‘Plein Air’ in Meppel

I live in Meppel. It’s a small town in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It’s small, but has everything a town needs. It has canals with interesting bridges, and old houses alongside. No, not  like Amsterdam. It’s a lot smaller, small canals and small old houses, but they are picturesque!

 

watercolour sketch ‘Tipbrug’

 

Meppel is not too busy. You can sit on your tripod at one side of the canal to sketch the bridge and the houses on the other side. You can put your easel in the middle of the main street and paint whatever you like there. Of course you can do your shopping in that street too. Fashion, shoes, bags, books, postcards to send to your friends at home, a map of the region to find your way, it’s all there. Not to forget the artist’s materials shop Van Daalen at the canal (also for matting and framing).

 

watercolour sketch ‘In the park’

 

When you want to see something else, you get out of town and in some minutes you are in the green landscape. At every side of Meppel the landscape is different. To the north there is sandy soil with woods and heather. That is where the world famous ‘hunebedden’ (pre-historical graves with large stones) are. To the west the soil is wet, there are marshes and lakes. To the east is the beautiful valley of the Reest ( a very small river, meandering through a slightly hilly landscape). To the south is the village of Staphorst, with its typical farmhouses and some people still wearing traditional costumes. When I take my bicycle, I can ride through all these different landscapes.

 

I decided to do that. Not only to ride my bike, but also make ‘plein air’ watercolour paintings of these landscapes. Alas, there was a problem: the rain. I had to wait for a day without rain. That’s the reason why you did not read this article earlier …

 

watercolour ‘North of Meppel’