Little Book of Amanda

 In March of 2021 I realized it was 50 days until Amanda turned  REDACTED  which was precisely the number of pages in this little sketchbook... so I thought I'd draw a picture a day of her until her birthday... 

(I don't love the cover... As with my practice with covers in the past, I would just stick whatever stickers I happened to have and some turned out and some just look a mess... this one is more of a mess... The stickers were mostly put on sketchbooks like this - because they look the same, front and back - and the stickers allow me to orient the book right side up before opening it)

The plan completely fell apart after, like, three days... it was the middle of the pandemic and while Amanda was home everyday, and thus there were plenty of opportunities to draw her... there was not a lot of variety in the activities and potential poses... she stood at her desk and worked, or sat and watched TV in the evening... occasionally did some yoga... 

I've kept it and occasionally tried to add pictures to it over the years... I've taken it on vacation with us... but most of the pictures seem to have been drawn while she was watching TV, working on her computer or waiting for something. Amanda is a difficult person to draw as she DOES NOT OFTEN SIT STILL!!

I think maybe two of them were drawn from a photo..,?

I've posted some of these on Facebook or Instagram or Bluesky... but somehow not a lot of them have ended up on this blog! And some I've never posted ANYWHERE!? So I decided to create a gallery for the whole bunch, now that the book is complete! 

THIS is not that gallery... this is just a post ABOUT the Gallery with SOME of the pictures you'll find there! 

If you're on a desktop computer the link to the Gallery should be over on the left under PAGES... if you're on a. phone, it's a little trickier to find, so here's a link directly to it:

Little Book of Amanda Gallery

Amsterdam: Invaders, Other Street Art, Public Art, Buildings, and Bicycles!? (Part One)

This has taken too long to get to... 

Amanda and I were away for most of June and part of July visiting Europe. Amanda's been to Europe a few times. This was my first time. It was actually my first time leaving North America and the first significant time outside of Canada! (and I've only been to the United States a handful of time, the most recent being 31 years ago, and that was just to fly to Minneapolis and then to Detroit... to visit Amanda's folks in Windsor Ontario - just across the border - because it was significantly cheaper to do so than flying directly to Windsor through Canada...) 

Our first stop on the European trip was Amsterdam. This being my art blog, I'm mostly going to share some photos of ART (and architecture) that we saw during out trip. because it is Amsterdam, there will probably be some bicycles in the pictures. 

I took some sketchbooks along, hoping to FILL them with sketches of what I saw along the way... but I was travelling with Amanda who is allergic to idleness and sitting still, so I didn't get to to nearly as much of that as I'd hoped. The plan, at some point, is to finish filling them with drawings from photos I took... and maybe when they're done I'll share those as well! 

These posts will just be some of the pictures I took along the way. Part of the reason this has taken so long is I took WAY TOO MANY PICTURES, like around 3500+ of them in 30 days we were away!? It's a LOT to go through... 

The first three or four will focus on Space Invaders, Other Street Art, Public Art, and a little bit of architecture... and maybe a few bicycles... (though I do have a bicycle blog... maybe there will be posts there about the bikes...) 

My attention was first draw to the street artist Space Invader through the excellent documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop (which I highly recommend seeing if you haven't!). He started (over 20 years ago) making small tile mosaics inspired by the 8-bit graphic art of the video arcade game Space Invaders. Since then he has made over three thousand of them and spread them all over Europe - and other parts of the world. 

I thought it would be fun to go looking for the Invaders in Amsterdam. I had a really good map that showed the locations of all of them. We ended up finding all but one (it could be it is simply no longer there, the Amsterdam Invasion was in 1999!? So they have all been there for 27 years! It's amazing so many WERE still there! 

If faces of people look a little weird in the pictures, it's not because they're AI or anything, I purposely blurred a lot of them (when I remembered to...) 

I didn't make note of exactly which ones were in what place... 

