edgartlog

2008-06-08T23:59:00.023+02:00

There is an exhibition coming up in an art gallery in London with drawings of Bob Dylan. The singer-songwriter of visual poetry, appears to be a fine artis himself. The singer of When I paint my Masterpiece started exploring fine arts when he was living in Woodstock and invited to the studio of his neighbour. He also followed painting classes by Norman Raeben (the son of Sholom Aleichem. He went to the Metropolitan Museum: 'The first exhibition I saw there was of Gauguin paintings and I found I could stand in front of any one of them for as long as I'd sit at the movies, yet not get tired on my feet. I'd lose all sense of time."
In his autobiography Chronicles, vol 1, Dylan writes: "What would I draw? Well, I guess I would start with whatever was at hand. I sat at the table, took out a pencil and paper and drew the typewriter, a crucifix, a rose, pencils, knives and pins, empty cigarette boxes. I'd lose track of time completely Not that I thought I was any great drawer, but I did feel like I was putting an orderliness to the chaos around."Rows of houses, orchard acres, lines of tree trunks, could be anything. I can take a bowl of fruit and turn it into a life and death drama.
Dylan has decorated the covers of his albums Self Portrait and Planet Waves and Music of Big Pink by The Band, all in an expressionist style. A sketchbook of him is published 'Drawn blank' (1994) with pen and charcoal sketches made during three years during his concert tours "mainly to relax and refocus a restless mind. Mostly when I was on a train or in a café, just to make sense of what was in my immediate world. I found it relaxed me." Sometimes he also working with models. In the Biograph booklet one can see photographs of him drawing the view from a hotel window
For the exhibition he reworked these sketches. The drawings were digitally transferred to bigger sheets of paper. and he added bright colours of watercolour or gouache. These fauvist reworkings are not always good, but on the Trains Tracks (image above) it really works. The orange sky it a good addition to the black & white graphics. This drawing is a personal memory of his youth "I’d seen trains from my earliest childhood days. The sound of trains off in the distance more or less made me feel at home".

His portraits show strong shapes and strong contrasts as can be seen on the studio photograph below. During the recording of Oh Mercy he has made a charcoal portrait of his producer Daniel Lanois. He borrowed a sketch pad from a session musician, said: Daniel, do you mind if I sketch your picture? He made a charcoal portrait of him with his bandana and long Indian style hair

During an interview in his touring bus he is sketching the face of the journalist. (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-iFZbrzYb4 ). In the song Highlands, a 17- minute 'talking blues' song, he is describing a scene in a restaurant where he is making a portrait sketch of the waitress:

I'm in Boston town, in some restaurant. I got no idea what I want. Well, maybe I do but I'm just really not sure. Waitress comes over. Nobody in the place but me and her.

It must be a holiday, there's nobody around. She studies me closely as I sit down. She got a pretty face and long white shiny legs. She says, "What'll it be?"I say, "I don't know, you got any soft boiled eggs?".

She looks at me, Says "I'd bring you somebut we're out of 'm, you picked the wrong time to come "Then she says, "I know you're an artist, draw a picture of me! "I say, "I would if I could, but, I don't do sketches from memory."

"Well", she says, "I'm right here in front of you, or haven't you looked?". I say," all right, I know, but I don't have my drawing book! "She gives me a napkin, she says, "you can do it on that". I say, "yes I could but, I don't know where my pencil is at!

"She pulls one out from behind her ear. She says "all right now, go ahead, draw me, I'm standing right here "I make a few lines, and I show it for her to see. Well she takes a napkin and throws it back. And says "that don't look a thing like me!"I said, "Oh, kind miss, it most certainly does", She says, "you must be jokin.'" I say, "I wish I was!"

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2008-06-06T23:37:00.016+02:00

I just listened to a recording of Nina Simone, 'Feelings' at Montreux Jazz festival 1976. I never have heard somebody singing a song so emotionally and I never have seen such sad black eyes .
You can see it at YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH5ZE3N8cxU
She requests the audience to join her singing the chorus : Come on, you know this song. But the people are so flabbergasted by all the grief coming from stage, that there is a total silence in the hall. Nobody felt the need to sing or clap with the soft vulnerable vocals of with emotional outburst. In fact Nina's singing was equal to crying. And without any support she looks even more lonely. Her singing has virtuoso piano intermezzo, showing her background as a classical educated pianist.

What happened to Nina Simone that she was in this mood? In 1966 broke up with her husband and manager and ended the cooperation with her record company RCA. Her last record with this label was named "It is finished". She intended to quit her career. Nina left to Africa and only gave concerts was she was short of money. In 1976 financial problems made her return to Europe. Nina begged the manager of Montreux Jazz Festival to fit her in the already fully booked schedule. There was only 20 minutes available for her (and she was paid accordingly). In the end the planned twenty minutes concert turned into a full hour performance.

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2008-06-02T23:36:00.007+02:00

I wrote this poem for a friend whose loudspeakers of his hifi set broke down and who is forced to listen to the sound of the finch. He is an translator/editor by profession but now he cannot concentrate on his job, as the bird is occupying his mind. the bird is free, but the man feels caged.

DE VINK

Mijn luidsprekers hebben t begeven
en naast me zingt een vink vol leven
Zijn vreugde wordt geuit
in een eindeloos geluid
Hij blijft zich herhalen
en verstoort mijn talen
Zonder dit dominante beest
had mijn geest vrij geweest.
Al zit ik een getto gevangen
het doet met niet verlangen
naar naar de vrije natuur
met zo'n irritante buur

I drew for this finch (vink) voor the family Vinckenburg who wanted an illustration for a birth card of their child, their 'little finch'' . They found the pencil drawing of this bird with soft feathers cute, but did not realize that it can produce such a annoying sound.

It can be great to be in the middle of nature. but it can also be a relief to be outside of nature. For instance by cycling today through the fields with everything in blossom i got hay fever and i am happy to back to in the centre of the city retreating in my concrete apartment. I just saw the Sean Penn movie Into the Wild about a boy turning his back to civilization and trying to survive in the wilderness of Alaska. I don't know if he is my role model. I like nature, but i think I prefer culture. It also reminds me of the song of David Byrne (Talking Heads) "Nothing but flowers':

Once there were parking lots
Now it's a peaceful oasis
You got it, you got it
This was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies
You got it, you got it
I miss the honky tonks
Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens
You got it, you got it
And as things fell apart
Nobody paid much attention
You got it, you got it
I dream of cherry pies
Candy bars, and chocolate chip cookies
You got it, you got it
We used to microwave
Now we just eat nuts and berries
You got it, you got it
This was a discount store
Now it's turned into a cornfield
You got it, you got it
Don't leave me stranded here
I can't get used to this lifestyle

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2008-04-16T23:56:00.032+02:00

Now that the darkness of winter is over, the light of spring is entering my studio. Sun rays showing dust on my palette and oil paintings. I can see the colors clearly now and feel like painting again. In nature fresh sap greens are replacing the greyish browns and in the greens white blossoms appear . From the inside it looks sunny but once you are outside you feel the cold wind and start to look for you ice cap. Dutch humor. It makes you longing for the real warmth of summer.

