Reflections, the video #2

In my February 5 blog entry I wrote about the new long video we were shooting. Well, the painting is finished and we did a first edit. Next step is the voice over and of course the background music.

I hope it'll be online sometime in May. Here's the painting.

Reflections, 120 x 90 cm, oil on panel

That's all for now. Busy. More in two weeks!

How to get a gallery

After I finished my studies at Minerva Academy, sometime in the early seventies, I sort of gave up painting. I wanted to make music and that's what I did. I even quit my teaching job to be a full time musician. But when the band I played in hadn't made it to world fame after a few years, it split up and I went back to teaching.

It wasn't till 1996 that I started painting again. Felt a sudden and deep urge to pick up my brushes and I didn't put them down ever since. After some time I wanted to show the world what I made, so I started looking for galleries. The internet was not yet in full swing, so I wrote letters with one or two pictures of my work. If I was lucky I got a rejection letter, but very often not even that. Sometimes (if I felt confident enough) I picked up the phone to make an appointment with a gallery owner to show my work. I made quite a few miles with paintings in the trunk of my crappy car. Every now and then I got lucky and after a few years my work started selling. In 2004 I quit my teaching job for the second time and I've made a living doing what I love best since then. Feel really blessed.

Beach poles, oil on panel, 70 x 100 cm

Trying to get a gallery to show your work is one of the more unpleasant aspects of a painter's life. Still you have to put in the hours, again and again. Here are a few tips that may help:

- Before you get in touch with a gallery do some research. Find out about their artists and how you fit in, or more precise, what your work will add to the gallery. 'What's in it for me' is a common question for a lot of people and gallery owners are just like people. They want to know what your work will add to their business.
- Never barge in on a gallery owner unannounced. They hate that, they feel ambushed and your chances are reduced to practically zero.
- Try to think of a strategy. I often sent an email to a gallery, announcing that I would send them a book on my work. This gave me a reason to contact them again, had the book arrived? Have a number of questions prepared. When you got a conversation going, your chances are growing.
- Don't overdo it. It's frustrating work and you got to spread your frustration thin. Painting is to much fun to let it be ruined by gallery rejections.

If you have a story to share about your search for galleries, please let me know!

Perfect?

Got an email from Christian from Germany. He saw my Painting Clouds video and wrote some nice things about it. I can never get enough of that. Very encouraging.

In the correspondence that followed the topic was perfectionism and how it can hold you back. Christian wrote:"..my inner critic slows me down or prevents me from doing anything at all". Attached to his mail he sent me a cloud painting he made. Looked real good...

Ofcourse it's a good thing to set the bar just a bit higher every time you start a new painting, to set goals and all that kind of stuff. But however much you grow, you'll never be perfect. And that's a good thing. One of the joys of painting is the feeling you're getting better, that over time you've learned to master problems you couldn't handle before. If you could be perfect, you would loose that. Boring.

At the end of a work day I often ask myself: did my painting get better today? Most of the time the answer is yes. If I'd ask myself: did it get perfect today, the answer certainly would be no. You gotta ask the right questions.

Painting is an excellent way to get in a state of flow. For a few hours there's just you and the painting. In 1975 a guy with a funny name (Mihaly Csiksgentmihalyi) wrote a great book about it, called 'Flow'. One of the conditions to enter a state of flow, he writes, is that the task ahead of you may be difficult, but you feel you can do it. In other words: match your challenges to your skills. And do the hours, I'd like to add.

I just finished this sunset. Succeeded to paint the movement of the water, with the little ripples and everything, on top of a ground layer. Tried it before but it didn't really work. I didn't match my challenges to my skills, I guess... 

Sunset, oil on panel, 50 x 150 cm

Grisaille

Some of the painting techniques I use have a long history. Glazing for example (where you paint transparent layers on top of each other) dates back to the 15th century. In my Painting Clouds video I explain what it meant to me when I first learned about it. 

Another technique I sometimes use is the 'grisaille'. The French word 'gris' means grey and that kind of sums it up. The painter limits his palet to black, white and grey. A lot of 15th century triptych doors have a grisaille of a saint at the back. In the 16th century it was Leonardo da Vinci, I think, who was the first to use the grisaille as an underpainting. 

