A quiet year

2025 has been a year of learning and quietly working on my seascape paintings. In February I was selected to show my work at Art Eindhoven but unfortunately, I had to cancel this due to a bad case of flue. I was able to show my work in my own studio for the local art trail during spring. There were also a few fieldtrips, including a lovely trip to Wales were the rocky shoreline and a beautiful farmhouse provided a great plein air reference.

I have been continuously exploring how to bring light and atmosphere into my paintings, and these experiments often resulted in months of working on the same piece. The paintings sometimes are like chameleons changing colours with the mood of the day. I worked particularly long on a painting of the nearby dunes. Painting the vegetation was quite new to me and bringing it together with the sea and sky proved to be quite a challenge. In the end, I really like the warm glow of the sand against the dark sky. Every seascape is a testimony of my love for the sea and the coastal areas.

In the middle of painting seascapes, another bit of inspiration came along. My mind wandered back in time to my view from the window on to Cook Strait. There has been an albatross that I wanted to paint for a long time and gradually it zoomed into my artistic life, soaring over the Southern Ocean. Albatrosses are among my favourite birds, famous for their long-distance travel, only staying on land to breed. Painting this bird brought me back to the days that I watched them from my window soaring behind the incoming fishing vessels into Wellington harbour. One day I found a dead albatross on the beach. However sad, the awe I experienced started me on my art journey. Painting these birds brought out my appreciation for their tenacity and resilience of these marine birds, and at the same time strengthened my ties to the beautiful land on the other side of the world. I finished the painting just in time for the Belgian International art Fair, which takes place on 11/12 October in Antwerpen, Belgium ( https://biaf.be).

Along my journey I developed an interest in painting styles that aim for light and atmosphere as the key features of a painting. J.M.W Turners ‘Fighting Temeraire’ is among my favourite paintings. The work of contemporary painter Nial Adams piqued my interest, as it reminds me a bit of Turners work. Just before we were planning a short holiday in Norfolk, I found Nial organized a workshop close to where I was staying. The workshop was held in Blickling hall, a Jacobean stately home north of Norwich. I had a lovely time and worked with familiar concepts but with a much larger tonal range and much less detail than I have been working with so far.  I was very much inspired by the painting technique that almost resembles working in watercolour. This works especially well with the airy quality of the sky and the fluidity of water. I found 2 days was too short to finish the workshop painting, so I get to finish my Blickling hall creation at home. Enriched with new inspiration I’m filled with new ideas to exploit, but first there will be a meeting with art lovers in Antwerp upcoming weekend.