I just found a inspiring video clip on YouTube underlining this summer feeling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ie1yt_cJAM
The two and a half minutes of amateur images show Madeleine Peroux performing near a park in Paris on a hot lazy day in July. The black and white of the movie, the old fashioned hats and clothing, as well as her Billie Holiday like voice brings you in an old time mood. But it is only 17 years ago, and the girl is just 17. At that time she is still completely unknown. At the age of fifteen this American girl became inspired by the street musicians of Paris and started busking in the streets of Quartier Latin. In the video some people are quitely waiting and listening, taking snap shops eating ice creams and forgetting time. Others do care about time and are passing by quickly thinking she is just a street singer, not realizing that Madeleine Peroux will soon be famous.Playing with Lost Wandering and Blues Band ( two guitars, a trumpet and a one-string bass) Madeleine sings the song from the 1930s " Getting some fun out of life". This sounds like a good plan for the new season!

Now there was the first day of real warmth in spring. People were so happy sitting outside on terrace in the park or bicycling in the street and all in a good and easy- going mood. It is a simple and basic kind of happiness equal for rich and poor: the best things in life are free. A song which perfectly catches this mood is Paul Simon's 'Was a sunny day'. He brilliantly describes it in simple lyrics on a light sunny tune:

Was a sunny day
Not a cloud was in the sky.
Not a negative word was heard
From the people passing by.
It was sunny day.
All the birdies in the trees.
And the radio singing songs
All the favourite melodies.

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2008-03-23T13:03:00.017+01:00

Good Friday seems the right day to attend St. John's Passion. I was invited to come to the rehearsal of J.S. Bach's oratorium at Westerkerk in order to make sketches of the musicians, choir and solo singers. The conductor was singing parts of the tenor who did not arrived yet. Soon I was drawing in the flow of this music and felt inspired by the sounds and images around me. I lost my sense of time.

Later I noticed that more spectators were attending the rehearsal. I saw an old lady with a fur coat sitting in a wheelchair in the middle of the church. Two girls, probably granddaughters, were constantly assisting her with things like covering her knees with blanket, bringing her coffee, etc. She was enjoyed the music and at certain part she was quietly singing along. During the break someone said : That's Aafje". "Aafje? "Aafje Heynis" I could not believe my ears. The famous singer from the 50's and 60's. I did not realize that she still lives. She had a unique voice a warm pure alto. I never heard a more beautiful rendition of "Bist du bei mir". I could recognize her face clearly which i knew so well from the cd covers. Though her hair was grey and her skin white, her face with pale blue eyes and strong cheeks bones was basically the same. From a distance I quickly made a portrait sketch of her and showed them. I thanked for her music Her assistants repeated my words to her, trying to reach her through the fog of her mind. Somehow I felt a deep respect for her.

In the Westerkerk I am always aware of its history : the burial place of Rembrandt and close to Anne Frank's house. Last year the church has renovated. When the renovation was ready and the covers were removed the gold of the tower appeared to have changed into blue. The architect based this change on historical evidence: in a certain period the colors were like this. Who am I to deny history, but I regret that the golden crown was stolen from Amsterdam. With the blue top on the church looks like a fancy building from Disneyland. Tourists will like it. I made this watercolor long time ago. It was on a chilly day in October that I was painting the cityscape with the tower and the golden autumn colors. These were the golden days of Westerkerk.

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2007-11-25T00:47:00.003+01:00

My friend from Berlin is in town. She is a dancer who is performing in Melkweg theatre. We have not seen each other since the portrait I have made of her two years ago. At that time she was still trying to survive by modelling and waitressing jobs, now she is a much wanted dancer in modern opera productions. After having a cappucino together she gets in a tourist mood and wanted to have a look in Kalverstraat for a souvenir.

Soon a luxurious soap store called Sabon attracts our attention. The seller is wearing a creme mask on a his face as if he is in a cabaret. Also the lady of the shop with black bobbed hair looks special like she is a night club singer from the Roaring 1920's. I am just wondering if she she could be a good portrait model and hesitating if i could i invite her, when she asks what we are looking for. In fact I do not have the faintest idea; it is the first time of my life in such a shop. Before we realize what is happening we are part of a demonstration. We have to rub our hands with a scrub consisting of pure Dead-Sea salt. My hands have strong ink stains and black nail rims from a painting session the evening before. So this must be the perfect test case. The Dead Sea is entering deeply into the pores of my skin and the salt is starting to clear the ink. I must say it feels refreshing, The skin is softer now and the stains much less visible. Next we have to try a butter hand cream a mix of coconot and vanilla. My skin which usually feels like sandpaper is as smooth as a baby's. My friend is impressed by the result and buys luxurious package of this salt.

After this soothing Soap experience we go to the Soup Enzo shop. There they have interesting mixes as well: brocolli cashew nuts, potato rocquefort, peanut chicken, etc. In the evening as I am watching in the dark my friend's show, I am still in my own coconut vanilla smell.

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2006-11-12T19:13:00.000+01:00

Through the strong autumn wind I just returned from the frame shop with a watercolor Kites on the Beach'' under my arm when Cath came to my place for the model drawing session. She brought me a book which was coincidentally called 'Kite runner' by Khaled Hosseini. a novel about Afghanisthan

The watercolor shows a windy beach with tiny figures playing with kites under big masses of clouds floating in the blue sky. It brings back my memories of the island of Texel, where this scenerie was painted, and also gives the sense of light, space and freedom which one can experience while being in the middle of nature.

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2006-09-12T23:19:00.005+02:00

Last month I have had a special guest, a pale red-haired girl from Jerusalem. She is walking slowly and speaking in a whisper. The result of a severe accident. She came to Amsterdam to learn the art of drawing and it was a pleasure to help her. One of our drawing lessons took place at an African Festival at Conservatory. Festival was a big word for this event. We came early to get a good seat, but hardly anybody was there except for some friends of the Senegalese musicians. It took a while but when they finally started the performance was very intense. Heavy percussions were painful to the ears. Also visually a lot was happening: wild dances on fast rhythms with dancers were jumping high in the air. Not an usual subject for an art lesson. As we were with our sketchbooks at front row the Africans noticed us and came to us to shake hands. One of them, a big black guy with sunglasses, hugged the pale red girl.

At Conservatory I met Cecilia, the violinist. She invited me to attend the masterclass of the Greek teacher Leonidas Kavakos at Concertgebouw. A week later I was there in de Kleine Zaal with my sketching stuff. Cecilia worked herself through a highly complicated piece of Alban Berg. The master's comment on Cecilia's playing was just brief: "It is just perfect. There is nothing to say". What a good teacher! Don't say something for the sake of saying. Saying nothing can be helpful as well.

