Friday 28 December 2012

Reflections on an Artist's Dream


This is my main entry for an exhibition of artwork created using an iPad or other similar mobile tablet device, employing the theme of "Secrets & Stories" as their source of inspiration at West Ox Arts Gallery in Oxford (UK). The Secrets & Stories-based theme behind this work is that of an artist and his passion for and entanglement with his subject. The concept could of course refer to any artist and subject. This work however specifically is about Oxford-based artist and friend Martin Beek, who over the last year has submerged himself in the process of portraying a vast array of landscape views in the Oxford area. I used an earlier iPad-portrait drawing of Martin to represent the artist himself. Then mirrored it with its preliminary sketch combined with a collage of an iPad-landscape drawing I recently did of a sunlit autumn woodland to depict the artist's dream, the entanglement with his subject and the process of getting to grips with it: a mind spinning with images and impressions, an eye both catching and caught by the light, an artists's path, fragmented, anything but straightforward. I titled it "Reflections on an Artist's Dream (A Wider Picture - Martin Beek Diptych)"; the subtitle could of course refer to the expanded width in terms of a diptych portrait, but particularly is meant as a hint to David Hockney's "A Bigger Picture" which over the last year has been one of Martin's sources of inspiration. Mijn bijdrage voor een groepsexpositie met het thema "Geheimen & Verhalen" van werken gemaakt met behulp van een iPad of een ander soortgelijk mobiel tablet-apparaat.

Monday 24 December 2012

Merry Christmas


Seasonally dressed up version of a quick iPad-sketch (Brushes App) I did earlier (Bear).

Saturday 22 December 2012

Ink & mixed media techniques



Quick sketches with ink and reed pen/twigs and the addition of mixed media techniques. In the upper sketch I used watercolour in combination with wax resist technique. In the lower sketch an overlay of rice paper drenched in watercolour; the rice paper turned out less transparant than I had expected. Perhaps I'll rework it at a later date. Ink, rice paper, watercolour, wax on paper. Snelle schetsen met inkt in combinatie met gemengde technieken.

Saturday 15 December 2012

Ink & Expression


Life drawing and painting, quick sketches with ink and reed pen/twigs and some occasional finger smudging. My aim was to gradually achieve a higher level of expression and abstraction. Ink on paper. Portret & model-tekenen/schilderen, snelle schetsen met inkt en rietpen/twijgen, zo nu en dan aangevuld met wat "smeerwerk".

Saturday 8 December 2012

Ink and watercolour, wax resist technique



Life drawing and painting, again focused on quick sketches with ink and reed pen/twigs, this time with the addition of watercolour in combination with wax resist technique. Ink, watercolour and wax on paper. Model: Ron. Portret & model-tekenen/schilderen, gericht op snelle schetsen met inkt en rietpen/twijgen, aangevuld met aquarel in combinatie met was (wax resist gemengde techniek).

Sunday 25 November 2012

Messy Jam


Quick and rough wax pastel sketch. Didn't like the background, so messed around with it; there definitely seems to be a limit to how much pastel messing the paper is willing to absorb. Ink pen, wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Snelle schets met inktpen en waspastels.

Saturday 24 November 2012

Ink and watercolour


Life drawing and painting, again focused on quick sketches with ink and reed pen/twigs, this time with the addition of watercolour tones. Ink and watercolour on paper. Model: Gaspard. Portret & model-tekenen/schilderen, gericht op snelle schetsen met inkt en rietpen/twijgen, aangevuld met aquarel.

Friday 23 November 2012

Backstage Warm-Up


Quick and rough wax pastel sketch loosely based on a photo in a local newspaper. Ink pen, wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Snelle schets met inktpen en waspastels losjes gebaseerd op een foto in een lokaal weekblad.

Saturday 17 November 2012

Tearing forms, ink, reed pen/twigs



Life drawing and painting, focused on tearing forms from paper to capture mass and volume of short poses, followed by corrections and enhancement with ink and reed pen/twigs. Each pose was held for ten minutes, which consequently gave one just ten minutes to assess the pose, tear a form, paste it to a background and sketch with ink. Paper tearing forms and ink on paper. Portret & model-tekenen/schilderen, gericht op scheurvormen (massa en volume) aangevuld met inkt en rietpen/twijgen.

