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…
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…
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…
Spring is in the air! Even in the city, I smell blossoms everywhere. When I looked out of our bedroom window, I saw this inspiring urban spring composition. I felt like painting fast and thick, so I did. Cadmium yellow is really a color you can’t do without when making spring paintings. Normally, I wouldn’t use pure colors of paint…