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2006-03-10T21:55:00.000+01:00

I have travelled to Arnhem to watch Delia dance at the opening of Cathalyne's exhibition. In the intercity train I had plenty of time to listen to a cd which a friend once gave me. It was a copy of Van Morrison "His band and the Street Choir". Generally it is not considered as his best album, but still very good. I was particulary struck by the song 'Virgo Clowns'. It was recorded during a happy period of his life. You can hear a young Van exuberantly singing on a powerful sound driven by acoustic guitars and a mandolin. The ambiance is raw, unrehearsed like a jam session. It is the kind of song which brings the listeners in a state of trance or ecstasy. The lyrics confirm this feeling : Hey let the trumpets ring it Oh, let the angels sing it Let your pretty feet go dancing Let your worn out mind go prancing. The same mood comes from his songs 'And the Healing has Begun' (When you hear the music ringin' in your soul And you feel it in your heart and it grows and grows) and 'The Daring Night' . To reach these heights some phrases are often repeated. The spiralling repetitions of wails and whispers bypass the confines of language to articulate emotions beyond the scope of literal meaning.

Van Morrison is not only trying to enter a 'higher ground' with his music, but he can act very down-to-earth as well This can be illustrated by next anecdote. Being with my brother in Prague we entered a local record store where a funky jazz sound was coming from the loudspeakers The voice was unmistakenly Van's. It appeared that it was a bootleg cd with a live recording of him at the Montreux jazz festival of June, 30th 1974. I was happy to discover this rare cd with the title - be prepared - 'If you Don't Like it, Go Fuck Yourself". The quote has come from a line near the end of the concert spoken by Van Morrison in reply to someone in the audience: a fan who disagrees with Van who was taking a long time (4 minutes of clapping) to return for an encore. Van 'The Man' shows his short tempered character by replying with these infamous words. listen to the audio clip: http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/discography/fuck.html

I have seen Van Morrison several times in concert. This is a sketch which I have made of him during the performance at Paradiso, Amsterdam in May 3rd, 1993. He was surrounded by a tight blues band of first rate musicians. Van was blowing on his horn and I was struggling in the dark with my pen.

Van's connection with fine arts is not known to me, but there is one remarkable quote by him: "A painting is not real life; you can't live in a painting"

postscript 10/06 : Van's record company has released the Montreux 1973 concert/ The last song with the incident described here was omitted
postscript 06/06: At Waterloo fleemarket I have found a rare Van Morrisson cd . On "Unplugged in the studio" Van sings "Funny Faces" a demo for 'Virgo Clowns"

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2006-02-12T20:45:00.004+01:00

In my uncle's vast collection of MP3's I have found one of my favourite tunes. It is a rare (not officially released) live recording of the song 'Goodbye' which I have seen in 1997 during the BBC show 'Later with Jools Holland'. (now it is also available on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYj8lU-0sAQ&feature=related). It starts as a simple finger picking tune, then you hear a rough male voice singing. It is not someone who tries to please the listener, it is the withered voice of a man who has obviously walked down many roads. At that time he was just clean from his drug addiction, released from prison, and finished with his sixth marriage. His name is Steve Earle, a country rocker from Austin, Texas,

There is a deep feeling in every note of this four minutes song. The theme is classic: abandoned love: 'can't remember if we said goodbye'. A gentle strumming guitar is accompagnied by a subtly improvisating steel guitar. The lonesome harmonica sound seems to come straight from Steve's broken heart. Emmylou Harris, who has a angel-like appearance, is duetting with him, She calls it "the saddest song ever written". I don't know if that is true, but the few lines she is singing are heart- breaking. When she sings about a Carribean breeze her voice sounds soft and warm.

The song is also recorded on Emmylou's album 'Wrecking ball' and produced by Daniel Lanois. The recording took place in a big square space in Nashville with musicians (including Steve) sitting in a circle. The sound is deep and heavy. Daniel has overdubbed the track with his intense guitar solo which is of a painful beauty as if he is saying: love hurts. With his mysterious soundscape a dark swamp landscape is painted. Sounds are hanging in the air like a fog or drizzle. Not surprisingly, in the book 'American Music' Annie Leibovitz photographes Emmylou in such a muddy environment in Tennessee.

I have seen Steve Earle twice in concert in the late 1990's performing in Paradiso, Amsterdam. Once solo and once with his band The Dukes. At both concerts the songs Goodbye was the highlight of the evening. As usual I took my sketchbook with me and these are two of the pencil drawings I did. He made a powerful impression on stage with his overweight body and big muscled, tattoed arms. He was wearing shades, unshaven and long hair with Elvis-style sideburns. One time he was nearly starting a fight with a man in the audience whose presence was disturbing to him. Oddly, the man, a fan, was a Steve Earle look-a-like. So Steve was kind of fighting with his ghost. Another time he took on stage his 12-year son. No idea from which marriage.

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2006-01-28T00:08:00.000+01:00

Reading the art book in the train to Amsterdam made me miss the stop and I ended up in Almere a god forgotten city in the middle of nowhere, not the place to be around midnight. A freezingly cold wind on the platforms and a tight control at the entrances. Passengers were treated like potential criminals. I managed to get back to Amsterdam though.

The book was by professor Henk van Os on Belgian art. He mentions the portrait of Marguerite Mons by the (neo-)impressionist Theo van Rhysselberghe (1862-1926). It depicts a sad-eyed girl of perhaps twelve years old dressed in black (as her mother has died recently). It is an excentric composition and the black contrasts well with the pale blue, pink and gold colors of the door. You have got no idea what she is thinking, but her gaze keeps your attention. It seems that her father did not like the painting and requested Van Rhysselbergh to make a new, more traditional portrait. Artistic vision is not always appreciated.

At the moment there is an exhibition of the work of Theo van Rhusselberge at the Paleis der Schone Kunsten in Brussels

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2006-01-12T01:06:00.000+01:00

I am watching a documentary 'The Songhunter' about Alan Lomax (1915-2002) the etnomusicologist who travelled through the world to record folk music, realizing that these forms of traditional music would disappear soon with the rise of commercial popular music and mass media. He has recorded more than 10.000 songs. At the end of his life he signed a contract with Rounder records. The Alan Lomax collection consists of 100 cd's .

I admire people who have a mission in life, trying to document endangered forms of culture or nature. It reminds me of Roman Vishniac (1897-1990) who photographed Jewish life in the shtetls and cities of eastern Europe during the 1930's. He felt that this life would be destroyed by the nazi's. He worked with a hidden camera through an enlarged button hole. To blend in, he posed as a vagabond peddler and to avoid arrest by police as a psychotic. He was imprisoned 11 times. 'A Vanished World' is the name of his book.

Just like Lomax saved voices and songs, Vishniac saved faces.

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2006-01-03T23:28:00.002+01:00

Henri Cartier Bresson (HCB) was first photographer that really touched me. Now there are two exhibitions of his work in Amsterdam: his photography in FOAM and at the same time his drawings are exhibited at the Descartes Institute.

