Hi,

My name is Ruud and I am starting a new journey. Back in the summer of 2018 when I was travelling in Indonesia a few things were on my mind. I was enjoying the company of my youngest daughter, who had been travelling Australia and South East Asia for almost half a year. Her mother and I had missed her a lot and we were finally reunited at the airport in Jakarta. Our daughter joined us during our adventures in Indonesia. Also on my mind was my oldest daughter, who stayed in Europe to volunteer at a summer camp in France for disabled children and their families. I missed her and I was just hoping she was having a good time when donating her precious time off to a charity.

Also, I was thinking of the International Urban Sketchers Symposium that would take place a year later in Amsterdam and had been keeping me busy for a year already, as I was leading the local organising team in The Netherlands. It had been a busy year for me and I knew that an even busier year was coming up soon.

While sketching on a ship at sea near the Komodo National Park I had plenty of time to think about the future. I knew that I could not go on with this busy life for many years, next to my daytime job as an independent project manager. Of the time that I had for ‘sketching’, I was spending 90% to organising sketch events and chairing Urban Sketchers Netherlands. Although I was still enjoying it, I just felt that within the next couple of years the energy would flow out of it all.

Sketching on a desert island near Labuan Bajo on July 31, 2018.

And then disaster struck. We just started the last week of our trip at Gili Trawangan, a paradise island just off the coast of Lombok. The energy of mother nature hit us. A deadly 7.0 earthquake struck the region and we spent the night at a hill because of a tsunami warning. In the morning we witnessed the tragedy and devastation of the earthquake. With aftershocks every few minutes we had to wait over 24 hours before we were evacuated to Bali. We felt lucky to be alive and I was determined to follow my dreams even more than I have done before.

Now, almost 2 years later I am starting my new sketching platform The Sketch Co. I am spending more time sketching on location and in my studio. The Sketch Co. will give me the opportunity to share with you the passion for my favorite activity. You are invited to join me on this journey. It is my honour if you do.

You can follow The Sketch Co.’s adventures on Facebook, Instagram or subscribe to my newsletter. If you would like to follow me personally you can find me on Facebook and Instagram too.

Happy sketching!