Valta's Blog | valta.nl

Void Our hands' expressions move on with time and progress. Some gestures we can easily recognise now didn't even exist a decade ago.  Take for instance this setup that you may often see on social media; taking a selfie in the mirror. (Who didn't do that, I do, too!) Depending on the size of the phone or camera, one uses one or both hands to take a picture and post it in their profile. What do you see there? Sometimes perhaps nothing but ego or vanity, or even emptiness sometimes. I often first see the hands, and sometimes those hands are the only things that remain there, especially if those are of nice esthetics. The rest is just void. It's like some sort of vanitas.  Fun! I've just tried ChatGPT for the first time and sent the above text to the almighty AI in the clouds. Here is their response:  " You make a valid point about the potential for selfies taken in the mirror to be seen as a display of ego or vanity. The act of taking a photograph of oneself and

Going on with (female) hands Thinking of autumn and the fun that nature on our island brings to those who can appreciate it, this time I tried to paint the hands that are busy with some pleasant labour.  I still believe hands are the most expressive part of the human body when it concerns a story to tell, an emotion, a feeling. I think it's hard to imagine the person in this painting is unhappy or sad, or angry. I rather could imagine she is smiling. Couldn't you? That's what intrigues me in human hands, that's why I like to paint them.  I tried to keep my brush strokes loose (still very uncertain about it and must learn a lot) to achieve that impressionistic touch. 

What Are You Reading Now? Another one in the Hands' Private Life series is almost finished, this time with a female figure on it. It seems that I also like to paint books (unconsciously). Nice that people keep reading real books even though it seems to be getting more and more old-fashioned. Let's call this painting so. Painting female hands is really challenging, but I did enjoy the process.  By the way, can you guess what language the book is written in? View the finished painting in  my gallery .  

  Narcissistically Yours The first painting in the new year is almost finished. I am now experimenting with combining a hand painting with a human face in the mirror. "Experimenting" seems to be a safe word when you don't quite know whether to love or hate the result.  This is also my first attempt at making a self-portrait. Naturally, I am not satisfied with it at all, but people around say they could find some resemblance. Plenty to learn yet, that's the good news. I hope I'll be making some more soon.  So, this was another painting for my little project Hands' Private Life. More to come.    View the finished painting in  my gallery .