True to my own art, I have started with the drawings in the French institute. Hardly any visitor was there. What fascinates me is that he started as a painter, subsequently switched to photography for most of his career and finally returned to the art of drawing. In the 1970's
when the photographer got had problems with his knees, he decided that his travelling days are over and devoted himself exclusively to drawing. With great concentration he makes drawings of the view from his apartment overlooking the Tuileries, animals skeletons in the Natural History Museum, and worked with nude models at home. Although he never approaches the level of his photography, the master of the moment has a sensitive drawing style with searching lines. Also in his graphic work he shows a good feeling for a balanced composition.

His camera was his sketchbook, a book of instant drawings. HCB said: 'Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing a meditation'. Photography deals with the decisive moment in one quick camera click, while drawing is a slow process of line by line. A different approach, but with the same eye. He is called 'L'oeuil du Siecle' or 'The Eye of the Century'. This is not exaggerated. When you glance through his photo albums you learn more about recent history than during six years at highschool. Also, he almost has lived for a century: 1908- 2004.. As a photo reporter for Magnum, he was travelling constantly and was always there at the right moment. Or should I say the 'worst moment'? He was on the spot at the time of the murder on Gandhi, the Chinese revolution, the building of the Berlin Wall. He covered also happy events like the coronation of King George V in 1937.

HCB never made use of a telelens. He managed to come close to the subject without being noticed. He somehow remained invisible. He was always eager to prevent his own portrait from being published so that he could remain anonymous and that people acted naturally. I think this the role of the artist: to be a close observer of real life without intruding the scenes.

HCB also did a lot of portraits of writers and painters. He was in search of "the inner silence of the models ('Le silence intérieur d’une victime consentante'). This image is one of my favourite portraits. a photograph of Ezra Pound. He took the picture in Venice, 1970. The American author was old, sick and in an introverted mood. For twenty minutes the two men were sitting face to face in complete silence until the decisive moment was there. There is a beautiful side light on the face which would make even Rembrandt jealous.
Perhaps attracted by these silent images the exhibition was visited by a group of the deaf people. The guide assisted by a sign language interpretator told an anecdote about HCB, when photographing Matisse. The painter was kind of camera shy, all the time hiding from the camera. To open up the atmosphere HCB showed a painting of himself. Matisse was not impressed and said he found it 'as interesting as a matchbox'.

Line by Line. The Drawings of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Thames and Hudson, 1989

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2005-12-30T11:20:00.000+01:00

'Avant le depart' is the name of the documentary about Constant (1920 - 2005) a painter who belongs to the Cobra group. It is a moving account of the last year of his life working on his very last painting. At the beginning of this movie he is saying: 'Het zit er op' which means 'Time is up". It is no so dramatic as it sounds though. He is looking back on a long productive life with an interesting oeuvre and a succesful career. Constant is kind of proud. And I appreciate that he believes in himself and in his art as that is the right attitude for an artist to survive.

In this 90 minutes documentary you can see quiet images of an old man slowly working on his painting. Not many questions are asked nor is he trying to explain. By a short lecture on colourism his wife is trying to secure him a place in art history. The camera is patiently recording the painting process. It can be expected that these kinds of quality tv productions will disappear from the screen with the reform of the Dutch public broadcast system and be soon replaced by uptempo commercial crap.

I like his watercolour style of his 'portraits imaginaires'. For instance this portrait of a woman is very special. The face has a good expression although he totally forgot to paint her nose. Look at this magnificent background how the pinkish red matches well with the red brown and bluish grey. I think a background can make or break a portrait. In the painting of the clothes a white gouache has been applied, which is against the principles of this transparent technique. but masters can afford to break the rules.

to be continued

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2005-12-17T22:43:00.002+01:00

In my parents attic I have found a pile of dusty sketchbooks with drawings of mine made when I started with drawing. This youth work can be seen on my website: http://www.edgarportraits.com/Youth/Youth.html
Some people like the old work even more than my current work. But of course I can not return to the past. I am changed, though the basically the same. The only thing I can do it try to learn from my (younger) self.

This is a bistre chalk drawing is done in the period that I was exploring the city with my sketchbook. This one I have made in the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood of Amsterdam at the time that period the whole area was being renovated and I was fascinated by city. From a high point of view (a university library across the street) I could look down on the Titushouse, close to Rembrandthouse, and draw the whole scenery. The surrounding houses have been broken down and in the distance the groundwork was started for the Opera building. The leafless trees are drawn like skeletons. With the empty streets the drawing gives a bleak picture of a grey midwinters day. It makes you shiver and feel like going home.

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2005-12-04T10:39:00.001+01:00

On an early tuesday morning in December 1980 my dad and I were having breakfast. We were still in a state of half sleep and were drinking big cups of tea in order to wake up. In the background the radio was playing 'Across the Universe' of The Beatles. Afterwards the announcer said: 'this song was sung by John Lennon who has deceased tonight.' I became wide awake and my first thought was: 'No, this can't be true'. Then I stunningly heard the story that he was murdered at the entrance of his NYC apartment, shot by a fool. I remember that it hit the news and shook the world like the assasination of JFK. As a reaction I made a drawing titled 'The dream is over' with two mourning people (based on a frontpage image of Yoko Ono seeking comfort with producer David Geffen) and a ethearal portrait of Lennon in the background.

And it felt like a personal loss to me. I wonder how come, as I never met him in person. I think there are two main reasons.
Firstly, Lennon is showing himself through his songs. The loss of his mother( 'Mother') , his mood ('Help", 'I am so tired', and 'Crippled inside'), and the love for his child ('Beautiful boy') . All the songs are sung in his characteristic high voice with his Liverpool accent which is so familiar to us.
Secondly, reading his last interviews with David Sheff, I could imagine his story so well. For five years he retreated from music business to take care of his son and was starting a make a come back in music ( 'Just like starting over') , but four bullets destroyed these plans. He ended up dying in a police car speeding to the hospital. One songline of him is often quoted: 'Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans'. And one of his last recordings is '(Living on) Borrowed time'. His solo oeuvre is limited and feels unfinished. For instance, I love the song 'Grow old with me', but the sound quality of the demo is painfully bad. He did not have the chance to complete it.

I also appreciate Lennon as a graphic artist. Before he started playing with The Beatles, he was an art student at the renowned Liverpool School of Art. He kept drawing during his whole life, also in order to illustrate his books of poetry and to entertain his little son. His drawings show his good sense of humour. I think this well resembling self-portrait done with just few lines and colors is masterful.

The same day as the tragedy there was a photo session with Annie Leibovitz. The result is a very intimate picture. It has prophetic qualities. Yoko is dressed in black. John is nude. On the sharp photo you can see the freckles on his skin. He looks vulnerable in an embryo position. At the end of his life his pose is the same as in the beginning. And it is like he is making a big farewell kiss.

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2005-12-01T00:07:00.002+01:00

My favourite soul artist is Mavis Staples. With her expressive sensual voice I like her even more than Aretha Franklin. One of her songs is Time waits for no-one. These lyrics tell a reality which we all face. You can wait for the time to pass, the time will never wait for you. Nobody can hold back the clock. For everbody, from poor to rich, time is a scarce resource. I was thinking: How do fine artists deal with time?

