Baby Cthulu Wants To Play.

 

Edit: My brother pointed this out from the great Boulet. I'd forgotten but I'd seen it a few days before this drawing, so it's fair to quote it as source of inspiration! If you don't know that blog (which probably means you aren't a french speaker) , don't hesitate to have a look - it's awesome.

Ablasserdam quickie

 After Den Haag, Alblasserdam, home of the Kinderdijk, lots of horses, and lots of swans. I'll make a better drawing of it someday.

... And in Alblasserdam, it is well known that the swans are particularly difficult to ride, as demonstrated by the little wood imp below.

Den Haag

While, if given any choice, I'd leave the city in a second to live in the countryside, I do love The Hague, with its mix of liveliness, modernity and history.

I love the fact that here, you can walk around the government buildings simply to admire them. I love the coloured lights on the lake outside the Binnenhof at night. I challenge myself every time to buy a fresh herring (and never dare it.)





I  enjoyed sitting there, drawing and being left alone except for the occasional bypasser sharing a smile...

.... Or the crazy seagul paparazzi.

This one is two -in- one: included, a "spot the errors" game. The CC guy was able to find the biggest one- will /you/ see it?

From what I could read on their flags, these guys didn't seem to know precisely what they were protesting against. They reminded me of the "Asterix and Cleopatra" movie, where the pyramid workers go on strike shouting: "PAS CONTENTS, PAS CONTENTS!".








I hope you didn't hurt your eyes too much on the tiny sepia scribbling.
Goodnight.

Shoulder Tree (tattoo project)

Trees always come back in my mind and in my drawings, so I decided to have one on me. In a few months, if everything goes right this one will become a reality, realized by this french artist. She creates such amazing tattoos, I wouldn't want it done by anyone else. I can't wait.

White Note.

Once Upon A Time,  there was a teenager whose big brother played the guitar. He found that really cool and started, too. It helped with the girls, because the guy was a bit shy; but mostly, he fell in love with Music. And after a few years of his family resisting the urge to throw things at him when he attempted to sing "Newborn" from Muse, it seemed like Music fell in love with him too.

He met together with some of her other lovers, three guys from Paris' surroundings, and together they gave birth to a baby called White Note. Let's be honest here, I'd never have heard of them if the shy-brother-imitating-teenager hadn't been my cousin (he can sing Muse and Jeff Buckley without breaking crystal glasses, now, by the way.) But since he is, and since I love their music, I'd like to encourage you, whoever you are, to go listen to it.

Someone called their first album "The Original Soundtrack of Winter", and I find that very accurate. But rather than describing it, I'd rather let you listen, and, if you like it, share it!

A reminder

A guy in the train. He saw me stare at his tattoo, and smiled.

Not like I'd forget, anyway.

Sleeping Smof

Nijmegen: behind the church.

Many dutch cities have managed to preserve the core of their old towns around their tall churches made of red bricks, and Nijmegen is no exception. The biggest church's  original name as a catholic worship place was "St Steven" (st Stephen), but when its people converted to protestantism, they very originally decided to rename it "Grote Kerk" (the big church.)


I've personally decided to call it "The Frankenstein Church", because whoever built, rebuilt, and added to it obviously didn't care much about keeping the whole coherent. So there's white, cathedralish looking parts, red bricks, dark grey stones... It is certainly original and interresting historically speaking, but not the prettiest building ever. In addition to that, the inside, duly voided of any decorations, feels huge, stern, and empty (but I probably only feel this way because I'm so used to catholic churches). 


The houses around it are very cute however.  You can walk a few meters there without any signs of modern civilization, just imagining a golden haired little girl selling flowers in the cold air of an autumn morning. 


Ps: Here are some real pictures of the church.

Watercolour addict

Amongst other oddities, one or our cats has become addicted to the taste of watercolor cubes. If I don't watch out and leave the desk for 5 minutes, she'll be licking the paint off my metallic painting kit, or drinking the dirty paint water, or even - my favorite- licking the wet paint off the drawing I'm working on. Considering that she is still alive despite the quantities of the stuff that she has ingested by now, I'm guessing it's not too toxic.

Texel

 Texel is mostly like any part of the Netherlands in that it's very, very flat, well organized, clean, and as far as we could see, quite moist.  But there were seals in the sea - just like at Molène- and the beach was covered with little pieces of black flint, which made the coast particularly beautiful. (In case you're wondering, it's a starfish the seagull is eating... and yes, it swallowed it whole. Glup.

 

I didn't like the first town we visited, De Koog, too much. It felt like a tourist trap and it was full of German people.  But the second, Den Burg (such an original name) was very cute. Inhabitants were selling local vegetables by setting them in small trays outside their door, indicating the price; if you wanted one, you would need to toss the indicated price in the mailbox, but no- one seemed to be checking.

There was this great restaurant, but I forgot the name- and then that tea. Anyone know where to get nettle tea in Holland? I'd never had any before and I loved it.