Skip to main content

Choices

 

Looking for solutions

To make serious choices, sometimes we need to sit down and think. How do hands help a human in this case? Have you ever noticed that sometimes we hold our hands in a mirror-like fashion, with the fingertips of both hands pressed against each other? What is the reason behind this gesture? Does it have something to do with our inner energy circle, or is it just a way to connect the loose ends as precisely as possible? I have no idea.

Yet we immediately recognise this pose and gesture as a sign of doubt, pressure, burden, tension, stress, and struggle. Even without seeing the person's entire body or face, we can tell that they're going through a difficult time trying to make the right decisions.

May our decisions be wise.


This painting is another one in the Hands' Private Life series. 
Oil on panel 24 x 30 cm, alla prima, limited palette. Final varnish to be applied not before July 2024.       

View the finished painting in my gallery.

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for your message. I will replay as soon as I can

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more