The brush follows where the heart leads
”What do you paint?” ”Why do you paint?” Two questions one often gets asked as a painter. ”What” is quite easy, I usually carry a set of postcards around, and a sketchbook and there is this website. Question answered.
The ”Why” is more difficult. I paint because I hope to make the world a better place. Some of my paintings show the world slightly enhanced. I am happy when I am making beautiful paintings. When I see something beautiful or interesting I want to paint it. For me a horse is about as beautiful as it gets, the lines, shape, movement. Their minds, the wonderful feeling of being carried on the back of a horse, and those few moments when you are in perfect balance with a completely different being. Everything about horses is fascinating to me, and so I will never get tired in painting them.
But I am interested in may other subjects as well, and they all need to be painted.
”Why?”, I can’t really answer that question. I just have to do it, and it makes me happy, and I always hope it makes other people happy.
I paint in different media, but mostly in oils. My favorite brand is M.Graham. For some really special colours I use ”Scheveningen”. I have a lot of brushes, each brush type, or the fibers used, has it’s own use, effect and purpose. Unlike the image of painter’s studio’s in movies, my brushes and paints are not strewn around disorderly, on various paint stained tables. Brushes are quite expensive and mine are all meticulously cleaned with special brush cleaners, carefully shaped, left for drying and stored in different holders. The same with paint. Some of my tubes of paint may cost up to $80,-, so they are carefully closed and stored.
I work on paper, canvas, marouflé and panel. Sometimes walls!
Marouflé is easy to take with you, canvas is good for large paintings, it’s not so heavy, and panel is good for small paintings, (or all paintings). It takes several days to prepare a large panel for painting. As a surface it’s very smooth, and it’s very stable, it doesn’t ”work” as canvas does. But it’s very heavy… I have however made large paintings on panel.
Friendly interest is always appreciated
Aafke.Art 