Amsterdam: Sketching at the Rijksmuseum

Here are two from the Rijksmuseum where I spent just one short rainy afternoon. Too little time, but it’s always a toss-up in a city with so many fantastic museums and so much to sketch: Should I sketch outside or visit a museum?

The Rijksmuseum has always been encouraging about drawing in the museum. I took my sketchbook, of course, and I took a little pillbox with a triad in it, and a couple of pens, a pencil and a waterbrush, all tucked in my pocket.

Rembrandt’s Night Watch is where I stopped to do this first sketch. The piece is currently being scanned for conservation, so it’s enclosed in a large glass ‘room’ and you can’t look at it up close. But the scanning process is pretty fascinating in itself. I stood at the back of a very large crowd and sketched using my minimalist kit. All the while I was drawing, a museum guard stood right by me watching. I don’t use this small setup that often and I think this sketch is hard to read. But it was fun to do, nevertheless.

So I tried it again, this time on simpler paintings, and more importantly, pieces I could get close to. It was fun to watch and sketch people peer at these gorgeous portraits, also by Rembrandt. There are so many detail in the dark drapes of the clothing and the fine rendering of lace that totally warrants up-close looking.

Here is a close look at my kit, after I’d used it.

I love how compact the kit is, but the super-small color palette is a struggle for me. Limited colors are not an issue, but the less the color I carry, the more mixing space I need and that’s hard with this little pill box. So I’m still on a search for a perfect super-small kit. If you have ideas on how to solve my problem without a bulkier kit, let me know!