to both my parents.

Thanks for being my parents!

Housewarming cake

...in reply to a blog (that moved) I am following.

No other particular reason.

Folds and pixels

Here are the folds (they drove me crazy):
Hier sind die Falten (sie haben mich in den Wahnsinn getrieben):

and here the pixels:
und hier die Pixel:

A friend who is planning to elope soon (just to be clear: NOT talking about ME) asked me to do her wedding card design. I thought the instructions she gave me on what was to be on the card were a fantastic excuse to finally use my Wacom tablet.

Eine Freundin wird demnächst mehr oder weniger heimlich heiraten (nur um klarzustellen, wir reden hier NICHT von MIR) und hat mich gefragt, ob ich ihr die Hochzeitskarte machen kann. Sie war sehr spezifisch mit den Details, was eine perfekte Möglichkeit war, mein Wacom tablet mal auszutesten.

I spent most of the time figuring out how to separate the lines from the background. So glad I now know how it works!!!

Den Großteil der Zeit habe ich damit verbracht, herauszufinden, wie man die Linien vom Hintergrund trennt. Endlich weiss ich, wie's funktioniert!!!

They are going to Lacgas, are taking a helicopter to the Grand Canyon to exchange their vows.

And afterwards they will be sending this card. If they like it.

Sie werden nach Las Vegas fliegen, und mit dem Hubschrauber zum Grand Canyon hinzukommen und dort ihr Eheversprechen ablegen. Und nachher sagen sie jedem mit der Karte Bescheid,... wenn sie die Karte denn mögen.


I want to thank Karien Naude, a friend and a children's book illustrator, for giving me the Liebster Award!  
She has a very flattering opinion of my creative outbursts, I hope I can live up to that kind of reputation!

Sunday creativity

It's been a long while since I last did any creative stuff.
I think it really helped that I cleaned up my home - I can't work creatively if something is bugging me about my surroundings.
Es ist schon eine lange Weile her seit dem ich das letzte Mal irgend etwas Kreatives gemacht habe. Ich glaube es hat wirklich geholfen, mein Zuhause erstmal richtig sauber zu machen - ich kann nicht kreativ arbeiten, wenn mich etwas in meiner Umgebung annervt.

I started off with a big A2 drawing...
Ich habe mit einer großen A2-Zeichnung angefangen...

and then did a sleeve for my Wacom tablet to prevent further scratches:
und nähte dann eine Hülle für mein Wacom tablet, um weitere Kratzer zu vermeiden:

Otherwise, I am particularly happy about a present I received this month from an artist acquaintance of mine:

Ansonsten freue ich mich sehr über ein Geschenk, das ich diesen Monat von einem Künstler-Bekannten bekommen habe:

Great minds think alike

... and fools seldom differ.

Es war ein langer, frustrierender Tag. Ich ging nach Hause und habe die Arbeit mental mitgenommen - nicht gut. Ich hab dann Spaghetti für R und mich gemacht. Zum Nachtisch wollten wir uns gegenseitig mit Vanillecreme überraschen. Das hat das, was von meinem Tag noch übrig war, gerettet.

Schaffhausen Golden Balls

Ich war heute beim Rugbyspiel RC Schaffhausen gegen RC Bern. Die Schaffhausener sind auch als "Schaffhausen Golden Balls" bekannt - ein englisches Wortspiel, dessen Bedeutung ich hier nicht näher erläutere.
Die Golden Balls haben ihr erstes Spiel diese Saison heute gewonnen. Gut gemacht :o). Es gab Nasenbluten und gebrochene Finger, aber alles in allem war jeder glücklich und zufrieden. Ich war auch glücklich und zufrieden, weil ich in einem wunderschönen Tal voller Sonnenschein mein Fahrrad fahren und ich einen Haufen Männer anfeuern konnte, die sich manchmal scheinbar einfach nur ganz doll geknuddelt haben.

Hugin and Munin

O'er Mithgarth Hugin and Munin both

Each day set forth to fly;

For Hugin I fear lest he come not home,

But for Munin my care is more.

Hugin und Munin müssen jeden Tag

Über die Erde fliegen.

Ich fürchte, dass Hugin nicht nach Hause kehrt;

Doch sorg ich mehr um Munin.

John Howe: Flavor of the Month

Gargoyle

Wasserspeier

Hard Shoes vs Tap Shoes

iPad

Commissioned.

Auftragsarbeit.

Update:

EDM#1: Draw a shoe

Get your boots ready ... tomorrow is Saint Nikolaus Day / Samichlaus / Sinterklaas!

Macht eure Stiefel bereit, morgen ist St Nikolaus Tag / Samichlaus / Sinterklaas!

I wanted to fill this boot with goodies and post it on St Nicolas day but ran out of time. So here's the empty boot, posted a day earlier, waiting to be filled with presents.

Ich wollte diesen Stiefel noch mit Geschenkchen füllen und am eigentlichen St Nikolaus Tag posten, aber die Zeit war zu knapp. Also - hier ist der leere Stiefel, einen Tag vorher, wie er darauf wartet mit Geschenken gefüllt zu werden.

EDM#8: Draw your watch or other piece of jewelry

#8 - Zeichne deine Uhr oder ein anderes Schmuckstück

It's been a while since the last post, so here's a sketch from the week I was off sick.
Der letzte Beitrag ist schon eine Weile her, hier also eine Skizze von der Woche während ich krank war.

EDM#105: Draw some scissors

#109 - Zeichne eine Schere

By the way: It's daylight saving time! Adjust your watches by -1 hour and sleep a little longer.

Übrigens: Es ist Winterzeit! Stellt eure Uhren um 1 Stunde zurück und schlaft ein bisschen länger.

EDM#297: Draw a bottle of water

#297 - Zeichne eine Flasche Wasser

Whenever visitors to our office don't finish drinking the water we give them, Tina and I drink it all up. Only the coffee is free for employees so drinking water once in a while is a real treat.

Wann immer wir Besucher im Büro haben, die das ihnen angebotene Wasser nicht austrinken, dann trinken Tina und ich den Rest aus. Nur der Kaffee ist für Angestellte umsonst, daher ist ein Wasser hin und wieder schon etwas Besonderes.

EDM#296: Draw something orange

# 296 - Zeichne etwas Orangefarbenes