Valta's Blog | valta.nl

Commissioned work After the Art Eindhoven  Fair in February 2024, where one of my "Hands' Private Life" paintings was showcased, I received lots of positive feedback from several visitors and art lovers. A particular art collector from Belgium, after also visiting my website, expressed specific interest in a painting featuring our dog, Chester . We subsequently engaged in a pleasant correspondence and agreed to stay in touch for any further enquiries and information. Now, six months later, I have received a beautiful commission to paint their Jack Russell, Scotch, who recently passed away. They did a great job collecting and sending me some nice photographs of Scotch, including those where they held him in their arms. The collector explicitly wished for the painting to feature the caring hands, so I thought it might fit perfectly into my Hands' Private Life series. After starting the composition twice all over again, I think I finally found the right relations and pro...

A Peculiar House Recently I've been visiting Poptaslot , a house and an estate from the 1630s with a fascinating story. This is probably the best-preserved house in Friesland with all the interiors and furniture still intact as they were in 1712 when the last owner died. In his will, he declared that his house should never be lived in again and should be preserved for future generations. Four appointed guardians still ensure the house and estate are maintained in perfect condition.  I had the pleasure of being guided through this marvellous house (while Paul and Chester enjoyed the beautiful gardens). I learned about the history of this unique place and took lots of pictures, hoping to paint some of those historic interiors later. Of course, I was particularly interested in the downstairs quarters. The original water pump with a stone sink in the basement has a lovely light-shadow effect on it. The contra-light through a small window in the kitchen door made the contract even more ...

  Back to the landscape I usually take my dog, Chester , for a morning walk just outside our village, towards the east where the road to the rest of the world begins. The beautiful wild meadows offer a different setting every morning, with horses and sheep on the right and sometimes cows on the left. Various birds can be spotted, and the sky above is always different, ranging from calm to heavily dramatic as the weather shifts rapidly on our island. One recent high summer morning, Chester and I walked there. The upcoming sun was gently kissing the backs and flanks of the village cows reclining tranquilly in the meadow, as heavy rain clouds drifted away to the east, revealing the sunlit clear sky and promising a lovely summer day. That's what I wanted to capture in a painting. Let's call it the "Cows of Hollum".  Oil on canvas 30 x 50 cm, alla prima, limited palette. View the finished painting in my  gallery .