Painter and textile artist René Onclin walks through his Amsterdam neighbourhood, the Rivierenbuurt, almost every day looking for inspiration.
He sketches buildings, trees and even parking meters in the notebook he carries, working these days in broad shapes rather than fine detail.
Painting with yarn
Back home, he picks up needle and thread and mostly embroiders the city, which he calls painting with yarn.
Born in the Jordaan and raised in the Rivierenbuurt, he has stitched many of Amsterdam’s buildings and streets.
He also reworks family portraits, adding embroidered flowers to his grandparents’ wedding photo and a coloured coat to a black-and-white picture of a distant relative.
A meadow around a building site
For an exhibition themed High Five, he worked from NRC photos of a building site supervisor who high-fives every passing cyclist.
He stitched a green meadow around the concrete, saying he looks for softness in daily life and may be trying to create a kinder world.
The work was shown at the High Five exhibition in Loods 6 on KNSM-eiland over the weekend of 10 and 11 October.
Check out our guide to Amsterdam’s art galleries for more local work to see up close.