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About fieldtrips and exhibitions

Writer's picture: corinnegoedbloedcorinnegoedbloed

Summer came late this year but the warm temperatures later on were perfect for painting at the beach and in the local fields. Looking back, I had a productive spring/summer. The season started with the opening of my renovated studio during the Nissewaard kunstroute, the local art trail. It was wonderful to share the work with the world (or more likely my rural surroundings 😊). Visitors had all sorts of questions and remarks that gets me thinking and talking about my artistic journey. It was also very useful to hear other perspectives and experiences and observe the wondrous differences in taste and preference among the public. And last but not least, it counterweights the inner critic who is hard to please.

After we finalised painting and decorating my new studio and the pristine white walls of the studio turned into a soft desaturated shade of green. Although I love white walls in a living room, for painting it is harder to judge the tonal varieties on the canvas. I find the soft green soothing and it goes lovely with seascape paintings. In addition to painting the studio walls, there was lots of interior and exterior house painting to be done. I found that my exterior painting skills have improved greatly with my artistic painting practise.

In May my husband and I had planned an artistic holiday to our beloved Scotland. I made myself a small pallet box to fit my backpack and off we went. We first stayed at Ardlamont estate in a beautiful old Georgian house. A short stroll led to the beach, where I had a fun time painting the view of Arran island in the sun, while my husband was drawing in the walled garden. The mountains and hills make a very different scene from the Dutch flat country side. And because of the wide variety of landmasses and different angles, it makes for a more interesting composition. There is also very different lighting in Scotland. Last year, during a workshop of landscape painting in Scotland, I was encouraged to use more purple hues. This year, with some more painting experience, I’ve been appreciating these teachings some more. The subtle variation of purple in the sky, sea and background mountains that is in subtle contrast with the muted greens of the land and then there is the punch of yellow ochre of the isolated patches of seaweed. After the Ardlamont estate, we spent another week at Ardnamurchan peninsula, which I consider one of the most scenic parts of Scotland.

Back in the studio, I have been working on some more seascape paintings but also felt inspired to add some wildlife paintings. An albatross above -, and a whale and octopus below the ocean surface are in progress. Colour matching is still taking up much of my learning curve. I remember when I was still working with pencil and charcoal, how I longed to work with colour.  Now that I’m working with colour, I can appreciate the solid base of my training. When it comes to matching colours while working plein air, I have found that painting the colours that you see, doesn’t necessarily produce a nice painting. The background needs to be lighter and softer and the colours somewhat subdued, to get some depth and atmosphere in your painting. Looking for inspiration I have found plenty in a group of painters called the Hague school (late 19th century). My favourites are Jozef Israëls, Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch, Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Anton Mauve and Willem Bastiaan Tholen. They favoured plein air painting of Dutch landscapes and seascapes with lots of dramatic skies. Light and atmosphere were the main objective and they painted in muted grey tones. It is often during the days with moody weather that I find the colours most arresting and luckily, I have the Dutch landscape and art museums, with Hague school painters, at my disposal. All this produces a worthy challenge to learn and grow.

Lately I have been concentrating on some more opportunities to show my work. I was selected as one of the Masters of Realism, which is a collective of realist painters with several group exhibitions. In September my painting of the 3 cheeky gulls was at the EuropArtfair in Amsterdam. Early September I also joined Kunstwerk Westvoorne, the art trail in Brielle. And from October 5th until November 16th, three of my works will be part of the group exhibition at Gallery RRMND in Roermond. There is always lots of preparation for these exhibitions, which takes me away from painting. However, after all the hard work and a short Dutch countryside cycling trip, I’m eager to pick up the brush again. The autumn light is tempting me to do some plein air painting.



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© 2024 images and content are subject to copyright.  Corinne Goedbloed

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