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It is a good time in Amsterdam to study the buildings. Once all the leaves are gone from the trees the gables of the Cannel Houses now stand proudly by the water’s edge in full view for all to see. One can now easily see the facades of the 17^th, 18^th, 19^th, 20^th, and 21^st century. This is one of my favourite winter sport along with Museum Haunting. My short list for Amsterdam Museums is around 20, so it is best to have a Museum Card (MJK) then you can get into all the museum free, almost all, some you do have to pay a special exhibition fee. My pick of the month is the Stedelijk  Museum where they are having a major Andy Warhol exhibition. If you are into Andy, video clips and film clips, you could really spend the whole day there. What is nice with the Temporary Stedelijk Museum in the old Post Office by Central Station is you can get there in 15 minutes from Schipol Airport on a layover. Land in the morning, come to the city for a museum and lunch, by mid afternoon you are off to Bombay.

Fall in Amsterdam and the leaves have almost all come off the trees. The air is getting cold and winter is around the corner. I love making a pellet of my hand ground linseed oil paint in the studio of Rembrandt, then walking home with it, taking in the colours of the day. I then use the fresh paint to recreate the colours on my canvas.                

The oil paint that Rembrandt used was made from pigments of ground, inorganic material such as stones, minerals, and other earthen materials. This was the job for his students but I have learned a great deal by making paints myself. Rembrandt was able to get away with a life time of painting and only used 14 different raw pigments. Since these pure raw pigments are mixed with very small amounts of linseed oil, they can all be mix with each other to create other colours. Rembrandt had no purple pigment; he took his red paint and his blue paint to create his purple. This is very handy once you learn how to mix colours; you are never without what you need. The other great advantage is that you can thin the paint with simply more linseed oil. No turpentine or solvents are needed while painting.

This way you can paint all day, in a small studio like mine, and you’re not overwhelmed by fumes. As I mentioned the cold is coming so opening the window here is not an option. However, the weather is perfect for working on finishing touches of painting or working up something new using the colours of the seasons as inspiration.

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