This summer holiday we have made a family bike trekking trip through the low lands, from Leiden to Ootmarsum in the 'far east' of the Netherlands. It has been a good trip, camping, nice (hot!) weather and zooming out indeed. And by the by, anyone in the Netherlands interested in a camping club with beautiful natural camping spots? Check NTKC, also appealing to the less social among us😉.
So I did a bit of water color painting and sketching, especially to learn more about rows of trees and the shapes of trees. I remember David Hockney saying somewhere in his numerous publications that to observe trees is to start observing the shape and size of the foliage, rather that the woodwork skeleton.
So this has been more about observing and registration, than about art. Very good to do.
Technique was also a back to experiencing-kind of thing. I was using aquarel again, not easy, very much a patience thing. Always practicing! I must say it was inviting to try along with the NRC Newspaper summer course by Siegfried Woldhek 'eerste hulp bij waterverven'. Readers are invited to join and tackle various aquarel problems. Can't say I really have - so easy to make it a massive fixed thing and not a dynamic visual surprise - but using different techniques and thus water colors again is something that really makes me happy. Mainly because each technique has it's own wonderful way to depict something.
Back home I read a comment that goes very well with my summer sketching approach :) In a book about natural navigation, the author Tristan Gooley says: "In truth, taking the time to note the character of the less prominent landmarks is a habit that takes effort to cultivate. It is only common in three groups of people I have walked with: artists, experienced soldiers and indigenous people." So pocket that!
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