#616 Fighting Sleep (Like Valentijn)

My baby nephew Valentijn, like everyone else, gets tired sometimes. And when he does, his grandparents will prepare him for bed. When they do, he's always fighting them, which is ridiculous. His tiredness is unmistakable, and when he finally gets put to bed, he falls asleep instantly. More ridicu...

#615 Sober In A Smoke Filled Room

An ex-colleague came to the Netherlands for a concert, and we met for a few hours. He's a nice guy, except for his nasty habit of always having an excuse for not making art, which drives me crazy. Even though it frustrates me, I do get it. To get anything done, I have to be slightly obsessed. Simi...

#614 Dying Alone

"Sometimes, I feel like I only make art to upset my mom. Probably because she's one of the only people I talk to about my art. And honestly, I love seeing her get sad because of my art; the whole point is to provoke emotions. But I also hate knowing my art hurt her. I know she's hurt because of th...

#613 Hospital At Night

On the outskirts of Den Bosch, close to where I live, there's a great hospital called the 'Jeroen Bosch Hospital' named after the famous painter. It's hard to miss the building when I go for a stroll. I have no emotional attachment to the hospital as I'm just not that kind of person, but I've got s...

#612 Mushrooms

Mushrooms are, and have always been, something I enjoy finding whenever I do. They seemingly seem to hide for the better part of the year until someday you go outside, and for some reason, anywhere you look, there they are. They're frankly fascinating organisms. I don't know much about them and don...

#611 Stressful dreams

Anxiety is my only friend that follows me anywhere I go. Whenever I have to do something social that I haven't done before (or just not in a while), like the heroic task of going to an unfamiliar store or calling someone I don't know, there's this familiar but forever unpleasant, anxious feeling. B...

#610 Clocks

During the workweek, I work a couple of very long days so that my weekends last longer. Any hour I spend making art, I need to waste at least 30 minutes, so having a lengthier weekend makes it easier to get art done. Now, for some reason, when I finally make it to the end of the week, I mostly spe...

#609 Cold White Guy

I'm a Dutch guy, so Dutch that if they analyzed my heritage, they would have to invent new terminology to define my Dutchness. If you didn't know, we Dutch people are generally very white, which is also true for me. Walking is a big part of my life. I couldn't live like this at all in a lot of othe...

#608 Only Light In Window

This time of year is so dark here. I thought the shortest day of the year was a month before it was. I made the same mistake last year. And again, when I realized we would have another month of ever shorter days, it made me incredibly sad. Regardless, something I now realize I've missed in the summ...

#607 Bird On Ledge

I don't remember when, but at some point, during some walk, I must've seen some birds on a ledge and thought: 'Now that's a sight I must replicate in my art.' My sister swears that it was during a walk we went on together. To make her feel special, I told her it was true. Frankly, I don't remember,...

#606 Stoned Party

I used to get stoned a lot. Nowadays, I'm sober, but I doubt I'm completely over it yet. Regardless, I don't go to many parties, and the ones I did go to, naturally, I would get stoned at. Parties are just an excuse for people to get high on whatever substances, feeling like they're not addicted ...

#605 The Addict

Being addicted is nice. I like being addicted. It makes life easier. Instead of constantly working to do something meaningful, I can relax and waste my time. At the end of the day or week, I think about where all my time went. I'll realize that I wasted so much time again and think: "I should spend...

#604 The GP

People who accurately understand how they're feeling are geniuses. I'm never sure how I feel, and often, I'm sure I don't know, which drives me crazy. One day, I woke up, and I just felt weird. Generally, I hate dealing with people and being in situations that I'm not familiar with, so it took me ...

#603 End Of The City

"Everything ends, though hard to identify, even cities do, but it's easy to tell that one of my favorite walking spots is on the edge. It's not the most peaceful spot in the surrounding area, but probably the quietest while still, maybe technically so, inside of the city. There's this great pers...

#602 Balloon In Tree

"Another cold day. It's not even that late, and the sun is gone already. The sun hides away before the day even starts this time of year. It's pretty peaceful out here. It was a Thursday, so I ate with my parents. My baby nephew, who they care for, was as loud as always. I taught him some guitar t...

#601 Coach's Garbage Containers

"When I quit playing basketball, I had played half my life. One afternoon, I realized that the sport cost more effort than I could care to put in. And as I do when I conclude somewhere or with something, I left the game behind: I haven't touched a basketball since or talked to anyone I used to play ...

#600 My instruments

"Creating any art requires some instrument, I think, and possibly, partially, because of that is why there's such a fascination with instruments from artists. Some instruments are also just fun objects to portray. Some companies have good logos, but the branding of pianos and certain guitars is in...

#599 Highway

"Humans spend so much time on highways in cars, going to many places, and most often coming back too. While on the road, the perspectives are fascinating but repetitive. But if you're wasting your time away, traveling huge distances, you might as well enjoy whatever repetitive sights you find. Conv...

#598 Janis Joplin

"What a voice. It's difficult not to be somewhat mad, although this is very selfish, at all the great artists that died so soon considering all the art we might've had but never will, can you imagine what else Jimi Hendrix, the Doors or Basquiat, could've done? When thinking about Janis as well,...

#597 Beautiful Boring LIfe

Like everyone, I'm addicted to keeping myself entertained, meaning I almost always have some video and music playing. Even that often isn't enough, so I also frequently find myself scrolling through social media. I like walking, it's another good way to keep myself busy, though even while walking ...

#596 Sky

What if your sister was the Sky and so that any time you'd look at her, she'd be very different? It means that some days, she'd be so calm, sweet, and sometimes, if you're lucky, even genius. But frequently, she would be more angry and destructive than anything else really can be in your life, dest...

#595 Parent With Child

I'm not very sentimental, or maybe I simply don't want to be. So when I saw a woman with her child in a cargo bike, and I thought about my parents, how they carried me around the world for so long, and how now they don't. That wasn't me being sentimental: some things in this world are good, interes...

#594 Tree In Field

While sitting on one of the great benches of Den Bosch, reality hit me; I was out of ideas for things to paint, which often happens as I paint a lot. Actually, honestly, I had already realized this at home, which was the cause of this particular walk. It took this bench to inspire ideas, so I want...

#593 Cute Cow

Some people think eating 'pets' like dogs and cats is wrong and eating cows is okay because cows aren't cute. They're wrong. Cows can totally be, and often are, pretty cute. Now, I'll still eat them, so you might consider me evil, but I'll take that as I could've been an evil hypocrite instead. Pre...

#592 The Bench

Going for walks is one of the best hobbies I've got. It's undefeated not only because moving is healthy for a human (like me) but also because it's a great way to waste time, listen to music, and get ideas for art. There are many benches around Den Bosch with beautiful perspectives, or at least si...