Mondrian on my wish list A book about the life and work of Piet Mondrian (1892 – 1914) was on my wish list for a while, but for a long time I wasn’t able to find a book which tells the story of Mondrian in the right way. In this matter, ‘the right way’ is also showing the early works of…
Two great books about the key figures of Amsterdam Impressionism Hallelujah for second hand bookstores. A good second hand bookstore can be recognized – in my opinion – by a great variety of available categories, from biology to… art. Last summer, I visited several second hand bookstores in Enschede and Deventer, and found some beautiful art books. In this post, I’d…
In my hometown Enschede, there’s this old gas station, which nowadays is used as an art gallery / cultural meeting point. The lighting in the open spaces of ‘TANKSTATION Cultureel Vulpunt‘ is really special and even a bit mysterious. The exposed ceiling construction and the high windows add an industrial atmosphere to the gallery. There are two exhibition spaces in ‘TANKSTATION Cultureel Vulpunt’.…
Painting eggs with 2 different techniques Eggs or eggshells can form a very classical, but also very interesting and instructive subject for a still life painting. You have to do a lot with not so many colors. Or better said: when painting eggs, you have to look very closely at all the color gradations on the shell. Otherwise you will never be…
Do you know Society6? I din’t, but I’m glad I do now. Society6 is a stylish webshop / community for cool art products, decorated with numerous art prints from artists all over the world. When you feel your house or apartment is in serious need of some fresh decoration, Society6 is a great platform for inspiration. In their webshop, you can find a lot…
The last few months I focused on painting still lifes. For me, the beauty of a still life is about telling something unique to the viewer with your handwriting as a painter. Someone who dedicated his life as an artist to still lifes with a dreamlike quality, is Italian painter Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964). If you want to feel totally ‘zen’, watch a…
On a sunday in the month of august, our little painting class went on a trip to learn what painting ‘en plein air‘ is all about. Luckily, the area where I live has a lot of nature to offer. Bryan – a professional painter from the city of Enschede – took us to ‘Het Lutterzand‘. This nature park is quite unique, mainly…
Over the last 500 years, art has changed dramatically. But if you watch the fascinating video below, it seems that art changed – in the first place – very fluently…
During recent painting lessons, I wanted to try something new. I decided to go for another self portrait, but at the start I didn’t really know how to give a fresh spin to it. So I just started, and every painting session colors started to get more intense. During the different sessions, I got some good help from my teacher. Together…
Making still life paintings in oil, is great to improve your mastering of shapes, lines, colors, lighting and composition. In other words: as a painter, you can learn a lot of every still life you make. I learned a few great new techniques and ways of looking at possible compositions from the book Mastering Composition by Ian Roberts. There are…