The planned plein air session in pre-Christmas Amsterdam turned out to be very productive. At first, I wanted to paint the ice rink with its Christmas lights and festive atmosphere, but once we arrived, the scene turned out to be very chaotic, so we decided to postpone that idea until better times.
I had been to this rink once before—it’s beautifully located against the backdrop of the Rijksmuseum. Last year there were lovely little tables right by the rink, where you could paint while drinking mulled wine, practically dipping your brush into it. This year, however, it was just a mess, with a completely chaotic crowd of people. These two downsides, of course, dampened my desire to paint the rink. Maybe I’ll go there after Christmas, when the crowd thins out a bit.
I was there with a group of artists. I’m very happy that there are like-minded people who are willing to freeze in Amsterdam for the chance to move a brush across a canvas—and to spend the whole day fending off persistent passersby asking for their portraits to be drawn.
In the end, we chose a very characteristic little street with a narrow house and charming cafés. Since it was important for me to capture twilight, I decided not to start earlier than noon—by 5 p.m. you can really freeze, and that wasn’t part of my plans. Winter plein air is no joke. But a Siberian isn’t someone who doesn’t get cold—it’s someone who knows how to dress warmly.
Of course, Amsterdam doesn’t have the same frost as Irkutsk (my hometown), but still—standing outside for 5–6 hours is cold. Even in Irkutsk I never practiced that.
People living in the apartments near our little camp nervously peeked out of their windows, watching how and where we spread out our belongings, afraid we might spill something colorful. We smiled at them, and they relaxed. After all, people usually respect artists and don’t scold them too much 🙂
I had heavy artillery with me in the form of mulled wine in a thermos, so no one froze too badly. We warmed ourselves with it and with coffee—and in general, warmth is felt best during the coldest time!
In the end, everyone went to sit in a café, we had a nice chat in a mix of Russian, Dutch, and English—overall, the plein air was a success!
I was very happy to see new faces, learn new plein air life hacks (and I thought I already knew everything 😄), and simply socialize in the wonderful atmosphere of festive Amsterdam.
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