The Cherry Post No.108 | #BCAmsterdam Part 2

The Cherry Post No.108 | #BCAmsterdam Part 2

Hello all to Part 2 of talking about #BCAmsterdam aka the trip I had to Amsterdam last week.

Part 1 was about the journey there and what I got up to on Day 1 and this post will be about Day 2 and journey back home.

With that, before I continue. If you want a print based on anything you have seen in the #BCAmsterdam pics I can produce one, contact me for more info (Part from anything Disney as you will see below, I will not produce anything Disney related).

 

 

 

 

Day 2 started off slightly later than the previous day, only by an extra hour or so as we planned on visiting some museums which wasn’t far from our hotel compared to everything else (if I do visit Amsterdam again, I will choose a closer hotel). It only took about 10/20 mins to walk to the museums sector of the city.

 

The first museum we visited was the Van Gogh Museum which we got to just as it opened, it’s 2 buildings one being one of the entrances & the other being the main hub where his work was. Both buildings are really impressive, because we got there as it opened it was quiet, so I could take in the structure.

 

 

The main hub where the work was, had about 4 floors going into different sections of his life. To make the visit interesting, we started off on the top floor where it was more about his death & people he influenced and then worked ourselves down going in the opposite order the museum intended, good to be different.

 

 

 

 

I be honest, I am more into prints than paintings (can’t paint to save my life) but like anyone who likes art, Van Gogh is an artist is someone you must admire as he a legend in the subject. With that I wanted to check out his work and get some inspiration. Going in the reverse order was interesting and chance to see some rooms when they are quiet and not almost full as the rooms were towards the end.

I wish I brought along a sketchbook and pencil with me but left it in the suitcase (along with a book about Bryan Cranston which I was hoping to read on the holiday but never did, both books just wasted space in the suitcase) so spent time just taking it all in, taking a few pics and listening to the recordings they’ve got.

 

 

One of his paintings I really liked part from his more popular pieces that attracted the crowds was the flying fox bat painting as shown above. I will hold off til around Halloween to produce a Bonfirecherry linocut print inspired version of that, I wanted to take the bat home it was rather cute.

 

His most famous painting #‪BCAmsterdam‬

A post shared by BonfireCherry Prints (@bonfirecherry) on

 

Managed to get a sneaky pic of this famous piece of art.

 

 

As a printmaker, I found the info I took a picture of above rather interesting for 3 reasons. 1 ) Never knew about Van Gogh’s love for Japanese woodblock prints 2) That I would see some woodblock prints 3) He had some work inspired by Japan. Shame it was only a small section of a floor dedicated to this, but the time I’m writing this post there is a Van Gogh exhibition happening at the Tate Britain from late March in 2019 so maybe I can see some more there.

 

 

It was impressive having a look at one of his most famous self-portraits, I have been thinking of doing one of myself using linocut print soon as the last one I produced was back in 2013/14 so long overdue to produce a new one soon, when I have some time as I’ve got so much planned this year.

With that we worked ourselves back down to the ground floor which was the end of the visit for us but before we left we had to check out the gift shop where I treated myself to a new book, I don’t have any books about Van Gogh, I do now.

 

 

On Day 1, we had a walk around the museum sector in the morning and came across the Moco Museum which had a Banksy & Roy Lichtenstein exhibition which was surprise to me and my friend as we had no idea it was on. As it was next door it was our next destination.

To miss out on a chance on going on a joint exhibition of my all time favourite two artists would be a great sin and wouldn’t forgive myself for it.

 

 

The museum had a good layout, the 1st floor and half of the ground floor was dedicated to Banksy and the rest of ground & basement was about Roy Lichtenstein. It was advice to start at the top and work ourselves down and that’s what I did.

 

 

I missed out a chance checking out Banksy’s work in an exhibition a few years ago (I think according to my twitter archive, 2013), he hosted his first work back in his home town of Bristol UK. Managed to get up to Bristol with my grandparents, but by the time we got there, the line for the exhibition was so long that we knew if we joined in the line we wouldn’t get in that day and it was the last day. So instead we checked out the big ship they had there, SS Bristol which was rather interesting.

 

 

There is one of Banksys work I find rather funny is this one above, whenever I walk from home to the cinema there is often a house I walk past that has this design on a recycling bin, so it was good to check out the piece in person.

 

 

In the same room was these 2 which I have to say were my favourite pieces of his.

 

 

I love this quote.

It was great to check out Roy Lichtenstein’s work again, I managed to see his work at the Tate Modern a few years ago, I still have the jumper I bought from it. My favourite piece of work from him is Whaam! Which I guessed wasn’t going to be there (and it wasn’t) but still love his work regardless.

 

 

There was some work I would have loved to take home with me but 1) I don’t think I would be able to get it out of the museum exit without noticing and 2) Didn’t have the room in my suitcase for it.

 

 

Towards the end of the exhibition before the gift shop, was this room. What an amazing room, I do have to a picture of yours truly in it!

The only thing I was a bit "meh" about the Moco museum was the gift shop, it was more about Banksy and for some reason Andy Warhol than Roy Lichtenstein. So, with that I only managed to get myself some Lichtenstein inspired post cards.

 

 

 

 

I loved these sculptures outside on the way of the museum.

Something I found out a few days ago before this post is supposed to be published, I was very lucky with the Banksy & Lichtenstein exhibition. It’s the first time in history there has been a permanent exhibition of Banksys work in a museum and it was there of all places. With Lichtenstein, the exhibition is only on between November 3rd 2017 to May 23rd 2018 so was very lucky in attending it while I had the chance.

 

 

The next museum we planned to visit was the biggest one out of the lot was Ruks Museum, but by this time it was well after lunch and with that there was a restaurant we wanted to check out that was in walk distance. With that, it was good to go off the beaten track (again, see Part 1 to see what I found on Day 1) as we found Amsterdam's big market which we would go back to later. We managed to find the restaurant that was recommended to us BUT it wasn't going to be open til another 2 hours so went to one of many "hipster" like places to eat instead.

 

 

On the way back, we cut through the market we discovered earlier to have some of Amsterdams famous "Stroopwafel", with me having the one with chocolate.

It was very nice but messy for me as I got chocolate all over my hand but someone I would like to have again if i visit there!

 

 

 

We got back to the hotel to sort out our suitcases/bags out as we would be heading back to the UK the day after & just to chill before we had out for dinner.

 

 

 

For me at least, I had a limited budget (near half on Uber taxi fairs due to location of the hotel) but still wanted to check out more of Amsterdam for our final dinner in this wonderful country, we found a nice restaurant not far away and at a reasonable price. Good on the way there to take some more pics of cool dutch architecture.

 

 

On Day 3, while waiting for the taxi to take us to the airport, I realised I never took any pics of the hotel as it was a nice-looking place.

We got through Amsterdam airport security alright without any problems, we got there slightly early again so we could have breakfast as the breakfast at the hotel wasn't that filling.

While there, I had some time to get some last-minute gifts and have a game of tetris eg sorting out the arrangement of stuff in my suitcase so I could fit in the purchases in there.

And with that, I think that's all what I will talk about for the trip. There will be a super long normal cherry post about print work etc next Friday.

One last thing if you are reading this on the day this post is published (Friday 16th march), my 20% off sale finishes at 4pm GMT. Don’t miss out some great offers which can found here.

Thanks for reading.

Matthew

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