Not One Of Those Songs

Quick and rough sketch inspired by impressions of rock band Bettie Serveert in action

Acrylic
Paper
50 x 70 cm

B(o)/W(ie)

Ink drawn/painted with a feather on small canvas, roughly based on images of David Bowie.

Ink
Canvas
2 x 10 x 10 cm

Metal Jam (Marcel)

Based on a frame of a video showing a colleague practising Metallica's "Enter Sandman". Gebaseerd op een frame van een video van collega Marcel tijdens het oefenen van Metallica's "Enter Sandman".

Ink pen, wax pastel
Grained paper
21 x 21 cm

Rough Jazz (experimental)

Roughly based on a photo of Chet Baker and very roughly painted with toothbrushes, ice scraper, nail brush, bank card and ... fingers
Acrylic
Paper
50 x 70 cm

John Scofield

Pleasantly surprised to come across this post in John Scofield's Facebook stream!

Rodney van den Beemd did this. I like it.
Posted by John Scofield on Friday, 29 March 2013

Jazz-ink! (John Scofield)

Quick sketch with ink and twigs and some occasional finger smudging and brushwork, roughly based on a photo of John Scofield in the newspaper. Ink on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Snelle schets met inkt en twijgen en wat "smeerwerk" en kwast.

Later on in the week I was pleasantly surprised to come across this post in John Scofield's Facebook stream!

Rodney van den Beemd did this. I like it.
Posted by John Scofield on Friday, 29 March 2013

Interlude Chet

Quick sketch with ink and twigs and some occasional finger smudging supplemented with wax pastels, roughly based on a photo of Chet Baker I came across on the internet. Ink, wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Snelle schets met inkt en twijgen en wat "smeerwerk", aangevuld met waspastels.

Pluck That Note

Quick and rough sketch of a classic rock pose based on a photo in a magazine. Ink pen, wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Snelle schets met inktpen en waspastels gebaseerd op een foto in een tijdschrift.

Hitting That Note

Quick and rough sketch of a classic rock pose based on a photo in today's newspaper. Ink pen, wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Snelle schets met inktpen en waspastels gebaseerd op een foto in de krant.

Messy Jam

Quick and rough wax pastel sketch. Didn't like the background, so messed around with it; there definitely seems to be a limit to how much pastel messing the paper is willing to absorb. Ink pen, wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Snelle schets met inktpen en waspastels.

Backstage Warm-Up

Quick and rough wax pastel sketch loosely based on a photo in a local newspaper. Ink pen, wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Snelle schets met inktpen en waspastels losjes gebaseerd op een foto in een lokaal weekblad.

Rafael

Quick and rough iPad-sketch (Brushes App), experimenting with contrasting red and green colours. The perspective of the guitar and strings in the reference photo triggered me to echo this in a music staff. Portrait for Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr. Snelle iPad-schets (Brushes App). Portret voor Julia Kay's Portrait Party op Flickr.

In the style of Matisse, "Leadbelly à la Matisse" (2)

Slowly progressing with my painting of Leadbelly in the style of Matisse as described in a previous post. Lots to finish and lots I want to change. Acrylic on canvas (100 x 100 cm).

In the style of Matisse, "Leadbelly à la Matisse"

Colour studies for "Leadbelly a la Matisse"

 

Composition studies for "Leadbelly a la Matisse"


The final portrait & model class sessions of this season are focused on painting in the style of Matisse, this time not based on life drawing and painting, but on a figure/subject of one's own choice from a photo or just from imagination. I chose to do a guitar player as subject and browsing through my cd-collection came across some characteristic photos of "Leadbelly" that suited the idea I had in mind for a painting. See below for a picture of Leadbelly and a short description of his life; I'm planning on including several aspects of his life into the final painting.
During the first two sessions the task was to make several composition studies of the chosen subject based on Matisse's style and after deciding on the composition, to expand on this with several colour studies, again based on Matisse's style. During the final sessions the task will be to bring it all to the canvas.
Portret & model-tekenen/schilderen, de laatste sessies zijn gericht op schilderen a la Matisse van een onderwerp naar eigen keuze. Ik heb gekozen om een gitarist uit te beelden en heb daarvoor een foto van "Leadbelly" als uitgangspunt genomen. Gedurende de eerste twee sessies was de opdracht om van het gekozen onderwerp diverse compositie- en kleurenstudies te maken in de stijl van Matisse.

