Cheese and More

I sketched this location of Cheese & More near Dam Square in Amsterdam. I just loved seeing all the cheese wheels lined up so perfectly. This was the back entrance to the shop. I did go in and sample the cheese...even brought some home.

Up near the Red Light District I found this corner just down from the ladies in their windows. The area is a little strange...well a lot strange. No photos of the ladies are allowed and I didn't sketch them either. lol

There was a very popular store there with interesting displays. I will leave it up to you if you want to take a closer look and see what they were selling. 

My favorite store there was the Amsterdam Duck store which sold ducks wearing all kinds of costumes. I did buy one of the artist ducks (second and third rows down, 3rd from the right). 

Amsterdam Here and There

There are so many really nice places in Amsterdam. This is the Aluminum Bridge which was one of my favorites. I went out and took some sunrise photos from it on my first full day in Amsterdam.

This was done at the Sprui area of Amsterdam.

Nieuwmarket Sketches

Yes, I am finally home from my sketching adventures. I will try to go back and post some of the work that I didn't get to from Amsterdam and Paris...and also visit some blogs. All of that is just too difficult when I'm traveling. I spent some time tonight reading the comments you all have posted on the sketches I did while I was away. Even that isn't easy to do on my iPad when I'm gone.

Anyway there was a very nice square in Amsterdam called Nieuwmarket. Most days there were food trucks and vendors so shopping was fun. On Suzala's last day we headed over there only to find that the market area was being used for part of Amsterdam's Gay Pride Celebrations. They were bringing in beer trucks, constructing a stage and there were workmen all over. We decided to sketch there and since it started to drizzle we tucked ourselves under an overhang from one of the beer stands. This building looked so festive with all the pink, white and yellow balloons. It sort of looks like a Disney castle.

Across the street was a restaurant with some colorful green umbrellas.

Montmartre Visit

For my last day in Paris I wanted to visit Montmartre which is on a hill overlooking Paris. My friend, Lois from NYC and a new friend, Yukie who is a sketcher from the USK Paris group joined us. We sketched the Sacre Coeur Basilica.  I left room on the page for some lettering. The fence there is filled with padlocks placed by sweethearts so I sketched those too.

Next we stopped for lunch and sketched the view across from us. At that point it started raining. I am glad we came somewhat prepared for that.

We stopped at the Monmatre Museum which had nice umbrellas over tables in the garden. We were sketching for a while when it really started to pour. We huddled close under the umbrella but things were still getting wet. You can see some rain spots on my painting which isn’t quite finished. My backpack and purse ended up sitting in a large puddle of water. We packed up as quickly as we could and ran to the cafe to escape the rain.

Monet’s Garden

Today I took the train to Giverny to Monet’s Garden. I did 2 small 5x7 paintings by the lily pond. Then I started another paining in the other side of the garden and a guard told me painting wasn’t allowed  without a special reservation.   I walked around and met my friend, Sandrine. She also wanted to paint so we tried again but were told the same thing. We had worked fast anticipating the guard would come over so we would have something done. I can’t get a good photo of that in the room here so I will post it another time.

Rainy Day in Amsterdam Part 2

Since it was raining...actually pouring...we wanted to be inside. We had heard about a restaurant called Blue Amsterdam that was at the top of a mall with 360 degree views. We headed up there for lunch and sketch the view from above.

 Our next stop was the Van Gogh Museum. 

On the way back to the apartment we had to walk under the Rijksmuseum. The walkway had great acoustics and a trio was playing. Suzala and I pulled out our sketching stools and sketched them as they performed. I had each of them sign my sketch and bought one of their CDs.

Rainy Day in Amsterdam Part 1

As they predicted we had rain yesterday althoug it wasn’t raining when we started out so we headed to the flower market. We sat in front of a jewelry store to sketch one of the stalls. All was fine for about 3/4 of this sketch but then the rain started. We were lucky to be right next to a Starbucks and Suzala scored us a table under the awning that was well covered. I finished this sketch and had time to do a second one. It was pouring so we weren’t going anywhere for a while.

There was a but if a slowdown on the rain so we headed over to Blue Amsterdam which is a restaurant at the top of a mall with 360 degree views. I worked in this sketch before and after lunch. We have been luck that every place we have gone to sketch has been welcoming and never rush us out.