
The Venus of The Hague – 24-06-20
Next move on my Venus trail. I decided to do another surrealist one or is it? I put in some of my earlier themes like ‘singarity’, ‘the golden ratio’ and combine them with ‘the collapse of the wave function’.
Next move on my Venus trail. I decided to do another surrealist one or is it? I put in some of my earlier themes like ‘singarity’, ‘the golden ratio’ and combine them with ‘the collapse of the wave function’.
A version in straight lines, quite angular was bound to appear in my mind after the (sur)realistic one. So there you have it.
Today’s my birthday and I thought I’d offer you something different: a special treat.
This one is one step further abstracted than my previous drawing ‘The Venus of The Hague – 26-05-20’.
Based on my previous drawing ‘The Venus of The Hague – 23-05-20’, preceded by version ’18-05-20’, I turned up the abstraction one gear further.
Based on my previous drawing ‘The Venus of The Hague – 18-05-20’ I went further in abstracting body shapes after my roundism style but still referring to the play of light and dark in the original.
Last session with my model was fruitful and I had a mirror in mind like I used in my drawing ‘In hoc signo – 14-10-19’. I was satisfied with the result then and I sold it very quicky. Time to emulate it.
These Corona days I wander about the region like I am used to. Nothing changed in this respect and I am more than happy that we in The Netherlands have at least some freedom of movement and that the end of our ‘intelligent lock down’ is in sight
These Corona days show little or no model sessions at all. However my model and I felt confident to do a new session after a long time, taking all precautions.
The next drawing in my solarized roundism series. It forms a transition from my previous abstracted cubist geometry towards a crossover to realism and surrealism. Like in previous ones I inverted some of the tonal values whereas in other parts they are kept realistic.
Sometimes cementeries can be fun, especially when they are old and situated near old churches and trees in the midst of Beek, Gelderland, Netherlands.
Some time ago on Instagram I saw a beautiful woman showing a seated position of herself. I asked her for permission to draw her and decided to employ only my solarization effects of late.
Last year this time around Spring I started a series of small graphite pencil landscapes, one per day.
Some time ago I went to visit Museum Kranenburgh at Bergen, North Holland where I also captured ‘Het Oude Hof’ a famous manor nearby.
On my extensive trips I sometimes come across specific spots of beauty and in this case not accidentally. I saw a great mansion ‘for sale’ at the Valkenlaagte and I am sure I cannot buy it on short notice.
The second one of Oosterbeek this week and I chose a specific spot in the park where there is a bend in brook running through it.
Oosterbeek – 07-04-20
I always find it difficult to draw an impressionistic blossom tree without falling back to depict branches and the blossom in a rather symbolic or linear way.
A rather quick sketch of the manor ‘Voorlinden’ at Wassenaar, Netherlands, in which I skipped the hatched strokes and concentrated on the roundish shapes in the trees.
In these exceptional days of viral mayhem no one expected at the beginning of this year all of a sudden a first beautiful warm day in Spring arrived in The Netherlands.
This is my third solarized drawing I did since a long time and represents my regular model I know for years.
In my last drawing ‘Roundism – 29-03-20’ I employed the technique of solarisation again. It turned out to be a rather realistic one and so I decided to do another one more abstract.
These times I miss my model and look forward to have her over to sit for me again
After my walkabout through Veere I got back to the parking lot when I saw mill ‘De Koe’ just outside the historical centre. My mind was not fixed on any style but Leo Gestel’s depiction of olive groves at Mallorca weakly lingered at the back of my head.
These unusual times cause people to search for new ways to keep their minds busy. Some told me they binge watch or take virtual tours online, others turn to books still waiting for them. As an artist I just turn to what I do best for all these years: drawing and painting.
A unique situation: everybody all around the world at home and as to me: I got nothing to do except for painting and sketching but hey that is what we artists do all the time.
Since Corona has brought a new reality and forces so many countries to lock down, there is nothing much left for me but to teach some of the students that have the guts to show up and in the evenings I spend my time drawing and painting. But hey, the life of an artist always looks that way.
The Corona virus roams around Planet Earth and holds everyone tightly in its grip. Everybody stays put and I almost feel suffering from a locked-in syndrom, with no particular place to go and the only expression I can make is through the tip of my pencil and teaching the students that will come.
This drawing came into existence very intuitively. I concluded some major projects and I always have a drawing in progress, drawing waiting for my students in Voorburg.
This day I got warned by a Reddit group moderator to tag my art work as ‘NSFW’ (Not Safe For Work). That almost exclusively means ‘including nude’: as if one should look at social media or nudity when working at all! Who gets this idea?
And so it came to be, that I was attending to a wine tasting, organized by Jan-Wieger Eikema of the Bourgognespecialist (Burgundy specialist).
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