The day I arrived was Queen's Day in Amsterdam. This has to be the biggest street party in the world. At least, the biggest one I have ever seen. Everyone starts drinking at around 9am, and it goes all day and night. All the major streets are blocked off and there are bands and beer tents setup on every corner. The canals get so congested with people partying, that they often come to a complete stand-still. It was pretty fun to go boat-hopping across the canals.
The next few days I spent exploring Amsterdam. There is a ton of awesome street art.
I was also really inspired by the architecture. Some of the houses are super funky with great colors. It seems like each street has it's own character.
This red house below is the thinnest house in Amsterdam. I overheard a tour group leader explaining that there was a period when property taxes were determined by how wide the buildings were...
Here's one for old-times sake...
I was staying in a hotel right across the street from the Paradiso which is an old church that is now a concert venue. I thought I would check the schedule, and low-and-behold, The Dirty Sweet happened to be playing that night. Storytyme played a show with these guys at the Fox Theatre in Boulder last year... small world right? They played an awesome show, and it was cool to hang out with some fellow American-rockers for a night.
The next day I cruised up to Haarlem, which is only 15mins by train from Amsterdam... Holland is pretty small. There is also some amazing architecture there.
I even made it out to the beach one day. That was a trip. I had no idea there were beaches like this in Holland. It's like Southern California. Tons of sand and lots of drinking in the sun.
The next couple of days were pretty hectic trying to get things ready for the festival. The B-Pop festival has been running for many years, but this was the first time that they had included artwork on the grounds. As with anything you do for the first time, you are bound to learn some things and find out what works, and what doesn't. What we were able to get up was awesome, but there were some delays in printing the super-large prints, so they did not go up in time. The festival promoters were really stoked on the artwork we did show, and there are plans to increase and enhance the exposure for next year. Here are a few photos of my artwork printed on the fencing between the two main stages. I managed to get these photos really early in the morning before there was anyone there...
I thought this one was pretty cool... The Woodpeckers with the Dutch flag above...
Here's the same street once people started to show up...it was some serious exposure!
I liked this before-and-after series of the main stage... 150,000 is a ton of people!
Here is a shot of the VIP area backstage which was pretty cool. The Octopus's Garden at 8' wide!
Henk setup some canvas and did a little live action painting for the boozers and schmoozers backstage. I really liked the scrabble pieces... nice touch.
There was also a platform up above the stage where I got these shots.
Juliet and the Licks were one of the headliners... they rocked pretty damn hard. I like all the photographers in this shot... They probably got some better pictures than I did being 2 feet away.
The last two days I got to spend with the Klinkhamer family at their home in Hillegom. Again, really close to Haarlem and Amsterdam... It really was a great experience to hang out with Henk and learn about all his different techniques. He has had an amazing career, and his body of work is certainly prolific. Here are some photos of his work...
These pictures don't do justice to the magnitude and detail in these paintings. Both of these two below are like 8 feet tall!
Henk also let me browse through his sketchbooks and take some pictures... here are some of my favorites...
We even got some jam sessions in. Here are some photos of Henk and Ben rocking the Strat.
This was one of the craziest looking dogs I have ever seen. They had two of them that looked exactly the same...
And no trip to Holland would be complete without some tulip photography right?
And lastly, here's a sketch I managed to fit in. Things were really busy and I didn't find much time. This was done on trains and during some of the few moments in-between the madness... I'm pretty sure the Dutch architecture and tulips, along with whatever else is currently lodged in my subconscious... will be finding its way into my work in the near future...
Among about a million other adjectives, this trip was extremely enlightening and inspiring. Thanks so much to Derk and the Klinkhamer family for taking me in and showing me an amazing time. I am truly grateful for the opportunity and look forward to doing it all again soon.
Until next time,
Peace.
-Phil