First. Throughout the centuries artists let themselves be inspired by the same themes time after time again. In the course of time students are drawing model and portrait painters are studying the face. They approach the subject with a sense of wonder like it is new, like they never saw it before. The human body and face do not belong to a certain period and will never get out of date; they are eternal. Picasso called one of his works l'eternel feminin.
A good painting not only shows something specific of the period when it was made but also has got timeless elements. For instance on the paintings of the impressionists you can see much of the fashion of this period like the dresses and hats women were wearing, but good art will never be out of time. There is something universal, everlasting in art which appeals to people from different times and places.

Second. During the process of art the sense of time is lost (not the sense of timing). A short music or dance performance can make a lifetime impression. a five minutes pencil sketch can be better than an oil painting worked on for years. That s why it makes no sense to pay an artist per hour. There is difference between the performing arts and fine arts. After the performance it is gone, only the memory remains, whereas with fine arts there is still a physical result.

Third. Artists try to overcome time with their art. Armando said that art is a struggle with time which you always lose. This sounds rather pessimistic to me. I prefer the quote of Heraclites who said 'Vita breva, ars longa; life is short, art lasts long'. Nothing is eternal but good art will endure and survive the artist. The illustration above shows a self-portrait by Edvard Munch at the end of his life as a stiff old men standing between the clock and the bed. The faceless clock symbolizes time and the bed his last resting place. In the background his paintings, his life. Three years after this painting Munch died, but his art is still alive.

Fourth. In art time can be frozen. The same Heraclites said 'Panta rhei: everything flows, you can't step twice in the same river". So everything is changing constantly. The artist is able to let time stand still in the painting. The flowers of the still life always blossom, the landscape remains green and the girl on the portrait stays forever young. I once saw a documentary about one of the models of Picasso, who modelled for him when she was 18. During the interview she got emotional, realizing that sculpture of her did age unlike herself. Some people think it is the goal of the artist to catch the moment of time. It is Tennessee Williams who said: “The object of art is to make eternal the desperately fleeting moment." Catching the moment implies catching movement, see the quote by William Faulkner: "The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life" As an artist who likes to draw dancers and musicians, these words appeal to me.

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2005-11-29T23:35:00.001+01:00

I have helped Esther with framing for her exhibition. As a present she bought us a ticket for a concert of the American singer Matisyahu and his band. He is a Lubavitch orthodox jew who sings religious songs on reggae music. Not surprisingly the pop temple was filled with people Esther knew from the synagoge. Men were dressed casually and wearing honkball caps instead of yarmulks. Among the jewish audience were some hardcore rasta's. Chassidic sidelocks met Jamaican dreadlocks. Matisyahu appeared in traditional chassidic clothes like he just returned from the yeshiva. He did not look lost on this reggae stage and soon he took off his long black coat and his hat when the music made him dance and sweat. And he was jumping high to show that God helped him to deny gravity.

The sound was heavy and shaking through my spine. It was like the downstairs neighbours were drilling the wall. I could not understand his lyrics, but it seems that he was singing: Torah food for my brain let it rain til I drown, Thunder! Let the blessings come down. I like the idea to combine the music of Bob Marley and Shlomo Carlebach.

Sitting high on a the side ballustrade Esther and me were making sketches. The reggae rhythm brought us in the right trance and there was just enough light to see the lines on paper. When I came home I found out that some orthodox pictures were accidentally made on the backside of nude model drawings.

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2005-10-19T21:02:00.001+02:00

'Music is the wine that fills up the cup of silence.' I just found this quote by Robert Fripp. He has also put it vice versa: 'Music is the cup that holds the wine of silence". I don't know which one I prefer; both are true. Anyway, silence, well-timed silence, is a essential part of music. Silence between the notes is as important as the notes themselves. According to Carl Jung:"Music is the application of sounds to the canvas of silence." That's why musicians and conductors are so frustrated where a cough from the audience kills a silent moment. It is like spilling Indian ink on a blank part of a drawing.

Also for pop musicians silence counts like Van Morrison who is singing 'Hymns to the silence'. He is a master in varying loud parts en quiet parts in his music. I once heard him in concert playing a very quiet part of the song A town called paradise whispering "Can you hear the silence?" Yes we could hear, feel the silence, though the sound of music was still there. For Van Morrison the silence is inspired by being in nature 'Oh this must be what paradise is like, so quiet in here, so peaceful in here', a nature created by God ('you can see everything is made in God')

Yesterday an Argentian model was posing at Sheila's place. As usual she puts on music from the country of the models origin. So this time it was tango. The cd is called Mi Buenos Aires Querido by Daniel Barenboim and friends. This exquisite collection of tangos is the best I have ever heard. Barenboim is a famous classical pianist who returns to the city of his youth. He is forming a trio with two local tango heroes: Rudolfo Mederos (bandoneon) and Hector Console (bass). The tangos are filled with sentiment and nostalgia. And they are played in such a gentle and subtle way. At this cd silence speaks. What strikes me is how the musicians interact how they listen to each other. The piano asks a question and the bandoneon replies. It is a musical conversation. My favourite track is Invierno porteno from Astor Piazzola's Four Seasons.

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2005-10-16T14:56:00.000+02:00

After the portrait class, I went straigth to the Vincent van Gogh Museum. at Friday evening they are open It is good tradition: in the hall there is a bar, easy chairs and a band starting to play. It is a kind of lounging with Van Gogh. At 18.30h hardly anybody was there. Actually there were more security people than visitors. Inspired by my zoo experience of the day before I visited the exhibition Fierce Friends: artists and animals. Well, maybe the difference is not so big. Both follow their instincts. They are related species, often endangered. The exhibition explored everything in relation to animals in art. It was done well: there were even footprints of a bear on the door. A few things struck me: how Delacroix is able to paint wild animals, the painting of Turner Noachs Arc, Gericaults horse with lightning sky the impressionist painting of Liebermann Parrot man at the zoo (Artis) and the fact that Picasso purchased a painting made by a monkey.

But the most of all I did an interesting finding in the bookshop of the museum. There I found a book Boudin Dessins full with sketches of Eugene Boudin in pastel, pencil and watercolor. For examples see http://www.galerieneffegravurehonfleur.com/baudelaire_boudin.htm .
As the son of a sailor, Boudin excelled in views of the beaches along the Channel coast of France He was a plein-air painter of light, water, and the crowd. Not surprisingly he was a friend of Jongkind and the teacher of Monet. It is amazing how he can suggest the space of the sea and the beach on a small size of paper with just a few pastel colors. Every stroke is right. He does not seem to possess an eraser.