Saturday 10 November 2012

Sunlit Autumn Woodland (Impression)


Quick experimental (digital) sketch (iPad, Brushes App) from memory and imagniation after a sunny autumn walk through the fields and woodlands where I live, inspired by David Hockney's work that I saw a few days before, during a visit to his "A Bigger Picture" exhibition in Cologne.

Ink, reed pen/twigs and brush



Life drawing and painting, again focused on quick sketches with ink and reed pen/twigs, this time with the addition of brushwork for shadows and enhancement in general. Likeness was rather compromised for expression. Ink on paper. Portret & model-tekenen/schilderen, gericht op snelle schetsen met inkt en rietpen/twijgen en kwast.

Friday 2 November 2012

Erica


Quick sketch based on a striking photo of Erica which she posted on Facebook earlier today and which was taken for a photo project with the theme "Colour". Ink pen, wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Portrait for Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr. Snelle schets met inktpen en waspastels. Portret voor Julia Kay's Portrait Party op Flickr.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Punky Cows


Quick cows sketch roughly based on a photo in the newspaper. Ink pen, wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Snelle koeien schets met inktpen en waspastels.

Saturday 27 October 2012

Ink, reed pen/twigs


Life drawing and painting, focused on quick sketches with ink and reed pen/twigs. The charm of this technique is that compared to drawing with a fountain pen, one has far less control over the flow of the ink, leading to a broad variation in the thickness of lines and also the occasional blob of ink. Ink on paper. Portret & model-tekenen/schilderen, gericht op snelle schetsen met inkt en rietpen/twijgen.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Mailbox and Autumn Leaves



Dutch mailboxes are orange nowadays and blend in nicely with autumn colours. Quick and rough sketch of a scene in Heerlen. Ink pen, wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Also shown is a quick contour/continuous line drawing I did as a study on the leaflet of a local museum (Bonnefanten Museum Maastricht). It coincidentally got an autumny feel as well through the colours on the leaflet. Brievenbus en herfstbladeren. De oranje brievenbussen van PostNL passen mooi bij de herfstkleuren. Snelle schets van een Heerlens stadsgezicht met inktpen en waspastels.

Sunday 14 October 2012

Cow (watercolour study)


Another quick cow sketch, this time a watercolour study, (very) wet-in-wet with a large brush. Watercolour on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Nog een snelle koe-schets, dit keer een aquarel studie, (zeer) nat-in-nat met een grote kwast.

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Continuous line portrait sketch (George Clooney)


Another quick portrait sketch practising contour/continuous line drawing based on a photo in a newspaper (George Clooney). Snelle contour/continue lijn portret schets gebaseerd op een foto in een krant.

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Continuous Cow


Quick sketch practising countour/continuous line drawing, not minding too much about anatomical correctness. Snelle contour/continue lijn schets.

Continuous line portrait sketch (Hans van de Waarsenburg)


Quick portrait sketch practising contour/continuous line drawing based on a photo in a magazine (Hans van de Waarsenburg, Dutch poet). Snelle contour/continue lijn portret schets gebaseerd op een foto in een tijdschrift (Hans van de Waarsenburg, dichter).

Saturday 6 October 2012

Coffee and Memories (Amy)


Quick and rough wax pastel sketch based on a photo and imagination, throwing in some perspective distortion as well. Wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Portrait for Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr. Snelle schets met waspastels. Portret voor Julia Kay's Portrait Party op Flickr.

Sunday 23 September 2012

Portrait sketching in Kerkrade (Montmartre style)


For the promotion of the local art school (VAZOM) I participated as a portraiture artist in a Montmartre style street art market, offering market visitors the possibility to have a quick portrait sketch done for free. It soon became a complete portrait frenzy, with market visitors queuing up to have a portrait done (the photo above was made early on when things were still quite calm). I did a total of 22 portraits in four hours, most of them children, often spurred on by their parents. My art classmate Rene standing on the other side of the market did a total of 27 including a dog. Not directly perfect portraiture conditions, with quite lively children, many of them finding it difficult to keep a pose, sounds of whistles and horns (handed out by a market entertainer) sounding throughout the market and from time to time having to grab hold of the drawing board and easel to prevent them from being blown over by the wind. But it certainly was a very enjoyable experience.
I didn't get around to making photos of the individual portraits done at the market. Shown below are two quick sketches I did that morning of a photo that I had lying around to loosen up and get the hang of working with charcoal and conte again. (Stuart for Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr). Charcoal and conte on grained paper (21 x 29,7 cm).
Portrettekenen tijdens "Montmartre op d'r Maat" in Kerkrade voor de Vrije Akademie ZOM. Een drukke middag, veel snelle (gratis) portretschetsen gedaan, voornamelijk van kinderen, samen met mede-cursist Rene.