The plan for our first day in Amsterdam (well... first full day of exploring - we'd arrived the previous day at 11am - which felt like... 3am to us...? so we made our way to the hotel and checked in as early as we could and slept a few hours and then just went out and got some groceries and went back to bed...) we planned to mostly just wander around and look for some Space Invaders... and the plan was to try and get BACK to the hotel for 5pm and use the laptop I'd brought to try and register for classes in the fall - as that was my earliest opportunity (which was 9am in Saskatoon)

We did stop at one, small museum in the morning - Sexmuseum Amsterdam! Maybe I'll do a separate post about that... maybe not... 

After the Sexmuseum, the search for Invaders began in earnest...

At the site of the first invader. The map would generally get us to the intersection, or, in this case, bridge... but then we'd have to look around a bit... sometimes we could look at the map and it would be clearly on one side of the intersection or the other... other times... not-so much. 

This one we'd approached from the south and I had looked at that side of the bridge... 

not spotting it on any of the walls nearby I walked off the bridge to the west where I could see the north side of the bridge and there it was... 

The first invader I saw IRL! 

Beside it, as was the case with most of the invaders we found, were other little bits of street art others had installed - or stickers... I wish I'd paid more attention to those from the beginning. Often there were a few stickers. They felt a little like calling cards or something to say; "hey I found it!" or "I was here too!" or something like that...

I kind of wished I'D had some stickers made to bring along and add to the walls... 

I think this is the Oude Kerk - which I believe is the oldest building (still standing) in Amsterdam...? I think it's still a church, but also maybe a community centre and art shows happen there...? We did not go in.

Funny Bike. Magic Mushrooms. 

We did not try either. 

Next Invader encountered. Note all the stickers at this one - and marker tags and comments. 

CLOSE-UP! 

Getting close to the next one - a wall of Shepard Fairey OBEY posters... but the red block the makes that outlines the "OBEY" have totally faded! Wonder how long they've been there. I wonder if it was Mr. Fairey himself that put them up!? Also some other street art and bicycles! 

Look up in the top right - there is a little building detail with a bird. There were a lot of these. I don't know what to call them (other than "building detail" or "architectural detail"..?) I wonder how old they are. Some look as though they could have been added later... some look as though they were part of the original wall... and many of these buildings are HUNDREDS of years old! 

There's the next Invader! Can you spot it amongst all the other stickers and street arts!? 

Closer look. 

Bikes. Art. 

There were a lot of these bikes with a front blue wheel. I wondered what the deal was with that. Amanda noted it was a particular brand of bike that had them all... 

No invader... just more building details and fancy door and Frame and more bicycles... 

Seriously, there were bikes EVERYWHERE... if there was anything solid/bolted down that wasn't directly in a roadway or blocking a door, there was at least one bicycle locked to it... if there wasn't something solid to lock to, but there was space off to the side of a road or pathway that wasn't directly blocking a door, there was often a bicycle left there leaning against the wall or propped up on it's kickstand, with only a wheel lock!? 

The next Invader. After the first one it became a bit of a game. I would get us to the intersection and then Amanda would try and find it before I could...She did find the next few... and then at every intersection we got to where I said, here it is, she would shout "I SEE IT!!" whether she'd actually seen it or not.. just to freak me out! 

This was also the first time I noticed THE FOOT... (The red and black thing just above the invader) there were a series of little street art installations involving what looks like a casting of a partial foot print - a foot stepped into plaster and then the plaster painted and installed on a wall. Others were of a foot dipped in paint and then daubed on a tile or something... I have NO IDEA who did them, but I started noticing them all over (I wish I'd taken more pictures of them) I tried finding out info about them, but could not find ANYTHING!? 

If anyone happens to read this and know what they're about or who made them, I would LOVE to know more!! 

Building looking like it was about to fall over being propped up by wood... and a bike locked to the fence around it!?

Fun little owl on a sign. 

I saw a lot of these fun posters around - particularly in one neighbourhood. I did not call the number (but I was kind of tempted to..) 

Another Invader. 