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2005-10-15T00:22:00.002+02:00

I started the day by drawing at Olympia ballet studios. Frey Faust was teaching there. He is an amazing dancer. He started the lesson by floorwork, rolling movements and the bodies were unfolding like sea stars in the depths of the ocean. The tempo was accerelated and at the end of the class everybody was jumping and flying through the space on powerful African rhythms. I would call it AFreycan dancing

In the afternoon I met with Dora in Artis Zoo near the camels. We were going directly to the elephants, where 2 months ago a baby was born called Yindee. It was busy there but we had place to make sketches on the spot. The crowd of parents and their children was delighted to watch the cute little Yindee. If they were no barriers people would caress the fluff on the head of the pet-like animal. I did not expect that Yindee was such a small size. It was touching to see this toy animal hiding between the legs of her mother. From time to time she was pushed forward by her mothers trunk in order to learn walking.

Then something unexpected happened. The male elephant was demanding attention of the mother. He started standing on his back feet and eagerly climbed on the back of her. Between his legs a new 'trunk' appeared. It was then that people started realizing that this was not a public circus act but that they were witnessing a very private scene. Instead of being visitors of a baby room they all felt like voyeurs in a sleeping room. Parents did not know what to say to their kids.

After one hour i finished the sketches of the baby as well as the elephant couple (Dora was already drawing giraffes at a more quiet place). One of my favourite elephant drawings is by Rembrandt An Elephant, in the Background a Group of Spectators c. 1637. a black chalk drawing made of a travelling circus. He manages to draw the pose, shape and skin of the animals so well. I only wonder if the eye is not too big.

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2005-10-11T23:47:00.000+02:00

I went back to the Island of Texel again for a weekend. Jet and Anneke waited for me at the harbour of Oudeschild. We could stay at Jet's sisters house. and we did not need to go far to find a painting subject. we just settledit on the dike near the sheeps overlooking the flat country and looking up at the endless skies. With watercolour we tried to catch the everchanging colors of the clouds .

I the evening i found on the bookshelf a copy of Henry Moores Sheep Sketchbook (1972) which he drew for his daughter Mary. It was whilst working in a small studio overlooking the fields at his home in Much Hadham that Henry Moore first became aware of the sheep grazing there. He began to draw them and, as he sketched, he explored what they were really like - the way they moved, the shape of their bodies under the fleece. He draw the sheep again that summer after they were shorn, when he could see the shapes of the bodies which had been covered by wool.Solid in form, sudden and vigourous in movement, Henry Moore's sheep are created through a network of swirling and zigzagging lines in the rapid and sensitive medium of ballpoint pen.

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2005-09-22T22:46:00.002+02:00

Now that we are entering the autumn season, summer is giving a few weeks of sunny days as an 'encore'. In the centre of Amsterdam people are on cafe terraces enjoying the last rays of sun and realizing that soon autumn storms will knock on our windows and that we have pass through the dark and cold tunnel of winter These days the sunlight is low and at the end of the day the city is in a golden glow. In this light everything looks like being part of a big painting.

Unfortunately I was too busy to paint outside. I made a series of sketches of a circus girl doing hoola hoop dancing. a dance developed in Hawai in 1959. It is fun to watch and to draw. She is a born model. Also she seems to be born too late. She would fit better in the Moulin Rouge at the 'fin de siecle" when Toulouse de Lautrec was there. Now she has left to Berlin where there are more opportunities for this kind of performances.

My friend Marion is coming back from the USA and will bring a special device which i asked her to take. A "tube wringer", so that you can squeeze the last bits of paint of old tubes

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2005-09-07T23:43:00.000+02:00

My friend will come from Bali, Indonesia to visit Amsterdam. I met him at a landscape painting course in France where i was teaching. For 25 years he was a missionary in Irian Jaya, but now he is retired, married and converted to art. He is painting about his experiences with the papoeas and the daily life in Bali. see: http://homepage.mac.com/vriesdina/PhotoAlbum2.html

I am planning to go with him to the exhibition 'Een Indische Israels' in Museum Mesdag: about the dutch impressionist Isaac Israels in Indonesie. this is one of my favourite portraits by my favourite painter: Mangkoenagoro VII, 1922

to be continued

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2005-09-02T22:43:00.000+02:00

It is hard to believe that most of New Orleans has been flooded now after the hurricane Katrina hit this city and that so many of its inhabitans are in deep misery. I am impressed by tv- footage showing black people at a refugee center. People who lost everything singing the negro spiritual Glory Glory hallelujah: "All my troubles will be over. When I lay my burden down All my troubles will be over When I lay my burden down Lord, I'm feeling so much better Since I lay my burden down Lord. " Needless to say that is was sung with lots of emotion.

It is hard to imagine that this birthplace of jazz and blues is under water now. The New York Times is headlining: Do You Know What It Means to Lose New Orleans? The capital of music is silenced. I have been a long time fan of New Orleans music: the jazz of Louis Amstrong, the funky rhythm of Neville Brothers, the piano playing of professor Longhair and Dr John, the brass sound of Dirty Dozen Brass Band, etc. and I wonder: what is happening to the musicians? It is seems that the legendary Fats Domino who was missed is found now, but Charles Neville is still searching for his three daughters. On internet there is a list of musicians who survived the hurricane: http://www.wwoz.org/#music .Wynton Marsalis will organize a Hurrican Relief Concert Higher Ground".

One of my favourite "Nw awlins" cds is Funeral for a friend. by Dirty Dozen Brass Band. it is intense brass music they use to play at funerals . it is dedicated to one of the band's founders, the late Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen, but now it can be dedicated to the city of New Orleans
Another song comes to my mind: Louisiana 1927 composed by Randy Newman who spended his youth in New Orleans:
"The river rose all day. The river rose all night. Some people got lost in the flood. Some people got away alright. The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines. Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline
Louisiana, Louisiana. They're tryin' to wash us away. They're tryin' to wash us away..."
Another song by Bob Dylan High water (for Charley Patton) deals with the same flood:
"High water risin', the shacks are slidin' down. Folks lose their possessions - folks are leaving town"

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2005-08-28T23:44:00.000+02:00

On a cold evening in March i saw huge fire near the Rijksmuseum. black smoke against a purple grey sky. The fire started in a constructing pit . It was frightening to see that fire was so close to our temple of art with all the treasures of painting. The fire brigade needed fifty of its men to stop the fire. Eight of them ended up in hospital.

Now that i am asked to join an exhibition about the construction pits in Amsterdam "Graafwerk" I am making a pastel of this event. Working mostly from direct observation it is challenge to do it from my memory. I could recall the fire, the smoke sky and how the fire lighted the museum facade, but it was hard to draw a complicated architecture like the Rijksmuseum from visual memory. Also using photographs of this building did not work out for me.

So I took my bike to the museum to make sketches on the spot and afterwards i went to the Museumplein where Uitmarkt the annual cultural market took place. There i attended a recital of Ties Mellema a highly talented saxophone player who I know well. At the stand of the Rembrandt house i was lucky to get a free poster of my favourite Moses Ter Borch sketch (see my post of August 10th). Back home, the poster turned out to be super sized: it was bigger than my carpet, bigger than the door. Where I could hang it? Finally i covered the wall of my basement with it. Also in museums the best art is often stored in the basements.