Monday 10 September 2012

Gathering Bales of Hay


Another quick and rough farmland scene done from memory, this time after a walk through the fields where I live. Wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm).

Friday 31 August 2012

Rodrick


Quick wax pastel portrait sketch. Wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Portrait for Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr. Snelle schets met waspastels. Portret voor Julia Kay's Portrait Party op Flickr.

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Self-Portrait Sketch


Quick and rough self-portrait sketch in my "doodle-Moleskine" from a mirror-image as I had a spare minute waiting for the tea water to boil. I contemplated on refining it afterwards, but just liked the expression as it turned out. (< 1min)

Friday 10 August 2012

Olympic Bolt


Quick and rough wax pastel sketch inspired by Usain "Lightning" Bolt's appearance at the London 2012 Olympics. Wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm).

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Rob


Quick portrait study from a photo of a friend. Wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Snelle portret schets met Neocolor II waspastels.

Monday 23 July 2012

Cows in a Sunlit Pasture


I recently spent a whole day walking in the farmland surroundings of the small village of Teuven in Belgium. Back at home I started on some sketches of farmland scenes that I had come across and had tried to memorize, like this one of cows grazing in a beautifully sunlit pasture. Wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm).

Friday 20 July 2012

Maud


Quick and rough portrait study from a photo of a friend. Wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Snelle portret schets met waspastels.

Sunday 15 July 2012

Tour de France - Cycling Frenzy (imaginary)


Quick and rough pastel sketch from imagination. Although not really a cycling enthusiast, I've been enjoying the broadcasts of the Tour de France during the past few weeks, not least for the impressions of the beautiful French countryside, but certainly also respecting the fantastic efforts and achievements of the cyclists. Never did a sketch of a sporting event before nor of cyclists, but now wanted to try out one of cyclists frenzying through the streets towards the finish. As I didn't have a suitable photo handy I drew from imagination. It certainly doesn't look like Wiggins in the yellow jersey. Wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm).

Friday 13 July 2012

Stuart


Quick wax pastel portrait sketch. Wax pastel on grained paper (21 x 21 cm). Portrait for Julia Kay's Portrait Party on Flickr. Snelle schets met waspastels. Portret voor Julia Kay's Portrait Party op Flickr.

Saturday 30 June 2012

South Limburg Landscape - View from Overeys


En plein air landscape painting in Eys, a village in South Limburg, the southernmost region of The Netherlands, known for its rolling hills, lush meadows and picturesque villages. Acrylic on canvas (50 x 70 cm). Landschap schilderen in Eys, Zuid-Limburg.

Friday 22 June 2012

Lac de Panneciére


Painting holiday in the Morvan, day 5: Lac de Panneciére

En plein air landscape painting in a Rothko-like style, applying transparent layers of paint with a sponge. Achieving depth through a multitude of transparent layers and greying towards the horizon proved to be very difficult in an outdoor setting and within a limited timespan, as the paint dried very slowly and each layer had to be dry before applying the next one. Acrylic on canvas board (50 x 70 cm). Landschap schilderen in een Rothko-achtig stijl, door middel van transparant schilderen met een spons.


Lac de Panneciere is a large reservoir lake in the Morvan. Every 10 years the lake is drained for major repairs to the dam. The last time this happened was in 2011, but because of extra maintenance it will remain empty until the spring of 2013. In the meantime, you can now walk trough the area of the drained lake. The original river runs through it and you still see the old roads, bridges and the boundaries of the meadows from before the inundation. By now the barren landscape has started to become green with new growth. Lac de Panneciere is een groot stuwmeer in de Morvan. Om de 10 jaar laten ze het meer leeglopen in verband met groot onderhoud aan de stuwdam. Voor het laatst gebeurde dat in 2011, maar in verband met extra groot onderhoud blijft het nog tot het voorjaar van 2013 leeg. In de tussentijd kun je nu dwars door het drooggelegde meer lopen. Het oospronkelijke riviertje loopt er dwars doorheen en je ziet de nog oude weggetjes, bruggetjes en de afscheidingen van de weilanden van voor de inundatie. Het kale landschap begint inmiddels door nieuwe begroeiing langzaam groen te kleuren.

