I spend Chrismas in Belgium. It was my first time traveling to Europe in the winter, much less during the holidays. It is an interesting experience. I would like to say that the crowds and tourists were not as much. The popularity and vibe of the Christmas Markets attract many, especially at night. I did ate at the Christmas Market in Brussels, visited the Cartoon Strip Center, and I visited the Magritte Museum.
I enjoyed the Christmas Market because of the activity and people. It felt I could watch people, eat food, and drink all day. A few of the foods I had were Argentinian empanadas, white wurst from Germany, Tartiflette, and Tsukune(Japanese Chicken Balls.) I drank some of the Belgium beer, which is quite high in alcohol content, Delirium Tremens and Duval. I walked around the market drinking vin chaud. Although it was cold for me. I had a very good experience in the Christmas Markets. I hope my family can join some day.
I went to the Comic Strip Center in Brussels. I enjoyed myself so much. Most of the comics were in French. I admired the art, aspects like line quality and watercolor. I was reading the history of the comic strip. The museum subtitles were in three languages. I was first reading in English then in French, then I gave up reading altogether. Even for an artist, a museum can be too much to take in. It really did inspire me to draw more on my travels. I bought a french comic book, I will steal was much technique from it. I will put the title later on.
I went to the Rene Magritte Museum on my last day. When I was in high school, he was my favorite painter. As a fan of surrealism, I don’t think Magritte gets as much exposure as he should. When people mention surrealism they usually think of Salvador Dali. I also enjoy Dali, but Magritte’s paintings have more nuance. I enjoyed the museum, but I get really bored fast. I went through the museum in an hour. What I took from the experience was the simplicity of his compositions and ideas. I think even his painting skill didn’t blow me away. He is better than me. I do think with a few years of constant practice, I can paint as well or better than him in oil. I say this because I can actually get up close to the paintings and see each brushstroke. Most of his paintings are large i.e. 5ftx6ft. When you see an image shrunk down from a large picture it hides a lot of the craftsmanship of the artist. Now I want to visit more museums of my favorite illustrators like J.C Leyendecker, N.C. Wyeth, and Norman Rockwell.
markmagpusao.com 