The painter who was a master in depicting fire was definitely Turner (see also my post of August 15th) . Like no other artist he could paint fire on ships reflecting in the sea. He was witness of the famous fire of the House of Parliament.

to be continued

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2005-08-27T22:16:00.003+02:00

In spite of their age the Blind Boys of Alabama at a creative peak now. The group formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939. Three of the founding members Clarence Fountain, Jimmy Carter and George Scott are still alive and joined by more recent arrivals. They are highly productive in the recent years. I just purchased their latest cd Live at the Apollo hall which is the follow-up of There will be a light. This cd has a nice cover with a Chagall- like ink drawing made by one of the band members. Both are collaborations with a younger soul singer Ben Harper. His high sweet voice contrasts well with the harmonies from the deep and raw throats of these gospel dynasours.
The cd is born out of an initial studio jam session, all sitting in half a circle while Harper is playing slide guitar on his lap. Ben is steering at the helm while the Boys provide a powerful vocal motor. The live cd is recorded in the famous Apollo Hall in Harlem, NYC.

I saw the Blind Boys twice; in Paradiso and at the North Sea Jazz Festival. And I am happy that I could make some sketches amidst a wild clapping and dancing audience. I also saw a concert of the Blind Boys of Mississippi their collegues of another blind institute.

2005-08-27T18:59:00.000+02:00

The next evening Gabi gave a concert in a church together with an ensemble from Jerusalem.
He played a solo piece by Ligeti and by Ben Haim in a virtuoso style. And also he joined the ensemble in the Brahms sextet which was amazingly beautiful.

The concert was sponsored by a bank. The first four rows of the hall were reserved for their relations. Often VIPS feel too important to show up, but they all came. The atmosphere was elite. John Lennon would say that they could rattle their jewels instead of applaud. At first i felt embarrassed to be with my dirty hands and art materials in company of these millionaires. However they reacted very positively on my drawings. I found a strategic point to draw at the side, on a church bench sandwiched between two elderly ladies. One of them dusted off some of my eraser crumbs from her dress. After the concert I ran away, not because i did not enjoy but too afraid to miss the last bus.

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2005-08-22T23:49:00.000+02:00

I met him backstage in the Concertgebouw: the young Israeli cellist Gabi Lipkind. He was still sweating from the recital and my hands were black from the drawing. I showed him the sketches wich I just made inspired by his passionate music. He was very excited about my work and said 'Let's keep in touch'. Years later my drawing was on the cover of his cd 'cello miniatures and folkores". Now he was playing at a classical music festival and he invited me to come to attend the rehearsals.

There I met the Meritis Ensemble ('Meritis' is the nickname of Schubert) from Germany who were in Holland to follow masterclasse. They came from Mannheim which happens to be my birthplace. This young talented people were making a webstie to promote their ensemble. I was asked to make some graphic work for this site. They were very kind to me, but I was not sure if i could fullfill their high expectatons after Gabi's recommendations. In a small sweaty room I attented their rehearsals of Bartok third string quartet. We were both working hard, both struggling with our occupations. The music was not easy to play (nor to listen to) and also It was hard to get a quartet well on paper. Four is not a good number. So a trio would be better for drawing. The problem with rehearsals is that musicians stop from time to time to discuss the playing, which takes me out of my ' trance' of drawing. Fortunately they did a long concert in the evening with music from Mozart and Dvorak and i made some inspired drawings. At the end of the evening we left as friends. I almost felt that i played with them as a fifth member of their ensemble.

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2005-08-15T21:16:00.003+02:00

I have been listened to a mp3 'Chimes of Freedom'. It is a bootleg live recording of Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead from 1987 . The lyrics describe a thunder storm:
"Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing ..."
"Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder ..."
Dylan is a guest artist at a Dead concert at Sullivan Stadium. Foxboro, Mass. At that time Dylan is recovering from a deep artistic crisis but this performance is an inspired one. The powerful electric guitars of Jerry Garcia and his bandmates suggest a sound of a thundering sky.With his beard and his baret Dylan looked like a stranded pirate. In a his poor nasal voice Dylan is singing rich poetry. Now that I have listened to it often, I realize that the song is so visual that it gives you an impression of a painting. And now I know why I like the song so much. Oil paintings of J.M.W. Turner come to my mind like this 'Slave Ship (Slavers Overthrowing the Dead and Dying - Typhon Coming) '. Turner is the best artist I know in creating space and atmospheric effects in his paintings.

There is a lot of rain and wind (not so much sun) in the songs of Bob Dylan. He often uses weather images to create the mood of the song. You can find phrases in his songs like 'tonight as i stand in the rain' to suggest loneliness. or 'the wind it was howlin' the snow was outrageous' referring to hard circumstances. Alan Robock, professor in meteorology, gives many examples of Dylan's weather imagery, see: http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/DylanBAMS.pdf

2005-08-13T11:17:00.001+02:00

In my early twenties I had private lessons in portraiture in Utrecht, in a studio at the foot of the Dom tower. At that time I was very much in to watercolour painting, but the teacher was a pastel artist. This dry material with all those colour boxes did not attract me, but I thought "Well, let's try it once". My result was much nicer as expected. And ever since that I got hooked on pastel. Pastel is great medium for portraits.

My friend Marion sent me a postcard from the J. Paul Getty Museum showing a pastel portrait by the Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702 -1789) of Maria Frederike van Reede-Athlone at Seven. It belongs to my favourite pastels. The portrait is middle-sized (22,5 x 18,5 inch) and drawn on vellum, a fine parchment. With his training as miniature painter Liotard, had a good eye for details. The drawing is detailed but not in a boring way: they are refined and sensitive.

Unlike many old paintings which depict children like small adults, the expression of the girl is very childish: she looks shy, dreamy and surprised. Liotard knows how to suggest the clear gaze, the small mouth and the roundness of the cheeks so well. The artist liked using pastels especially for portraits of children, because they could be manipulated with greater speed and ease, and had no odor. The pale Dutch complexion of the girl and her dirty blond hair is set against a neutral background of purple brownish grey and contrasts with the deep ultramarine blue of her clothes. With his pastel technique he manages to catch perfectly the texture of the velvet.

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2005-08-11T19:11:00.002+02:00

I went to a retrospective exhibition of Kees Verwey (1900-1995) at the Gemeente-museum. He was my hero in my youth. As a boy just starting to paint, I was fascinated by this old impressionistic painter who did not paint 'en plein air', but most of his life he locked himself in his studio. A devotee like a monk in a monastery. The studio was a dusty room full with pots, textiles, mirrors, withered flowers, leaves, thistles and an mysterious Egyptian sculpture. The demarcation of the studio space gave him the opportunity to enter the deeper layers of reality, Every object of the still life - insignificant as it may look- was for him an source of beauty. His still lives were never dead. He was painting the ever changing light touching the objects and the subsequently changing colours. He was constantly trying to catch these "colour moments".

