Home Renovations

It's summer, the rain has been pouring down for a month or more, and we're in the midst of home renovations. I'm itching to make more ACEOs or tiny still lifes, but there's just no time or place.

Speaking of homes, I'm posting some pictures of homes and animal homes (barns, that is), a series I was working on just before we moved into our new house and found ourselves in a pile of bricks and rubble.

Peonies

"Pink Peonies"

8.5 x 13 cm

Watercolour & gouache

US$ 30.00

On our way back from a walk in nearby castle gardens we happened upon a field where peonies were being harvested. A man at a stand was selling them fresh from the field.

They opened up almost instantly once at home. The little carving of the Indonesian woman in kabaya I bought at a local esoterics shop one day. Normally I avoid shops reeking that heavily of incense, but the four little figurines in the shop window were so charming I went in, and this little woman jumped out, so I bought her.

In colonial Indonesia many Dutch men had children - some illegitimately, others legitimately - with local women. The Indonesian roots of the subsequently rather dark-skinned children were fervently denied in later generations. This mix was not acceptable, particularly to the Dutch back in Holland, who called the mixed children coming back from the colonies "Indos".

The stigma has gone, and it's almost like being part of a secret society when others recognize your colonial "tint". Was my own great, great, great (etc.) grandfather so charmed by a lovely little woman with her black hair in a knot that he took her as a wife?

Full Bloom

"Pink Rose"
ca. 11 x 14 cm
Watercolour
US$ 30.00

Sailing into the Wild Blue Yonder

"Sailboat & Shells"
ca. 13 x 25 cm
Watercolour & gouache
US$ 45.00

The Phases of a Rose

"The Phases of a Rose"
10.5 x 13.5 cm
Watercolour
Sold

Shades of Blue

"Shades of Blue"

2.5 x 3.5 inches

Watercolour

US$ 15.00

The Flower of the Colonies

"Tulip & Wayang"

c. 10 x 18 cm

Watercolour

US$ 30.00

A wayang is a wooden puppet used in Indonesian puppet plays. So many Dutch people have a wayang puppet in their home: a reminder of the colonial ties between the Netherlands and Indonesia, or perhaps just a colourful souvenir of a trip to the archipelago. In my case, the wayang came from the local Terre des Hommes, a benefit organization for the poor. It's a dusty, faded old wayang with chips in its paint. With an orange tulip, symbol of the Netherlands, beside it, the scene becomes gains meaning.

Tulips for Chikanobu

"Tulips for Chikanobu"

11 x 16.3 cm

Watercolour

US$ 30.00

“Chikanobu?” you’re probably thinking. “What is that?” I like including bits of my own modest art collection in my still life. Last year I bought a Japanese woodcut by Chikanobu at a local gallery. It is incredibly delicate. Chikanobu made a series of “beautiful women” portraits, and this young Japanese girl marvelling at a goldfish in a bowl she’s holding reminded me of my student days and my beautiful goldfish.

The spring tulips are quickly disappearing. When you buy tulips now, they last only a few days. The last fields of tulips are disappearing from the Dutch landscape. Tulip season is short and exuberant, and I miss them when they’re gone. However, tulip season flows seamlessly into peony season. What a wonderful flower that is!

I’m painting some slightly larger still lifes as well, though I fully intend to keep painting ACEOs. Sometimes, in trying to describe the beauty before you, it’s hard to limit yourself to a paragraph.

I’ve included the same image twice. One is a scan, the other a photograph. Neither seems to do justice to the original. However, the photograph shows the detail and colour variation the scanner can’t seem to reproduce.

"Spring Pattern"
Watercolour
app. 24 x 32 cm
US$ 100

I love patterns, and there's something fascinating about painting them. You start on it like a climber starts his journey up Mount Everest, without knowing if it will be a success. Halfway through, you know that it could be a success, if all goes right and continues the way it's been going - a precarious balance. When you're filling in that last pattern piece, it's an enormous rush of victory and elation.

This patterned cloth looked so lovely with my trusty model Josephine and a vase of purple tulips that I just had to try. Going round the corner to do the pattern in perspective on top of the table was the biggest gamble I had to take. Painting is an activity that resides somewhere between joy and fear.