It's Sunday and, as promised, it's time for my tour paintings post. Rather than start right off with the first of this series, I thought that I'd set the scene with my preliminary venture. I may be new to the painting blogosphere but my little secret (no longer) is that I've been at postcard (size) paintings for exactly eleven years.
Towards the beginning of my first European tour as a singer-songwriter, I performed at Atlantis in Alkmaar, Netherlands. Not too long before that, I'd landed in Brussels with a fresh head cold and was already exhausted from dragging around a suitcase filled with CDs, my trusty guitar on my back, and, as I was on my own except for the club folks, audiences and occasional host, lonely.
With plenty of time before catching the train to my next gig in Nijmegen, I took advantage of the gorgeous October day and walked around Alkmaar, enjoying the architecture and remnants of the Cheese Market. Turning a corner, I discovered the marvelous Theo Groothuizen where I bought a Winsor Newton field kit, small watercolor block and sketch pad. This morning, I dug out my journals from those tours and found this entry dated:
"16 October 1996. ...Bought field box of watercolors. Sat on bank of canal and made tiny sketch of house that caught my eye yesterday. Great fun. Got covered with little green bugs from tree I was sitting under..."
As long as I'm setting the scene, let me show you the studio that served me for a decade.
Closed:
Open:
A slightly later addition without which I could not work — a selection from my fine, old linen napkin collection:
If you go to Diary of a Studio you can watch as my present studio emerges. But for ten good years, I painted everything out of this little knapsack. Stay tuned for Sunday postings where I'll share many of them with you.
Alkmaar, Netherlands
16 October 1996
Watercolor and Pencil on sketch paper
available to select collector of Tour paintings
Every Sunday I post a new painting and story behind the watercolors I made while touring as a singer songwriter. Follow the stories behind the paintings of these serialized post by working your way up from the bottom. (This post is the bottom!)
Alkmaar