Verwey was far from a friendly man. He had a difficult personality. But he was true to himselfm not willing to comprise himself. As a young man he was sent to prison for 10 months after refusing to wear an army uniform. Also as a painter he followed his own way, unaffected by contemporary art movements. It must have been a honor for him to have an exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum, the bastion of modern art in Holland. I saw this exhibition in 1978 and was deeply impressed by the collection of large canvasses of studio interiors painted in dark mysterious blue colors.

Verwey once said "I have made two mistakes in my life: living too long and painting too much". It would be unfair to confirm this, but truth is that in the quantity of his work the quality is not stable. Especially in his later years (in his eighties, nineties) there are a number of misses among the hits. In de Gemeentemuseum it is a bit painful to see this. It is like an aged singer who singing false in front of his audience of fans. Kees Verwey has continued painting till his 95th year and probably died with a palet in his hand.

One of my favourite paintings is his portrait of Coba Ritsema, a collegue painter of him. It has a rich variety of grey, green, blue and purple colours. I like to the constrast between the dark clothes and the emerald green of her shawl. Also, there are a lot of blue and greys in her skin tones. One can see Verweys masterpiece in the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem.

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2005-08-10T23:44:00.000+02:00

It feels special to live so close to the house of Rembrandt. And it is hard to imagine that the greatest painter in art history has lived around the corner. As I pass Remrandt house I can see a huge billboard on the facade of the building announcing an exhibition about the Ter Borch family. I estimate that the poster is five meters high. The original drawing is only 90 x 67 mm which is the size of a notebook sleeve with a shopping list. It is a 'self portrait with open mouth' by Moses ter Borch, the youngest son of the family. The fact that a small sketch can be enlarged so much and still holds it strength, proofs the quality of this art. It was drawn when Moses was only 15 years old. One can see a smiling face of a boy with round checks, turned-up nose and long curly hair under his small skullcap. The face might look rounder as he made use of a curved mirror. It is touching to see a portrait of a person that looks like a child but drawn with skills of a mature master. The drawing has been made on bluegrey paper with black chalk and a few white highlights. Moses surely was a promising talent and it was good that he started so young. At the age of 22 he was killed in a sea battle on the english coast

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2005-08-09T21:38:00.000+02:00

The new novel of J.M. Coetzee directly attracts your attention when visiting a bookstore. The book cover is amazingly beautiful and gives you the urge the buy this book, even when you have got no idea about the contents. I am sure more customers react like this. The cover shows a detail of a portrait painting by Thomas Cooper Gotch. The title sounds highly romantic: "The Exile: heavy is the price I have paid for love". Mr Cooper painted it in 1930 when he was in his seventies. He belonged the Pre-Raphaelites. Usually the work of this school are too sentimental, but this portrait is masterpiece. The painting shows a young lady with bobbed black hair and dressed in a red with a golden pattern. The same kind of red has been applied in the background and comes back in her lips and a bit in her blush on her cheeks. So there is hardly a difference between the color of the foreground and of the background. Also, it is quite an art to use so much red in a painting. Some academy teachers call red the enemy of a painting, but Cooper overcame this enemy. He applies a brownish red, a 'stone red' a color which never bores you. The earth color of venetian red mixed with a lot of poisonous cadmium red pigment is a lust for the eye. The dark of the hair and the stronge shade of the head compensates the intensity of the red. I still wonder what the dramatic title of the painting refers to. The love affair could be a subject for a new novel.

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2005-08-08T22:08:00.000+02:00

Saturday night Carla and I went to the open air theater of the Vondelpark. The music and dance event was called a 'Latin Summer breeze'. It was supposed to be summer but the wind was chilly, the rain had just stopped and people were wearing clothes which one usually wears in october. On the stage there was an exotic setting of banana leaves and coconuts, but it did not bring them in a tropical mood. The small audience was passive and hardly willing to dance on the salsa music. The peptalk of the presenter of the show did not help.

At the edge of the open space there were homeless people, some drinking bottles of wines at fast rate. They were wearing all kinds of hats, turbans and caps. There was no homeless who was hatless: they had a hat instead of a roof. It was a good opportunity for us to draw these people without embarrasing them. We did not care anymore what was happening on stage. After finishing my tea, which carla brought to me to get warm, I found out thatI could use the tea bag as a watercolour brush: to make a basic colour on the paper and to create shades. The drawing was drawn with a special pencil which solves in water (or should i say tea). I saw a Surinam father playing with his children lifting them in them air and playing games of balance with their bodies. I felt like drawing this father figure, as my my own dad was on my mind. I had to stop the' tea painting' process when finally the tea bag broke, and the crumbs were on the paper like tabacco from a broken cigarette. One of the homeless guys was sporting a huge summer hat which covered most of his face: one could only see a big beard. He reminded us of Claude Monet in his Giverny years and our sketches of him looked like we had personally met Monet at his waterlily pond.

At the end of the evening a new band began to play. The music was rocking and swinging. Salsa sparks lightned the crowd. Out of the blue the dance floor was full of experienced dancers. The Amsterdam cold was turned into a warm night in Rio de Janeiro. We felt we were in the middle of a salsa beach. We were particulary impressed by a couple who danced so natural and so rhythmical: a dark boy together with a girl dressed in red. They were born to dance If i could dance like this i would give up drawing. Seated on a tribune bench at a high point of view we could sketch this sea of dance motion. During this inspirational peak we were hardly knowing what we were doing and made more drawings in twenty minutes than during the hours before. My hands were black from the ink and other art materials. With black stains on my face i felt like a miner returning from work. I guess it was hard to see me that night.

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2005-08-04T19:36:00.000+02:00

Today i worked like a dog. I was asked to make a portrait of a Heidewachel dog. She is the race of a hunting dog with shades of grey, cream and brown in his fur. Of course this animal did not know to model. She constantly changed positions and moved through the space of the studio. As i followed the Heidewachel. art material was spreading all over the place. The mixed techniques of chalk and watercolor worked out very well for the fur. I still have work on the resemblance and personality of this animal. But how can one catch the soul of a dog? At the end of the session I felt dirty and tired like a beast.

After one hour Anna, a Russian girl came for modelling. She is an excellent model who lives around the corner. We did short poses which pushes me to work fast and directly. Currently I am a exploring a new techniques: mixed materials on large sheets (60x80) of Asian handmade bamboo paper. This first sketch was not so good: the dogs face was still on my mind. The last sketch succeeded well: a reclining pose painted in shades of purple. I will give her one of the drawings. The big framed sketch in black&white will be propably look nice on her wall newly painted in a deep color.

Anna mentioned to me a dance sketch by Picasso. I forgot about this. It is the one of the best dance drawing i have ever seen: a rough expressive drawing of a dance couple in pastel. I once saw in the window of a poster shop Art Unlimited. I was very impressed and i thought" this is what i want, this is what i am looking for". I have to find that image again either on internet, in a shop or better: the original one somewhere in an art collection.

After this hard working day, i will do some e-mailing and reading tonight. And I like to end with a quote by Groucho Marx: "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read"

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