Tracks

Been working less than I planned. You know how it is these last days of the year. Don't get me wrong, I love the family visits, but it's not easy painting with a bunch of kids playing in the studio.
Still I managed to finish the painting I've been working on for a while. It's quite big: 80 x 150 cm. I love the large formats. They give a sense of space you don't get on the small ones.

Tracks, oil on panel, 80 x150 cm

I'm writing about this particular painting because I used a different method to paint the clouds. In the first stage I did the blue of the sky, with it's transition from a greenish- to a darker blue. It took me two days and a number of layers to get it right, but that was worth the trouble. The transition gets much smoother and the colors more intense. The next day I did the first layer of the clouds in a mid tone, much like the cloud on the right side of the painting. Used my thumb to give the edges a fluffy look. In the next few days I slowly built up the white of the clouds (Titanium White with a little Vermillion Red to be preciese), using the initial mid tone for the shadow parts.

I use this method mainly for free floating clouds against a blue background, but I think I'm going to try it for more overcast skies as well.

Well, that's it for now. Hope you're enjoying the Holiday Season. All the best for you and your loved ones for 2015!

Autumn island

A few months ago me and a close friend made a trip to Vlieland, my favorite Dutch island. We planned on shooting some footage for my second longplay video. My friend is a skilled cameraman who also shot my Painting Clouds video.

The idea was to crosscut the images with paintings I made, to show the impact of the island on my work. The weather forecast was good, so we were hoping for sunshine and clouds. When we got on the ferry it was still a bit misty, but we didn't mind. The boat trip takes about an hour and a half and we shot some wonderful images of the hazy sun, reflecting on the water. We were convinced that, by the time we'd get on the island, the sun would come out and we'd see some stunning clouds.

Well, you probably get where this is going. Nothing of the kind happened. The sun didn't come out all day. We rode our bikes all over the island and we had a great time, but we'll have to come back for the clouds.

I used the footage we shot for a short YouTube video. Hope you like it.