Dennis Mathewson in Amsterdam
By Dennis Mathewson…
Amsterdam has always been a city of mystery to me. Is it true the things they say about this historic place? On most of the cliché items - yes. Lots of tulips, windmills, wood shoes, bicycles and cheese.
But I can’t go without mentioning the pot smoke-filled coffee houses, red light districts where girls are lined up in the windows for sale - Amsterdam is a land filled with much freedom. Where pot is legal and the drinking age is 16, you would think this place would be a constant party. It’s not though, as the local law runs a pretty tight ship on all these issues so it’s quite separated from the main stream. Though these lifestyle choices are not mine it was still interesting to see.
This is the Land of Van Gogh and the flying Dutchman the local talent was up to world speed when it came to airbrushing and custom painting. All welcomed my Island and tiki style. I held a two-day workshop at the Emprix/ALSA Netherlands facility in Deventer which is about an hour outside of Amsterdam.
This Historic city was amazing and beautiful. My hosts Iwata Europe and travel companion Alberto Ferrero hooked up with Robbert van Steenwijk and his wife Irene who run the ALSA Europe facility and training center. Having all the cool stuff I need made it easy to do my magic.
Lunch was a kick with Holland’s own sushi raw herring (my style for sure) - had to try it, “yumpin yiminee”!
My good friend Stef and his wife Sandy even drove up from Belgium for the weekend making it fun event. We tried lots of cool custom painting tricks as well as many demos. I also shared many stories and tried to give some inspiration for making a living doing this stuff. I shared with them some tips on marketing their talent.
I even purchased a couple leather belts locally and airbrushed and striped them showing a quick easy way to make some money doing this stuff. Local Deventer super talent Marky even showed up to share the fun.
Margziet Spoozenberg - a very talented artist: Check out her work.
I finished up the weekend with a Pin striped Tiki on the back of the ALSA van.
Europe is very different than the U.S. when it comes to this art but I see big changes happening right in front of me. I plan to return in a few months to U.K. and other location is Europe, ‘I’ll keep you posted.
~Aloha
All images and text in this post copyright © 2008 Dennis Mathewson - Cosmic Airbrush. AirbrushTour.com extends a special thanks to Dennis - our foreign correspondent.
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