My palette

Here you see the palette of colours I was working with in my studio last week. A couple of months ago I made a sketch/composition of a woman writing. I thought it would be interesting to paint, but I never got to it. But now I took the sketch out and started.

The painting is sort of finished and as you can see I kept the colours quite neutral, serene. But maybe it is too neutral for me, so I will look at it again and see whether I should make changes and add colour.

And so the process continues...

 

Betzy Berg - a Norwegian female painter

 Sometimes you stumble upon a story that speaks to you. I visited a small museum on the island of Vlieland and it appeared to be the home of a painter. And quite a remarkable one, a female painter called Betzy Berg from Norway, married to a Dutch man and fascinated by painting the sea.

You see a picture of her here below. She sits in a small custommade box, in which she could sit and paint without being bothered too much by the wind and the cold... It had wheels so she could pull it on and off the beach.

The story of her life is written in a book by Tineke Hendriks, it gives insight into her thoughts and methods, and passion to paint. Her road was not easy, but she followed her heart. The museum shows the house they were living in, her studio, her garden and some of her paintings. See for more information here, Trompshuys.

Winter colours

Here you see a picture I took last week. This is the Veluwe, a large area of nature and forest: Dry grasses, brown patches of heather and darkgreen pine trees. In between wild oars and deer can be seen sometimes but we did not see any. The sky was grey, as it has been for weeks... A ray of sunlight would have made this scene golden-coloured. But anyways, I still like these muted colours, they are calming and serene. So back in the studio I made some small sketches with pencil and watercolour in my sketchbook, also to see what composition I would choose. There is so much to learn and try.

 

Waiting for me

 Last week I was able to spend some time in the studio, doing small tasks, taking time for inspiration and I also did some painting. So this is the beginning of a portrait, I have no idea where this is going but it is waiting for me...

For next week I am planning to do some charcoal portrait sketches, to practice some models and see where it leads me. And so I am working on different techniques at the same time.

Hope you have a creative week too!