How to start a new painting

How to start a new painting?

The other day a friend visited me to have a talk and some demonstrations for painting. My friend loves art and wants to give it a try for herself. She has seen a lot and has a taste for art. But she has nearly no experience with using a brush. One of her questions was: How do you start a new panting?
Actually a good question and a difficult answer.

How to jump on a white canvas?

Starting a new painting is always somehow exiting – at least for me. I never know where this journey will lead me to – and seldom I make plans which I then will not follow. In the end my start is always fed by the impulse of the moment. The most I have in mind is a color direction. Maybe there is even a theme deep back in my more unconscious brain.

There are many ways to start. I paint

Continue reading “How to start a new painting”

From my studio to the world

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How about enhancing your skills while being at home?

Its a while since my last post, so I just wanted to reach out to you and say HELLO! Hopefully I can add some ideas for your stay at home.

We are all in a never expected extreme situation since my last post. Most of you experience the situation of having very or completely restricted access to social contacts and manage life under very different circumstances.

In Spain we are in complete house arrest which was just extended to 12th of April and it is not very unlikely that the lock down may be extended even longer. We can only leave our house for buying food or medicine, going to the doctor or working (when permitted) Even the communal gardens are off limits. It’s the first time I wish I had a dog! Then I could go for a short walk with the dog – though just for the absolutely necessary!

View from my window

May be I can help a bit to make the best of your time?

If you aren’t busy in entertaining children staying at home ( which will keep you very busy) but with grown up family or all alone, wouldn’t it be a chance to have all that time at hand to try something new?

If you are with younger children, maybe this will be fun?

Probably you have by now found a lot of ideas in the internet how to entertain your children during long days at home. What I want to share this with you a real pieces of art, designed by my fellow artist Lieuwke Loth! I will make available kids colourings. During the Art Walk Cómpeta which was organized by Lieuwke Loth, these colourings were given to the school children of the village of Cómpeta. Maybe you would like to colour one too? I tell you, it is meditative! If you are interested, I will make them available through my next newsletter so that you can print them out and maybe the whole family has fun!

Don’t receive my newsletter yet? Join the list at the end of this post!

And for you ? How about learning something new?

From friends I hear they cleared out their wardrobe, painted the apartment, cleaned the kitchen in depth, took perfect care for their garden and more. They are creating a splendid home to stay in.

I choose to focus on the pleasant things of life and boost my immun system.

  • I decided to experiment with painting – do things, I normally don’t do. I work on paper, I try new styles, I copy other artists, I experiment – aim to have great fun and no achievements. 
  • I sleep long
  •  Read and play 
  • try some new recipes
  • and use intensely internet and social media to connect with like minded people
  • I am learning lots of things….

What really excited me in the last years are fantastic internet workshops. I would love to share my experiences with you!

I discovered the huge and fascinating world of knowledge for artists in the internet. Its literary at your finger tips and at home! There are so many inspirational classes – inspiration is key for artists! Of course it needs some effort to find the right ones that are worth your money or time!
I visited art workshops in person and I enjoyed the direct contact with teacher and other students. But as we are travelling a lot, it was always difficult to find the right workshop at the right time. Do you know this problem? The internet offers the solution! So now I am hooked on internet courses.

Maybe I can help you with your choice?

There are offered many workshops for free just now ( and of course a lot you have to pay for). You will find ongoing programs that focus on the art, the art business or on one aspect of the art making. I have participated in real inspiring workshops that lasted three weeks or three months. I am really touched and excited about the community of artist I met in this kind of forum and about the immense support I have received from the teachers and the other students. Its real huge.

In my next newsletter I will tell you more about a series of free art workshops of a very experienced fellow artist of mine who is a painter and a printer. She will teach about oil and cold wax in her next presentation, but there is more to come. Stay tuned!

Take your time to evaluate what to do next with the help of a friend

You will as well find information about an art marketing class which I am attending. I really cherish this course and it has taught me a lot. They are just about to release a new 10 weeks program that will help artists reaching the online market. I will send out the newsletter this coming week – looking forward to meeting you there!

