Report from Haarlem: Urban sketching in the age of COVID-19

[Guest post by Anne
Rose Oosterbaan in Haarlem, the Netherlands] We wanted to sketch a day at our station with the Haarlem Urban
Sketchers. It is the only station in the Netherlands in the Art Nouveau or
Jugendstil style and one of the most striking buildings in my city.

I requested day passes from the railways so that we could
enter with those passes for an unlimited time. Unfortunately, coronavirus
measures were announced two days earlier; I therefore canceled the sketch
crawl. I wrote that anyone who wanted to sketch at the station could get a pass;
I would bring it. Two sketchers responded. We went to try it, at the very end
of the platform where almost no people are passing. The most beautiful platform
is in the middle, with a beautiful railway house on it, so we went to the
opposite platform. This platform, which is normally always full of people, was
not in use: no timetable, no trains. Safe for us. We could sit on the edge of
the platform, next to the track, and sketch whatever we wanted. It was dead
quiet. Sometimes a train stopped at the other side; there were few people
getting on or off. A wonderful atmosphere at this station, where it is
otherwise always busy; Haarlem is the capital of the province and very close to
Amsterdam. It was our last time sketching outside.