Small is beautiful

We just got back from a short vacation on the Croatian coast. Great scenery, lovely weather and nice people. Now that I'm back I find it hard to get started again. The weather is hot (and that doesn't happen very often in Holland), the summer vacation just started and everything slowed down, including me.

What I did do was make a very small painting of 10 x 15 cm (4 x 6 in). I'm plannng to make a series of this size. I'll tell you later what I have in mind. 

Beach With Cirrus Clouds, oil on panel, 10 x 15 cm

Making a painting this small, is quite a challenge. You can't paint as many details as you're maybe used to, at least I can't. There's simply not enough room, unless you're painting with a one haired brush. So you're forced to leave the details out and at the same time produce a painting that convincingly suggests light and space. I may need some more practice...  

Taking a short vacation also gave me a fresh look at my tryptich. In my previous blog entry I told you about the doubts I had about the left- and right wing. These doubts simply vanished. What a little distance can't do...

Breaking my own rule

Those of you who are familiar with my work know the human figure doesn’t play a prominent role in it, and that’s an understatement. Still, for some resason I don’t really understand myself, I lately painted an image with a human figure in it. A woman in white, strolling along the beach, her feet in the water. I called it ‘A Day at the Beach’. 

A Day At The Beach #1, oil on panel 32 x 32 cm

Then I got the idea I could maybe make ‘A Day at the Beach’ triptych. The second painting was a little boy, playing in the water. Totally absorbed in his play, like children can.

A Day At The Beach #2, oil on panel 32 x 32 cm

I usually have a pretty detailed plan before I start working, but not this time. I had the right- and the left wing of my tryptich and all I needed now was a centerpiece. I searched my photo archive for an idea, but nothing came up and I let the whole thing go.

Last May me and my family spent a short vacation on one of the Dutch islands and I took a picture of my grandson and his dad walking towards the sea. There it was, my centerpiece!

 

A Day At The Beach #3, oil on panel 32 x 64 cm

Now I got another problem. I’m really content with the centerpiece, but it doesn’t go well with the right and the left wing, I think. That’s what you get if you don’t make a plan… Maybe I should start all over again and make a proper plan for the right- as well as the left wing. What do you think?