Valta's Blog | valta.nl

An isle of traditions I am very proud that my painting "Winter. Hollum" is now a part of the Amelander Winters exhibition in the Sorgdrager Museum. The old island tradition of riding a horse-drawn wooden sleigh is being cherished, praised and remembered. An impression of the exhibition

Copying the Master Time to learn more about oil colours. I believe one of the best methods to learn is to copy something you like. So, back to whiskey and to my favourite "virtual mentor" Julian Merrow-Smith then! I adore his way of playing with light and colours. By trying to copy his work I am learning to understand more about the magic of light and about the techniques of painting with oil. So here is the result, still far from what I wanted and miles away from the original, but I enjoyed the process and I hope I've learned something. Here's to Julian! a master copy after J. Merrow-Smith. Oil, cardboard 15 x 20 cm.

Oiled and on It took me ages to finally dare and give the oil painting a try. I am still not certain about many things and especially about how to accept the enormous drying time and get used to the idea the painting has to wait at least a year to get varnished (yes, I'd like my oil to be thick I suppose, and for me not varnished = not finished). But I will find out. I am happy I am trying. I love to learn. I suppose I will need to study the process and techniques from scratch again. Glad I have some great books and great teachers on YouTube. And I will not stop with acrylics, I don't think I will. Acrylic is a great medium and I still have lots of tubes with it to use. So I started with some small studies in oil colours on well-gessoed acid-free cardboard. Unusual feeling your paint doesn't dry out on your palette within an hour; I still can use it the next day, and the day after. Happy with that. I love the viscosity of the paint as I am trying to paint alla prima. So hap...

Painting water Still having fun painting Chester . Last summer on a quiet evening Paul took some nice photographs with my phone camera. Chester and I were playing on the beach and the light of the evening sun was playing with the sea, so this all made a lovely setting. Now I tried to paint it on a small piece of cardboard. Still using my limited palette. So this became "Let's play", acrylic, cardboard, ap. 13x23 cm. View the finished painting in my gallery . Update: Sold and looks great in its new home:

A quick study and a painting There is nothing funnier than chasing a tennis ball, according to our fetching hero Chester . You can often find us playing on the beach, where Chester can run as much and as hard as he can. Still impressed by the wonderful seascapes made by Dennis Roberts, I decided to paint a little study on cardboard first, trying to catch the movements of the waves, the dog and myself. Not really succeed in making the shapes and figures have correct proportions first, but I think I conveyed it right later on canvas. I used a limited palette of primary colours plus burnt umber and titanium white. So this became "Fetching", acrylic, canvas, 24x30 cm. View the finished painting in my gallery .

A glimpse of the neighbours' garden Finally began painting again after a long break. I had this village view for a long time in my mind. It's a cosy little place behind the Sorgdrager Museum surrounded by many historic houses built back in the 18th century. At the end of the yard, there is a lovely garden of our neighbours, always full of beautiful flowers during the whole season. I am still using a limited palette of just three primary colours plus titanium white and burnt umber. And still small formats of the canvas. This one became the "Achter Sorgdrager", acrylic, canvas, 24x30 cm. View the finished painting in my gallery .

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.

Exhibition sales I am happy and proud to tell you that two of my paintings were sold at the annual exhibition of the Amelander Kunstenaars and are now on their way to new homes. This annual art fair event, Kunstmaand Ameland , has been a success again, as it has already been 24 times before. About 100 artists from the Netherlands and some Nordic countries were showing their art 30 days long in more than 50 locations across our island. Only our showroom has had around 4.000 visitors, and hundreds of artworks of my fellow island artists were sold. Now it is actually time for gallerists and art writers to discover what really sells. In the meantime, my fellow artists and I are busy with a new art show project. Even with two. (So no time to paint yet, which is a shame!) But let's hope there will be no lockdowns so I will be able to tell you good news very soon as the exhibitions are planned already for December! Fingers crossed...

Online sales I am very proud to hear that another little still life of mine has been sold by Saatchi Art . I thank the collector and wish the painting a long happy life at its new home in Germany. A year ago I enjoyed painting this setting with this blue jar handmade by a very talented ceramic artist here on our island. I recently bought another piece made by her, and this time I did ask the name of the artist, and now I finally know it! I've just posted about this on my Instagram.

Traditionally exciting The annual international Kunstmaand Ameland is coming up. Hopefully, it won't be cancelled this year. I am happy to be a part of it and to exhibit again. Ten of my paintings have been accepted to enter, I will show them soon in my next posts. Welcome to visit our exhibitions, live in November on the island of Ameland and also online at  amelanderkunstenaars.nl .