Thursday 21 June 2012

Houses in Poussain


Painting holiday in the Morvan, day 4: Hamlet/Old houses and farms

En plein air painting in Poussain, a hamlet with a few (desolate) houses and farms, focused on achieving depth through positioning of planes and angles (large-small, slanted lines and overlapping forms) and inspired by the work of Dutch painter Hans Oltshoorn. Acrylic on canvas board (30 x 40 cm). Schilderen in Poussain, een gehucht met een paar (verlaten) huizen en boerderijen, gericht op het bereiken van diepte door middel van vlakverdeling (groot-klein, schuine lijnen en overlappende vormen) en geïnspireerd door het werk van de Nederlandse schilder Hans Oltshoorn.


After doing my composition sketches of the houses I wanted to paint, I moved up the road a bit to paint in the shade of a tree at the edge of a field. After a while a large herd of cows appeared from over the hillside, lead by an impressively sized, fierce-looking and heavily roaring bull. He clearly wasn't pleased with the presence of people near his pasture. As the herd approached the fence the cows joined in and started loudly mooing. I just went on painting and assumed that they would soon calm down, but that wasn't the case and the roaring and mooing went on and on. At a certain point I did stop to look around and check for possible escape routes, just in case the bull would come through the fence. But luckily he eventually became more interested in the cows and things calmed down. After a while he lead the herd back up the hill leaving me and the rest to continue our day of painting in tranquil surroundings. Na voltooing van mijn compositieschets van de huizen die ik wilde schilderen, ging ik een eindje verderop staan om te schilderen in de schaduw van een boom aan de rand van een grasveld. Na een tijdje verscheen er een grote kudde koeien aan de horizon, aangevoerd door een indrukwekkend grote, fel ogende en zwaar briesende stier. Hij was duidelijk niet blij met de aanwezigheid van mensen in de buurt van zijn weiland. Naarmate de kudde het hek naderde begonnen de koeien luid te loeien. Ik ging gewoon door met schilderen in de veronderstelling dat ze spoedig zouden kalmeren, maar dat was niet het geval en het briesen en loeien ging maar door. Op een gegeven moment ben ik voor de zekerheid toch maar even gestopt om rond te kijken om mogelijke vluchtwegen te inventariseren voor het geval de stier zou besluiten het hek tussen ons te negeren. Maar gelukkig nam na verloop van tijd zijn interesse voor de koeien de overhand en werd het weer wat kalmer. Uiteindelijk leidde hij de kudde weer de heuvel op, en konden we onze rustige schildermiddag weer voortzetten.

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Still life with Jugs - Jugs with Attitude




Painting holiday in the Morvan, day 3: Abstracted still life painting in combination with mixed media techniques (as heavy rain made outdoor painting impossible)

I did several composition studies of a jug standing on the table eventually leading to the sketch in the middle which appealed to me very much and which I used as a base for my painting. Mixed media, acrylic and pieces of wrinkled paper on canvas board (40 x 50 cm). Geabstraheerd stilleven met kannen, gemengde techniek met acryl en gekreukeld papier op doek.

Monday 18 June 2012

Morvan Landscape - View from Châtin



Painting holiday in the Morvan, day 2: Landscape views

En plein air landscape painting during a short dry but windy interval on an otherwise rainy day, focused on opaque painting with a spalter brush (painting in the style of Cézanne) and achieving depth or accentuation through colour (cold-warm contrast and brightness contrast). Strong wind caused some struggling with easel and canvas from time to time. Acrylic on canvas board (50 x 70 cm). Landschap schilderen tijdens een droge maar winderige periode op een verder regenachtge dag, gericht op dekkend schilderen met spalter (schilderen à la Cézanne) en diepte- of accentwerking door middel van kleur (koud-warm contrast en helderheidscontrast). Harde wind veroorzaakte van tijd tot tijd enig geworstel met ezel en canvas.

LinkWithin