I just got back from my two week trip to Europe. We visited Germany (Düsseldorf and Cologne), the Netherlands (Amsterdam) and Denmark (Aarhus, Copenahgen and Møns Klint). We saw over a dozen museums and galleries, the best of which was probably the Louisiana Museum north of Copenhagen which had a really inspiring Matisse show (more on his tree drawing later).
On our last day we took a journey down to the southeast corner of Denmark to the island of Møn. There we found the most spectacular landscapes of our trip in the 400 foot white chalk cliffs of Møns Klint. A breathtaking end to our great trip.
In addition to taking scads of pictures, I tried to draw as much as possible, and I’ve created a collection of a few of the sketches to share. Click on the above image to see them, or click here.
I also have to recommend the sweeping epic of a novel, “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell (recommended to me by fellow invisibleman PA). This was my travel book, and it delivered exactly what I was looking for on a good trip. It’s an epic that sweeps through time as well as distance. Be sure to check it out.

A recent oil sketch of the shoreline of Great Captain’s Island; a small island 1.5 miles south of Greenwich, CT in Long Island Sound.

Here’s a quick color study of a drawing I may work up of Bush and his cronies riding the Four Horses of the Apocalypse. There would be Rove in prison stipes, skeletor-Rumsfeld, a cardiac-arresting Cheney and the naked idiot-emperor.

I’m writing this entry in the lovely Flingern neighborhood of Dusseldorf, Germany. I was determined to add to our “travels” category with a euro-dispatch, so here I am. My invisiblewoman and I have just returned from a little side trip to Amsterdam, and are spending the weekend in our home base in Dusseldorf, which happens to be our gracious hosts Marcus & Vanessa’s cool apartment. They have been taking us around to see the sights, all the art openings in Dusseldorf’s art scene, the best doner kebab shops…And we had a nice trip to Koln today. The Museum Ludwig was spectacular…
Amsterdam was really lovely, and our time there helped erase some unsavory memories of my first visit years ago. In particular, we were quite taken by the Jordaan neighborhood, which is full of great shops and bars, and some incredibly quaint canal houses.
Of course we took in some inspiring art, including the suprisingly good collection of van Gogh’s drawings at his eponymous museum. Nice to his his little sepia sketches in his folded letters to his brother Theo. They had several of his sketchbooks on display, which was a treat! Off to Arhus, Denamrk on Monday, then a brief visit around Copenhagen.
Couldn’t scan in any of my sketches while on the road unfortunately, so the above photo will have to do until my return. A few more photos are available for perusal here.”

I’m nearing the end of my current moleskin sketchbook. I’m hoping my next sketchbook will be of finer paper quality and larger – but the moleskin’s not a bad way to go if I can’t find something better.

Click on the snowy image above to watch this scary short about man vs. nature. As the cooler weather approaches, watch what you put on your head.