maandag 28 september 2020

Beauty in the garden

One step outside my studio and I am in the vegetable garden, which has turned into a wild garden due to lack of time. But nature does not mind, it goes on and on, welcoming the insects and lots of butterflies.

I just enjoy it every time. 





maandag 21 september 2020

The palette of Zorn

 A couple of years ago we made a journey through Sweden and in the small city of Mora we visited the Zorn Museum, see info here.

Anders Zorn was a painter in Sweden (1860-1920) and because he lived a long time around Mora, the Museum has a large collection of his paintings and other works.

Some of his paintings have a sort of balance and harmony in colour, someone called it: the Zorn palette. This means that he used 4 colours to make his palette: titanium white, yellow ocre, ivory black and vermilion (red).

I made a note of this and in my studio I played around with this to see the possibilities:



I think this is only the beginning, but I do recognize the sandy soft colours he used in his paintings.

The museum is worth a visit, I liked to stand up close to his paintings, seeing the technique and enjoying the paintings as a whole. Next to paintings he has made etches, and other small works. I hope to be back again.



maandag 14 september 2020

When nature gives you buntings

 Sometimes you see something special, like for instance on this September morning. The rain brought a water pearl bunting on our blackberry bush.

I like these silent parties in nature...




maandag 7 september 2020

Pigments of a mill

 There is a mill near the city of Amsterdam which still functions as a mill to make paint pigments. It is called Paintmill De Kat (the Cat), see more information here. They are able to duplicate the pigments which were used on paintings of the Dutch masters.

I visited the museum and bought two pigments and some handmade paper. I have never worked with pigments before and two colours is of course very limited but... I want to try. Luckily there are some instructions and recipes on their website.