Also those little beams stick out of the top of almost every building and are used to hoist furniture up to the upper floors (and are brought in through the windows) as the stairways in these buildings are often VERY narrow and almost ladder-like! 

Close-up of the Invader!

EVVEN CLOSER UP!

this is an example of a think on a building that was clearly added later... wondered if it was once a dentists office...? Or the residence of an artist that was not particularly fond of dentists...? 

Buildings. Mural. Bicycles. 

Am I the only one reading this as "LET'S FUCK ART CLUB"...? 

Another Invader location. 

Detail - with more stickers! 

ALSO, I noticed while editing these pictures, at a lot of locations someone else has put up a micro mural(?) with one or two rows of drab coloured tiles and sometimes a row of its-bitsy tiles. 

Another building detail (and more bicycles with blue tires on the front!) 

Detail of the detail! 

Another Invader! 

This was the last one we spotted on our first day in Amsterdam. I think there was one last one we tried to find, but just could not. It was the only one on the map we were unable to locate! 

Public Art - Sculpture! 

It was somewhere near here that I realized it was already 5pm and we sat down nearby to see if I could access the registration system via my phone. I was able to log into my account... but everything was SOOOOOOO SLOOOOW (probably because there were hundreds of other third year students all trying to register at their first available opportunity - to have the best chance of getting into the classes they wanted! 

The universities registration page was not really formatted for working with phones and I could do SOME stuff  and access SOME parts of the site... but the big button that needs to be pressed to SUBMIT your registration did not appear on the screen... so we decided we'd just have to hurry back to the hotel and try to use the laptop and hope all the classes I wanted were still available! 

cool building with lots of statues and gargoyle-like animals. 

Back in Zaandam - where we were staying. We weren't staying at THIS hotel, but another similar-looking one nearby. 

We walked a bit to find a pizza place and order some pizza... then had to walk around for a bit while we waited for it to be cooked... 

found our way to a canal and found this fun little elephant along side it!? 

Building detail

More building details. 

Probably one of the best damned pizzas I've even had in my LIFE!!! 

It was from Bacio Pizza in Zaandam. This one I had was vegan. It was delicious. They do make an incredible variety of vegetarian (and vegan!) and not-so-vegetarian pizzas (and other food!). If ever you find yourself in Zaandam, try it out!! 

And that was our first full day in Amsterdam. There will probably be a part two and three and maybe a part four to "Invaders, Other Street Art, Public Art, Buildings, and Bicycles!?" and then I could do three or four for the galleries we visited!? and that's just AMSTERDAM!? The first week of FOUR that we were away!

Maybe now that I've got going on these it won't take so long for the next one...

Or... maybe this will be it and I won't get around to doing anymore. Who can say!? 

Amanda in her Office

Amanda had an appointment this morning and then bussed to work and was going to walk home so texted me to see if I’d wait after class and we could walk home together… I stayed late after class to finish things and clean up then made my way to her office.

She wasn’t quite ready to leave.

So I drew a picture.

Then we walked home together.

(The line drawing was done in the office, colour added later at home)

Vacation in Ontario

 I went on vacation in Ontario and all I drew was a few lousy sketches... 

Seriously, I went there thinking that's all I'd do - sit around and draw stuff all day. There wasn't much of a plan and I'm not super into doing all the regular touristy things... and I hauled SO MUCH ART SUPPLIES....

The trip came about because Amanda had a conference to go to in Niagara Falls - the 12th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences - in Niagara Falls, Canada! She's been to a few - they've generally held them every 3 years and alternate between somewhere in North America, and... somewhere else - Usually Europe. 

Amanda's often met up with her mom when she's travelled to these (or other conferences) and I've stayed home with the kids... It's been a while since she last went to one (the last one was cancelled due to the pandemic - and then they held one online...). Our kids are older now, though... One of them is technically an ADULT (I know, WTF!?), so... I asked if maybe I could tag along... 

Short version of what ended up being a long and ridiculous story, It was decided that I'd go along, and we'd tack on a few days in Toronto on either side. 

