While doing some spring cleaning around the house i came across this little item: it’s the „Schminke” watercolor box my father gave to me when I must have been 13 years old. During a summer vacation in Denmark, my father used to go out into those beautiful little villages to make some really amazing watercolor paintings.

I don’t remember where it was exactly, but it must have been the summer of 1984 when we first sat next to each other while painting the same subject, from a different angle. My parents still have that very first painting and i’ll upload a picture of it when i get the chance.

This little box has been with me ever since. Some of the original cubes are even still in there. I’ve used it in the Art Academy and during my studies at the St Lucas Art school (now LUCA). I later used it to do some illustration work and such…

I think it’s been more than 15 years since i last made a watercolor painting, acrylics having become my preferred medium. So the box hasn’t been used for a very long time. In the upcoming days i want to find out if i’ve lost any of those watercolor skills. The sketch is already visible….

Look, ma, no pants!
There are so many ways for starting a drawing or a painting. I like to start on a textured background because that way, half of the painting is already there. Of course you can also start from a blank canvas. Here’s a little picture, showing you that process through a few stages. It’s a digital painting without any sketching on paper - the sketch was also done on the Intuos tablet.

Here’s a little drawing I did for the birth of my twin boys… seven and a half years ago today! How time flies. As it turns out they’re not really into fluffy pink bunnies. Instead they love sports, video games and superheroes!

Pencil, watercolors and gouache on Steinbach paper.

Walter Smith must have done something really really bad in 1924. I have no idea what he did but the mugshot of this Australian crook inspired me for this piece. The hairdo, the battered nose and the stone cold look in his eyes especially drew my attention.

It’s a pencil sketch, scanned and painted digitally on the tablet.

A couple of days ago we witnessed an historic event: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicated from the throne to be immediately succeeded by her son, Prince Willem-Alexander van Oranje. By signing the act of succession, queen Beatrix became a Princess again. It’s all pretty medieval stuff and opinions vary about the sense and nonsense of a monarchy in modern times. For those who are not familiar with the system of a parliamentary Monarchy (as it exists in a number of european countries): the head of state has more of a symbolic function and stands for stability and unity of the people. Strange as it may seem, in some countries this system seems to function well, and the people of those countries wouldn’t want it in any other way. Holland is one of those countries where a vast majority of the people support the monarchy.

But what with the royals themselves? From birth they are being dropped into a system, where they are constantly in the public eye, with people expecting them to be perfect in every way etc, etc, etc… Do they ever question themselves? How do they handle the pressure? What is life like, when everything you do needs the aprovel of the elected government?

After a lifetime of service, of constant traveling and meeting the high and mighty of this wold, Princess Beatrix will now be devoting a vast majority of her time to just being a full-time grandmother to her grandchildren. With this sketch i wanted to be among the first to make a portrait of „Granny” Beatrix.

Sketch made on the Wacom tablet, using a texturised background.