Leadbelly (Huddie William Ledbetter)

Leadbelly, real name Huddie William Ledbetter, was an iconic American folk and blues musician, notable for his strong vocals, his virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the songbook of folk standards he introduced. He is said to have been the most widely known black rural performer to achieve "cross-over" popularity in the decades preceding the 1950s.
Born in 1888 in Louisiana, he grew in the segregated South. The period of his childhood and youth was one of great change for the African-American. The emancipation that followed the conclusion of the American Civil War had renoved slavery in name but not in reality. African-Americans could not vote. Many found themselves dispossessed of their land as plantation owners evicted all except those willing to resell themselves into a working environment not much different to what preceded the war.
Growing up in a musical family he learned to play guitar, piano, harmonica, accordion and several other instruments while still young. He had several jobs, including picking cotton, but also entertained with his music. He lead a violent life and was sentenced to prison several times. He was pardoned twice, which is remarkable at a time when the opportunity to gain one's freedom, especially as a black man, had to be particularly bleak. It's said that together with good behaviour he sang himself out of jail.
He was "discovered" by folklorists John and Alan Lomax during a visit to the Angola Prison Farm where they made recordings of his songs on portable disc recording equipment leading to "The King of The 12 String Guitar". Lomax later brought Leadbelly to New York, and published a book about him. During the 1940s Leadbelly's home in New York was a centre for folk and blues activity. He also was the first American country blues musician to see success in Europe. In 1949 he began his first European tour with a trip to France but fell ill before its completion and died in the same year.
It's said that Ledbetter's perseverance and power ("he could pick in the cotton fields 1,000 pounds a day") earned him the nickname "Leadbelly".

Guitar Trio

Quick sketches with different materials: markers, fountain pen and wax pastel. Portrait for Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr. Snelle schetsen met verschillende materialen: viltstiften, vulpen en Neocolor II waspastels. Portret voor Julia Kay's Portrait Party op Flickr.

Sun King

In 1986, in the wake of their successful album "Love", British rock band The Cult performed at the Pinkpop festival in Geleen in the south of The Netherlands, near to where I live. As a young rock music and guitar enthusiast I enjoyed this performance very much, especially guitarist Billy Duffy's powerful guitar riffs and his use of mouthwatering Gretsch hollowbody electric guitars. In 1992 the band was back at Pinkpop (now in Landgraaf, the town where the festival is organized since 1988 and also the town where I now live) but this time delivered an ill-famed performance leading to the band being banned from future perfomances at the festival. Yesterday, 18 years later and after the ban was lifted, The Cult played the Pinkpop stage once again, now during the festival's Classic edition. This time I didn't go, but a photo in last weeks newspaper announcing the band's return to the festival and showing Billy Duffy in a heroic rock guitarist pose with one of his Gretsches triggered me to do a sketch instead. "Sun King", the title of the opening track from The Cult's 1989 "Sonic Temple" album again showcasing Billy's guitar work, seemed to be an appropriate title for this sketch. Ink pen and watercolour. Schets naar een foto in de krant van The Cult-gitarist Billy Duffy in actie met een van zijn prachtige Gretsch hollowbody elektrische gitaren. The Cult stond dit weekend voor de derde keer op het Pinkpop podium, dit keer in de Classic editie van het festival.

Flamenco

Inspired by some fine "mixed drawings" I saw lately (especially those by Ester Wilson) I set out to do something like that myself. With my old spanish guitar as the basis for an idea this is the result. It's actually not the loose and casual mix up I had intended and which I appreciate in the kind of works mentioned before. Geïnspireerd door diverse mooie "gemengde tekeningen" die ik de laatste tijd heb gezien (vooral die van Ester Wilson) wilde ik zelf ook iets dergelijks vormgeven. Met mijn oude Spaanse gitaar als basis voor een idee is dit het resultaat geworden. Het is eigenlijk niet de losse en ongedwongen mengeling die ik voor ogen had en die ik waardeer in de eerder genoemde soort werken.