ART IN THE MAKING

Two paintings this week. A large one showing the government buildings in watercolor and gouache. And a commission showing a window in a church. The colored light shimmers through the window and reflects colors on the floor. Creating art is showing what you see, not what's in front of you. I play with wet in wet washes, finding balance with sharp traces and contours.

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I tell you how I like this weeks painting subjects. After working in quite smaller sizes I'm longing for a larger size and I continue on a Marching Band painting. I'm using watercolor, gouache, soft pastel, oil pastel and gold leaf.

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I bought a new table easel and I start a watercolorpainting of the most impressive monument of our town. I like these statues, they bring drama in the painting. The composition is quite simple; I couldn't find more time to work this week and I used a picture which I shot from my car while I was waiting in a traffic jam.

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This week I started working from my sketches in stead of my photos. Since a long time I was not sure if I was able to do this. I was tended to hold on the pictures, because these are supposed closer to reality. But while I'm working from my sketches I discover that I get closer to my truth.

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When I think back to my time at the academy, I realize the difference between listening and obeying was crucial. In this week's video, I reflect aloud on the value of listening and the freedom to make your own choices.

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I'm obsessed by painting and drawing horses these days. I have images in my head of parades with many horses and riders in blue uniforms. In this video you see me sketching in watercolor some compositions for larger paintings I want to make. I'm using gouache and gold as well.

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I'm having 4 upcoming shows next month. One of these exhibitions is quite special; I will show my paintings next to Floris Arntzenius (1864 - 1925), a painter I've admired since my childhood. This week I'm working on a scene of a street which ahs been painted many times by Arntzenius.

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When a painting subject turns out to be very complicated, but still attracs me, it is because its abstract character. I like to approach complicated subjects abstractly. They lose their function in reality and reveal their beauty in the painting.

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This week I talk about how much knowledge is important in creativity. I go back to my childhood, remembering those schooldays when I knew everything exept what the teacher told me to know. I was taught to remember only the main issues, not the side issues.Now, working as an independant artist I can say that those "side issues" turn out to be main issues.Side issues are becoming essential when we look at ourselves, focussing more on the meaning of facts, meaning of life. We find happiness in that what carries us through the day; the light, sounds, smells en so on. It's remarkable that those details are those we learn to notice again in activities like mindfulness. Facts are only facts, these can only be interesting and attracting with a meaning.

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I was asked to make some courses for an online art academy. I have decided not to do it. For me, an essential part of creating is that what can not be taught neither explained. It felt awkward for me to explain how I make some paintings, step by step because it will become static in stead of spontaneous. In this video I talk about being in the flow, in the zone, or however you would describe it.

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