May 19, 2023

It’s Elvis Time in Numansdorp

By Rob de Vries Elvis in charcoal, For sale 0 Comments

Yesterday was the annual “It’s Elvis Time” day in Numansdorp. I was invited by the organization. I’ve been there once before, many years ago. It’s an outdoor event so luckily it was a nice and sunny day.
I spent several days deciding which drawings I was going to take with me and cutting mats for all of them.
The day started early, Caroline and I were picked up at nine by our friends Arnoud and Yvonne. On most Elvis events they accompany me to help me with the sales and talk to customers / Elvis fans.

When we arrived my booth was ready and we could start to display my work.
The event had a couple of thousand visitors who came for the music, the classic American cars and meeting friends.
I met a lot of people I knew from other Elvis events and from Facebook. I found out that I’m well known among the Elvis fans, many knew me and my work through social media…
It was a successful day, I sold out all of my Elvis Birthday Calendars, several magazines and two original drawings.

Me, Caroline, Yvonne and Arnoud

Tags:Art, Charcoal, Colored paper, Drawing, Elvis, Elvis art, Elvis event, Elvis Presley, It's Elvis Time, Numansdorp

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robdevries

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The beginning
I remember well. It was the summer of 1973 or 1974, we were on vacation with my aunt and uncle. For two weeks my uncle constantly sang the first lines of “Blue suede shoes”.
I asked him what that was and he told me it was an Elvis Presley song. Back in Amsterdam I immediately went to the record store and bought the LP “Elvis’ Golden Records Volume 1”. “Blue suede shoes” wasn’t on it, but I was immediately sold.
After that, all my pocket money went to Elvis records, books and related things.

In the meantime
A few years later I also started drawing and painting Elvis portraits. Of the countless I had made, only three have survived, and that’s only because they hung on my mother’s wall.
Once I grew up, my interest in Elvis waned somewhat. I was still a fan but not so fanatical that I bought everything I could find. That changed in 2007 when we went on vacation to Colorado in the US. In the three weeks we were there we took a domestic flight to Memphis to visit Graceland. That was an unforgettable event after which the Elvis virus struck again in full force.
Back in the Netherlands I restarted making Elvis portraits and collecting books and vinyl.

And now, a portrait of Elvis (almost) every week
Since that visit to Graceland I have been making a portrait of Elvis (almost) weekly using charcoal, ink and white chalk on colored paper. Most of these are sold. Mostly through Facebook and Instagram. In 2022 I hope to make the 300th Elvis in Charcoal drawing.
I also work on commission, your favorite Elvis photo as a drawing or painting. There are even regular customers who already own more than twenty of my Elvis artworks.
My Elvis portraits hang on people’s walls all over the world. A.O. in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Norway, Ireland, England, Italy, Australia, Scotland and the United States.