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Lost in Time

If you are interested in one of the art works just email me!

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The Art of Design! Saphira & Ventura Gallery, NYC, is up!

I am very excited: The show is up! And I am in! Till 20th of Februar you can see this in the gallery!

NEW YORK

Saphira & Ventura Gallery till 21th of February!

6 of my paintings 12“x12“ ( 30×30 cm) are sitting in this mid-town New York gallery and are finally on the stage! Here it is: 5th of February to 21th of February you can see my paintings in this lovely group show having their debut in the center of New York. Wish I were there! ( The planning to do it in January has been postponed).

Read about my first exciting visit in the New York Gallery Saphira & Ventura, where I arrived with a huge suitcase of paintings…..Click here!

And here you see some photos from the great opening!


If you are interested to be with the first to be informed about my new works, exhibitions, special offers for newsletter readers and my artists adventures, join my VIP email list here. Of course you can cancel it when ever you feel like it.

That’s up in January – Exhibitions Worldwide!!!

End of the year 2019 my schedule was still rather blank – only a few days into the new year it already gets a bit crowded with exhibitions!

NEW YORK

Saphira & Ventura Gallery 04th of February 2020

Date has been changed!!!! see below!

12 of my paintings 12“x12“ ( 30×30 cm) are sitting in this mid-town New York gallery and are waiting for their stage call! Here it is: 4th of February to 20th of February my paintings will have their New York debut in a group show – wish I were there! ( The planning to do it in January has been postponed). The gallery has not yet announced it in public – seem to be a secret still – so I will keep you posted!

Read about my first exciting visit in the New York Gallery Saphira & Ventura, where I arrived with a huge suitcase of paintings…..Click here!

COSTA DEL SOL

Las Lagunas, Mijas 24th of January 2020

More on the sunny side of the world the the never tired great art lover Raphael Fernandez Pacheco has organized a new exhibition in the beautiful exhibition room in Las Lagunas, Mijas. My artist fellow from Costa del Arte Collective , Sally Hirst and I will take part in this interesting group show of Spanish and International artists.

If you happen to be at the Costa del Sol, safe this date: 24th of January 2020. The exhibition is open till 10th of February. Inauguration 24th of January at 8 pm. You are very welcome!


Get a short impression from December 2018 exhibition in the beautiful rooms of the Casa Cultura, Las Lagunas, Mijas Costa


WORLDWIDE RELEASE. An experiment.

“THE DESERT TRIP PRINTS” Release date for Subscribers 17.01.2020, Public release 25.01.2020

The Internet offers incredible possibilities! 2019 was definitely my Internet-Work-Shop-Fan year! During one of these beautiful internet workshops – in this case “ The small art challenge” of Sergio Gomez, an artist and curator from Chicago I used my holidays in Palm Springs and the surrounding deserts to create a lovely digital series of my desert trip.

This in itself was an experiment. Finding a printer who is specialized in Fine Art Prints needed a lot of time, many trial and errors and test prints. This was another adventure. But that is done!!! Now I hold the prints in my hands, beautiful colors, wonderful paper, nice look and nice feel, printed by a very professional print shop. Offering my art worldwide with an online release now is the next experiment I am going to go for.

Special offer for my newsletter readers

A I have a special offer for my newsletter subscribers: a preview for some 4 days, to be the the first to see “The desert trip prints” and choose from this series of 11 prints, which will be published as a Limited Edition of 10 prints each painting, all hand signed and numbered by the artist. The release date for subscribers is 17th of January till the 20th of January 2020.

Saturday the 25th oh January the series will be released via my website, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn worldwide. This special offer will be available for two weeks.

If you are interested to be with the first to be informed about my new works, exhibitions and artists adventures, join my VIP email list here. Of course you can cancel it when ever you feel like it.

You want to sneak in some photos of my desert trip, that inspired me for this series? Click here!

And if you want to eat in Mijas….see my paintings there!