By doing so he was able to tackle the problems of volume and composition, without having to bother about color. In combination with glazing (to apply your colors) it's a really powerful tool. It gives you maximum control, because you build up your painting step by step. It takes a lot of planning and patience though. If you're the 'I-have-to-spontaneously-express-my-feelings' kind of painter this is probably not the right technique for you.  

In my painting After the Storm I was very keen on getting the structure of the sand right, so I painted it in detail with black and white acrylics. Then I slowly built up my colors with oils. Even though the black and white structure almost disappeared in some areas, you can still see it shimmering through the top layers. On your computer screen there's probably not a lot left. That's what happens when a painting of 90 x 120 cm has to fit on a laptop screen... 

Anyone tried this? Let me know!

Horizons

I find myself more and more attracted to oblong panels. It's hard to pin down exactly what I like about them so much. It probably has to do with the character of the landscape I'm painting. Those of you who visited the Netherlands know that it's as flat as a pancake. The closest thing to a hill is an overpass. And even our defense line against the ocean, the dunes, have a strong horizontal aspect. And it's this aspect that's fits in with really well with an oblong format.

Beach with Tyre Tracks, oil on panel, 150 x 50 cm

Sunset, oil on panel, 150 x 35 cm

This coming June I got a solo show in The Hague (the Netherlands), where I hope to show a number of these panels. Let me know what you're thinking!

In the meantime work on the new video is steadily progressing. We got a new HD camera. Amazing quality. Can't wait to present the footage. Have to be patient though. It'll take at least a couple of months before it's ready. What I can show you though is a clip that'll probably be in the video. It's on the subject of color mixing, especially about how to mix colored greys. Fairly technical, but if you're into painting it might be interesting. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have a question!

Reflections, the video

A few weeks ago we started shooting the second long play video after 'Painting Clouds'. Don't know when it will be released, but it will take a few months. Awful lot of work. The title will be 'Reflections'.

The video will show me working on a 120 x 90 cm painting of a beach with clouds reflecting in the wet sand. Last year I made an oil sketch of the subject and I was curious what it would be like on a large panel. Some of you may remember I wrote about it in 2014 in my 9 Oct post.

Oil sketch, 40 x 30 cm

The title also refers to short intermezzi in which I will reflect on what inspires me, much like the latest video I posted on YouTube.

I found some really funny drawings I made as a five year old. I'll show a few of them in the video. I can clearly remember the moment I drew them. How hard it was to get them right and how dissatisfied I was with the results. Some things never change... Here's one to give you an idea.

Shells, ball point, 1956

Painting with a camera in your neck is a strange experience. At first I was aware of every move I made, but I'm slowly getting used to it. The camera man is a close friend, who also shot the Painting Clouds video. He knows how I work, so there are very few interruptions in the painting process.

Of course there is always a possibility the painting goes horribly wrong and we'll have to start all over again. That would make an interesting video: 'How not to paint reflections'. We'll see.

I'll keep you posted!

Canvas or board?

Got several emails with questions about the surface I paint on. The short answer is: 6 mil. MDF panel, mounted on a wooden frame to prevent curvature.

The long answer is: I used to paint on canvas, but the texture of the fabric started to bother me. I wanted the decision to be up to me, wether I needed a smooth or a textured surface. So I started painting on wood. I used to prepare my own (masonite) panels. Grounded them with Gesso (a Talens brand) and a brush. Watered the Gesso down in the first three, maybe four layers. Less water in each following layer and you avoid "gumming-up". I used very fine sandpaper to smoothen each layer, always with lots of water. To speed up the drying process I had a hair dryer on stand by. To tell you the truth: I hated it, it was an awful lot of work. The results were great though.

Now I don't ground my own panels anymore. I found a guy here in Holland who does a great job preparing MDF panels. Smooth surface like you've never seen. At first it was hard, painting on his panels. Very slippery, made me feel uneasy. But over time I found a technique based on layering that allowed me to do just the stuff I had in mind.

 I did a 70 minutes video (Painting Clouds by Layering) that tells the whole story. Here's the trailer.