Welcome to my  blog: Introspection!

As much time in my studio is spent on thinking about and looking at art as there is on painting. Here I'll write about some of the things that pass my mind during those hours, or the inspiration that makes me grab the brush .

Be sure to visit my Studio Storage blog too, where I sell some of my earlier paintings at (very) low prices.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Into the landscape: A closer look


Although I have been concentrating on landscape paintings lately, there are times when I take a closer look in the landscape and pick out some details. The seed pods of these hollyhocks I had in my garden intrigued me very much. Their shape is exceptionally beautiful and intricate and they have a paper thin texture.
It took me a while to find the right fit for them in my way of painting, I did not want them to look too realistic, yet in order to capture what intrigued me there needed to be some detailing.
To add some sharpness to their brittle appearance I used charcoal that I washed over with a very fluid layer of white paint. With that,an element of chance is added to a painting because you can never predict how exactly it will work out. I find that I really like to invite chance into a painting as a way to open up the process. This painting is build of many thin layers of paint, allowing earlier versions of the seeds to show through, they are set over a pale blue color field that softly melts into the surrounding background color.It's a 20x24", oil on linen.