Saturday 8 December 2007

Cozy Cafe Scene # 1


soft pastel on sand paper
25 x 30 cm
made on location, Thurs 6 Dec 2007

SOLD


The Dutch have a beautiful sounding word for cozy, and that is gezellig. Outside it is raining, has been pretty will everyday, since the last two weeks. Starting to get depressing for an outdoor painter such as myself. Don't like and refuse to work from pictures. The solution? Get warm and comfortable in a cafe that has a welcoming atmosphere. Just like that group, sitting around that table. The location is, Cafe The Wijnhaven in Delft.
I've been thinking about what subject to paint on these dull Benelux winter days. Doing cafe interiors has crossed my mind. So when a colleague, Albert Dolmans, suggested that we meet for a coffee and chat in Delft, I accepted. He took along his sketch pad, I took my pastels. I'm grateful that he did, otherwise this work would not have happened.
By the way, to clarify materials used, pastel sand paper, is a very grainy type thick carton paper, it is made specially for soft pastel. Expensive but worth it, as it permanently keeps the pigments from the pastel on the surface of the support.

3 comments:

alberto valentini said...

Sylvia La Haye says
Waaw, this is a nice painting. Good idea to make paintings form somewhere inside.

René PleinAir said...

Oooow what a nice piece of work!

Your are lucky to live in Delft Alberto, with such nice scens everywhere and little gezellige cafes.

I bet you gonna like this thread also:

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

I love the mood of this.