Four plus four Totally unexpected and therefore extra exciting; this week four of my recent paintings, as well as four old studies and master copies have been sold. I am very happy and proud that they are all going to decorate the walls of some beautiful historic homes from now on.

First apples of the season I love apples. In all shapes and sizes, fresh, baked or cooked. So I thought I also liked painting apples. This year we have already harvested many Cox's Orange Pippins in our small orchard , so there was no shortage of models to pose. But somehow it became this time quite a challenge to paint those few apples. It took much longer to finish the painting than I thought. Perhaps it had to do with the new surface that I have never used before, a Mus panel that is actually intended for fine painting. Furthermore, I found that I could not quite match the colours of the apples. And I will be silent about the struggle with the foliage. So there's still a lot to learn for me. But in the end, I am suddenly satisfied with the result. So, it became the "First of the season", acrylic, panel 25 x 30 cm. The final version can be seen in my  gallery .

Time to learn I need to learn to paint the sea. And, I have got some very small frames that are not suitable for stretched canvas. So it's time for exercising and trying out new materials. Using acrylic gesso I glued thick paper on cardboard and then covered it with a few layers of the same gesso. I took my usual limited palette of cadmium red, ultramarine, cadmium yellow, burnt umber and titanium white. And I tried to paint small quick studies of the North Sea shores. One, using a photograph of our Chester I took on the beach. The other one, trying to make a sort of master copy after a painting by Dennis Roberts whose works I admire. Here are the results. "Chester on the Beach", acrylic, paper app. 10 x 21 cm. And "Same Sea, Opposite Shores. After Dennis Roberts.", acrylic, paper app. 12 x 22 cm. the latest studies

Suddenly Since we are not having a warm and dry summer this year, why not think of the proper winter then for a while? It was cold and white for almost a fortnight last February. And it was wonderful to watch the islanders having snow fun on their traditional horse-drawn sleighs. As well as the white rooftops of our village. For a change, I decided to paint on cardboard this time, applying lots of layers of gesso first. Again, I used a limited palette; cadmium red, ultramarine, burnt umber and titanium white. Thus it became "Hollum. Winter", acrylic, cardboard 30 x 25,5 cm. An image of the finished painting is to be found in my gallery . UPDATE 1 :  February 2022. This painting is on show in a museum!  UPDATE 2 :  November 2022. The painting is sold at the Kunstmaand Show UPDATE 3 :  December 2022. Proud and happy to get this lovely mail from the art collectors from Friesland: "It was love at first sight when we saw the small painting. After enjoying the Kunstmaand...

To mother As I am still not allowed to travel to visit my mother due to the restrictions, it has now been four years since I have seen her. Nevertheless, I was able to surprise her a bit on her birthday this week. It was my brother's idea to make some sort of booklet for her with some of my paintings that she liked but could only see digitally. So, she has now received that booklet exactly on her 84th birthday. And I made this video of that booklet before sending it. Happy birthday, mama, and thank you! For all your support and your belief in me. For always being proud of me and never doubting or being discouraging about the things I do. I am proud to be your son.

Framing I believe that every painting should have its own frame. I hand-make mine myself. Every time it is a lot of work but I actually like both the process and the result. I like them classic and sober, mainly black with a little gold. Last spring I unexpectedly received a few tubes of black alkyd paint as a gift from a sweet unknown lady who suddenly showed up at the door. Since I only paint with acrylics, I couldn't think of a better way to use them than to paint my frames with them. I think it turned out very well. Thanks again, Mrs. Trees K. from Nes! framing in progress

Another interior Since I really enjoy our little garden , and so does Chester , I eventually wanted to paint a small part of it. In combination with the interior of our garden/guest room. Quite satisfied with the awaiting pose of Chester. I used a limited palette; red, yellow and blue plus burnt umber and titanium white. Thus it became Come Out!, acrylic, canvas 30 x 24 cm. The finished painting is to be found in my gallery .

Back to painting I've tried to paint Chester again, combining a dog portrait with interior painting. It seemed like a perfect setting when I saw him routinely enjoying the sun's rays while in our attic in Zwolle. It turned out to be difficult to choose the right values for the background; I still have a lot to learn about how to convey depth with dark objects in the foreground. Is it a coincidence (I am wondering now) that I recently visited the Transverse Orientation by genius Dimitris Papaioannou where he deliberately opted for the lighter background of his masterpiece? I used the limited palette again; red, yellow and blue plus burnt umber and white. Thus it became Chester the Sun Worshiper, acrylic, canvas 24 x 30 cm. The finished painting can be found in my gallery .

