Centraal Station Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam is a very touristy place, the main area where they tend to congregate is near the central station (central is spelled with two a's in Dutch). In this small painting you see the central station in the background, it is actually a really long building that goes on for about a large city block! In front you see a restaurant/cafe that was built upon a pier where the tour boats come and go for canal tours. I am sitting on the opposite side of the canal, looking back toward the central station. On the patio near the edge of the canal people are no doubt enjoying their expensive espresso's and latte's talking about Van Gogh or Anne Frank.

We arrived in Amsterdam late afternoon and made our way up to central station with about an hour and half of light left in the sky. It was hard to find anywhere to sit because the Dutch are not big on installing benches anywhere in the city. So I sat on a large stone staircase that had many tourists sitting down enjoying the atmosphere. And by atmosphere, I mean weed. Like, I smelled a lot of weed wafting around, but I tried not to inhale ; ) I completed about 15 paintings while in Amsterdam and will be posting some of the highlights on the blog. One common feature is the ever present canal. The water was difficult to paint, it is a muddy green colour, and it reflects the blue sky and the architecture.

5.5 x 7.5 " hot press watercolour, Sept. 2018