Vanitas vanitatum

et omnia vanitas

What was meant to be the show of the year, is now closed one day after the opening. Several weeks of excitement and hard work seem to be in vain. More than seventy artworks of twenty fellow artists from our island are now sealed in a closed museum for an unknown period of time due to another total national lockdown. What is prepared for us next in these strange times?

At least there is still a working website about this exhibition. I was quite proud to work on this project.

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Peaceful Fields, project completed

A very special commission indeed When I posted this story in March I still did not quite believe this project could ever be realised. Today I am proud to tell and to show that the project was successfully completed and that I was honoured to play a small part in it. But first things first. The most northern historical windmill in the Netherlands, called De Phenix, has been thoroughly restored and repurposed as a unique working both flour and oil mill with a large underground visiting area. Dozens of professionals and volunteers have been working hard for four years to make this happen. It became one of eight Amelander Musea . Being a volunteer, I was invited in February by the museum working group to collaborate in the design of the underground space of the mill. Besides the whole construction, I was particularly impressed by the very long concrete wall which I thought should stay just clear and unfurnished bearing only some decor...

You'll Get Over It

What could possibly happen? Something tragic, I assume. I am sure you can imagine dozens of situations where this setting could be possible. Regret, revelation, anger, shock, despair, compassion, support, consolation, reassurance, forgiveness, unbelief, doubt, fear... All of these might apply to the people in this painting. And all these are actually expressed with hands. And there will be nothing of these when you think those hands away, I'm afraid. This is another small one in my series Hands' Private Life. I painted it all prima with my limited palette of Burnt sienna, Ultramarine blue, Yellow ochre, Cadmium red and Titanium white. As reference, I used the photographs Paul and myself took of me and my hands, in four different settings. While thinking about how to name this piece, with my music on, the Legacy by PSB suddenly started to playback. The lyrics were so true, my mood was quite down, and the title was chosen. (And first I was thinking of calli...

Matthew's POV

Challenging the masterpiece Since I've always wanted to learn more about chiaroscuro and tenebrism, I thought it would be useful to try and master-copy a (detail of a) tenebrist masterpiece. And what is my favourite painting by the great Master of Tenebrism? The Calling of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio, of course. I can stare at this painting (or the photographs and videos of it) for hours, exploring and still discovering numerous aspects and details, often ending with more questions than answers. The one certainty is that the composition, colours and values, poses and gestures, and most of all, the light , that plays the leading role, are the work of mind of a true genius. I spent hours trying to find out about the nature and the position of those light sources (and there were surely more than one!), yet I still don't know exactly how Caravaggio designed that setting. For a long time, I hesitated, but one day I decided to try master-copying a detail of the painting. In any cas...

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