Completed and realised I am happy with this small but beautiful art project that I have carried out in a very short period of time in collaboration with Amelander Artists and De Amelander Musea . From July 1, 2021, three Amelander art photographers will exhibit 25 works of art in the De Amelander Vuurtoren Museum in Hollum. This will be a permanent exhibition where visitors can also order a print of the photos in different sizes and on various materials via the website amelanderkunstenaars.nl/vuurtoren , which I also made. So, this way you may soon have a beautiful piece of Ameland hanging on your wall!

Something different It seems that my annual winter depression this year, due to the lockdown and the unusually sunless, cold and wet spring, lasted for half a year instead of a few weeks. I was of course happy to be able to paint and read, but I was also thrilled to discover many interesting courses at Coursera , which I loved to audit. And that was not few. Proud of this list so far. But I don't intend to stop. I like to learn. So there's still a lot planned, maybe after the summer break. Hoping that this long depression is finally over, I am now fully enjoying the nature around us and our garden again. And I'm also working now on a new small but nice art project for our island. I hope to report on that very soon. So, see you soon, and take good care of your mental health, and of the others.  

Spring has finally come Another painting of another corner of our village. The almost four centuries old but perfectly preserved buildings of the neighbouring museum look lovely and romantic at every season. This year the unusual weather made our ancient pear trees blossom quite late. So I was happy to catch and paint this small scenery. Using again the limited palette of blue, red and yellow, plus white and burnt umber. Will we get a nice crop of pears this summer? Well, have a good summer everyone! So it became the Bij Sorgdrager, acrylic, canvas 30x24 cm. The result is to be seen in My gallery .

Some more alcohol I found this setting with lots of different shadows and the sharp but cool sunlight quite exciting. And I love that luminous effect you can achieve by mixing red, yellow and burned umber. The old famous liquor of our island has recently changed its bottle design, and as we were happy to receive a new one from our new friends, I thought it could have been good to paint the old and the new one next to each other. Well, 'proost!' And try it yourself once. The name is Nobeltje ;) So it became the Transitions, acrylic, canvas 20x20 cm. The result is to be seen in My gallery .

Sunday Lunch gets a new home The month of May proves to be full of surprises, again. Except it still unusually feels like winter outside, some good news came unexpectedly from Saatchi Art where a couple of my paintings are being exhibited. They have sold the Sunday Lunch to a collector in Virginia. The painting is now thoroughly packed and labelled and is on its way to the United States. I am proud. I am hoping that the new owner will be happy with their new original painting and that the painting itself will get a new lovely home. Excited, this is such a stimulating happening! Bye, for now, gotta rush back to my easel.

"L'inverno non finisce mai..." Just like in the old and lovely Italian song; this winter seems to never end now but we still have nice memories. Strawberries are one of those fine connections to keep you warm and hoping. I love having my strawberries cut in half with some drops of old Aceto Balsamico. That's why I now tried to paint this all in the setting of our old blue kitchen. Yes, still using the limited palette. Still hoping for good and warm news to come very soon. Please don't give up, you too. So it became the Strawberries, acrylic, canvas board 24x30 cm. The result is to be seen in My gallery .

Last days of winter Christmas memories are nice even when it is (cold) March outside. I like to bake my own version of Christmas pudding with lots of fruit, both dried and fresh. I took some photographs last December and now I find them worthy of making a small painting. Still using the limited palette of Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, Ultramarine plus Burnt Umber and Titanium White. Well, happy Christmas then! So it became the Festive Season, acrylic, canvas 24x30 cm. The result is to be seen in My gallery .

Back to still life When life literally gets almost still, you sometimes need a good shot of old single malt. Well, I do. And I like how it looks in a crystal glass. So, using again the limited palette of Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, Ultramarine plus Burnt Umber and Titanium White, I tried to catch and paint the warmth of that noble liquid. Well, here's to us! So it became the Glass of Whiskey, acrylic, canvas 30x24 cm. The result is to be seen in My gallery .

Going on with our Southwest When the strong sunlight breaks through the rapidly moving dark clouds, you can accidentally get that special warm feeling of hope, which for a moment helps you to go on, makes you expect better times, believing. The South-West part of our beach often has such sceneries. I love to watch those great nature shows. I have now tried to paint one. So it became the Buien boven Zuidwest, acrylic, canvas 20x20 cm. The result is to be seen in My gallery .