Dutch Sketches

It’s been a while since I’ve written something interesting and useful for you, though I’ve gathered plenty of material to share.

Let me tell you a bit about the April-May plein air session in the Netherlands and one lucky discovery.

The plein air trip went wonderfully despite the cold and occasionally rainy weather.

For two days, we caught glimpses of sunlight (ловили проблески солнца), and our cycling tour was free of major incidents. We rode out to magenta-colored tulip fields, found a solitary pink tree and a windmill, created two works a day, and marveled at blooming Holland.

On the third day, it started raining. On the fourth day, we had to cycle back from the sea at dusk, feeling drops of rain on our faces and knees. But it wasn’t as daunting as it sounds—there was a certain romance in it as well.

We managed to paint every single day of the plein air session.

Even on a windy day in the open dunes, when rain sprinkled on the first layer of the work, it didn’t ruin anything. The raindrops disappeared under the second layer of pastel, the rain stopped, and I managed to finish the demonstration piece.

In general, there’s nothing to fear—just adapt to the situation as it unfolds.

I returned from the trip in great spirits, with new ideas and discoveries.

Let me share a convenient find: a bag for storing and transporting pastel pencils.

I appreciate simplicity when it comes to organizing materials. For my numerous pastel pencils, I’ve long used small zippered pouches originally designed for markers, labeled with the letter "M."

The only drawback of those zippered pouches is that when the pencils get shorter, you end up having to dig through the entire bag, sometimes even dumping everything out to find them.

I also tried the Derwent pencil case with a transparent pocket, but it doesn’t hold as many pencils as I need.

On the first day in the Netherlands—a day dedicated to pencils—I spread them out on a bench to see all the colors, running the risk of losing some or occupying the entire bench while searching for my favorite short pencils.

On the last day in the Netherlands, I came across this Cretacolor bag with an internal zippered pencil holder.

One compartment, resembling a pencil case, is perfect for storing all my short pencils. The other section holds around 40 pencils of any length, supported by a special pocket at the bottom. It’s incredibly easy to access them by simply unrolling the bag.

I’ve transferred my travel set into the bag and plan to take it with me on a plein air trip to Provence.

I think fans of pencil sketching will find the idea of such a bag interesting as well.

Wishing you all a productive week!