Amsterdam: Windmill and some easy-sketching

Spotted just one windmill in Amsterdam. And it was a pretty long walk to get to it. When we got there, it was backlit, but I wanted to pull out atleast a hint of the color and facets that make up it’s shape. Of course, it wouldn’t have been an authentic scene without atleast a few bicyclists. Note how upright the Dutch are when they ride their bikes? No racer-style bikes for them.

Two views of the Amstel River over a beer and a sunset. This is post-Symposium sketching, just to unwind (more about the Symposium in a separate post). Chatting with friends, and getting back to sketching after being in teaching mode for a few days. It takes a little while to make the switch.

More easy pages. This one over a highly-recommended apple pie.

This one over tea and coffee on a rainy day.

When I’m chatting and sketching, I tend to do far more talking than sketching and also do little fiddly things on my sketch: patterns, textures and repetition (like the shutters, windows and brick in the background) lend themselves well to conversation-sketching.

What I like best is that looking back at the sketches reminds me of the conversations with friends old and new that I loved meeting.