I took lots of pictures... but I'm only sharing this one... at least in this post. (maybe I'll do another one with more pictures). These are the newish shoes I had that I wore on vacation, along with the two bags I took. the more colourful one was brand new and my "carry on" that had clothes and stuff. The purple and black Timbuk2 bag (with the fancy new patch from Spencer Hawkes/Nomad Patches)had all my art supplies.... and a few other things... 

Our flight to Toronto left at 6AM!? So we had to be there at 5AM... and up even earlier than that to get a cab to the airport... and then wait... Amanda, being Amanda, decided it was "technically" a "work day" (ie she was getting paid to travel) so she opened up the laptop and started doing work emails for an hour while we waited. 

And I drew a picture... 

I'm not a fan of flying. So I tried to busy myself with drawing while flying there. 

I was so crazy tired... but once I'm up, I just can't go back to sleep... so... drawing... 

And that was it... until we got to Niagara. 

We stayed two nights in Toronto and had a full day and a half of wandering around...

I brought my Rapidograph pens to use, as they are my favourites to draw with. But the ink kind of exploded out of them and all over the case I'd put them in... I cleaned them all out, but didn't have extra ink. I knew there was an art supply store in Toronto that had rapidograph ink, but I forgot to write down which one, and we didn't end up going to any those first days there and so all the drawing I did was with Staedler and Sakura pigment liners (my "back up" drawing utensils). 

(As it turns out, the are supply store that had the ink was the closest one - like, two blocks from our hotel... but in the end we didn't go there until the second last day of our vacation... and... by that point I'd kind of given up on the idea...) 

Again, the trip to Niagara meant getting up in darkness and walking back down to Union Station to catch an early morning train to Niagara Falls. I was too damed tired to do any drawing on the train... When we got there we were able to drop our bags off at the hotel and then wandered down to look at the falls... and took a circuitous path back up towards the convention centre to get Amanda registered. During our wanderings, we found a place to sit down and eat and, while we waited for our food, I drew another picture of Amanda... (above) 

The view from our hotel room... 

a view OF our hotel room... 

Amanda doing MORE work emails IN our hotel room one evening after getting back from the conference... which she did EVERY evening... 

I didn't do ANY drawing in Toronto on the way back 

One final drawing on the plane ride home - which I didn't finish colouring until the next day... 

And that was it... 

The lack of drawing was a bit disappointing. I think I need to PLAN things in advance ("I will go HERE and DRAW THINGS for the afternoon"). There was no real plan most days... and while some people find that freeing, I find I fall into an indecision loop for the ENTIRE DAY and DO NOTHING?! 

I guess I did learn a few things about what to take and what not to take... and what to take it in!? Which will be handy if I ever go on another vacation!? 

One thing I definitely won't be taking again is the Timbuck2 courier bag. I use it all the time, in town. But, generally speaking, when in town, I'm riding a bike to get around. I thrown be bag into a basket and ride to where I'm going and then I just carry the bag from my bike into where ever I was going and there ususally isn't much walking around. While it id VERY handy for organizing stuff and carrying it around... it SUCKS to carry, especially when FULL of sketchbooks and art supplies and anything else I think I MIGHT need for the day, when walking around ALL DAY.... Definitely better to use a small backpack! 

Empty Rapidograph pens of ink, before getting on planes. Bring ink with me to fill up when we arrive. Teh pressure changes when taking off is what caused the inks to explode out of the pens... it was a MESS. (so, still want to bring "back up" drawing utensils for the plane!) 

I'm not sure about colouring stuff... I brought Derwent inktense watercolour pencils... and Derwent inktense watercolour pans... I did use both... I ended up using the pencils more - because I'm more used to using those and there are more colour options, and on the plane they were more convenient, sort of... but in other ways they were a little less convenient - unravelling the giant roll that I have them all in. I think I might try a book-like pencil organizer...? or just learn to USE THE PANS and paint like a regular watercolourist!?