Paintings in Alboca Gastro, Mijas

Till end of March you will be able to enjoy “Dine and Vine” with view on my paintings in “Alboca Gastro” a charming small restaurant just near the large plaza of Mijas. Thanks to Rafael Fernandez Pacheco who is a great ambassador of the arts I have the opportunity to show some of my larger paintings to “the world”. As the restaurant will be closed from 20th of January to 4th February . My paintings will be to be seen through February and probably March too.

It’s Gallery time: Marbella now!

My paintings finding a place in a gallery!

Before we left for the United States I had the pleasure to bring some of my paintings to the Art Gallery van Gestel in Marbella. This gallery is situated at the famous Orange 🍊 Place in the beautiful old town of Marbella since 30 years. To get the pictures there, we had to carry them through half the old town, no chance to get there by car. Fortunately, paintings on stretched  are very light and the sun was shining (as almost always!). I am very happy to see that my treasures found such a nice place to be seen and purchased 😊😊😊!

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The gallery shows a lot of Spanish and international artists over two levels in one of this wonderful old Spanish houses. I feel very honored to be part of this collection!  Its worth a visit, I can tell!


Nicely enough we could help at once to place or hang my paintings and I could see how they add some joyful colors to the nice setting. If you happen to be in Marbella, don’t miss the Plaza de los Naranjos ( one of THE tourist magnets!) and visit the gallery, which is at one of the corners of this beautiful place!

👍❤️If you like my art and would like to be included in getting the latest news about new art works and exhibitions in which I am participating in, special offers, information about arty travels: sign in for my newsletter HERE or send me your email via messenger. You are very welcome.

Large Format

Large format / Formatos Grandes / Große Formate

Gemälde  100 cm und größer
Paintings 100 cm and bigger
Cuadros   100 cm y más

If you interested in one of the paintings, get in touch with me here !or use contact form at the end of this page.

Si está interesado en una de las pinturas, póngase en contacto conmigo aquí! O utilice el formulario de contacto al final de esta página.

Wenn Sie an einem Bild interessiert sind, nehmen Sie gerne mit mir Kontakt auf! Oder nutzten Sie das Kontaktformular am Ende dieser Seite.

“Woodland”
150×130 cm Acrylic on stretched Canvas, 2.800,00 €

IMG_7659(Edited) (2)

“Think big, dream in colour!” 160×140 cm, acrylic on stretched canvas, available, 2.980 €, ask your question here!

See the above painting in different rooms!

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“Dreaming about Greenland”  Acrylic on stretched canvas,  160×140 cm, 2.980 €. Ask your question here!

Narzissen im Botanischen Garten
Narzissen 140×100 cm, acrylic on stretched canvas, ready to hang , available, 1.800 €.

“Blue Secret” 100×80 cm, acrylic on canvas, 1.200 €, ready to hang, framed in a silver Nilson Frame

Starting 3rd of May to 24th of May: Mini Cuadros – small works – Kleine Arbeiten

Costa del Arte Collective showing small works in Almuñécar!

The Costa del Arte Collective is quite excited. We are going to have an exhibition in Almuñécar in May – in the Espacio Creativo of Annabel Keatley. The exhibition will be opened on the 3rd of May at 7 pm and can be visited until the 24th of May. So I spent quite some time concentrating on Mini Cuadros. I am pretty sure, that it will be a wonderful exhibition. I already had a sneak preview of some of the works to be seen of my artist colleagues Annabel Keatley, Anouk Slegers, Lieuwke Loth and Sally Hirst.

Exhibition in Espacio Creativo in Almuñécar in May 2019

Mini Art Workshops will accompany the exhibition of Mini Cuadros!

The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of exclusive workshops held by Annabel, limited to only three participants for each workshop!
I am rather tempted to take part, as Annabel works with with special techniques – as all of the members of Costa del Arte Collective do.

Take your chance to participate in a series of creative workshops. The workshops will be held in the mornings, from 10-12.30 pm with refreshments included.
The classes are designed to combine and connect with eachother, with a focus on enjoying the process of making work and learning new techniques. The workshops are as much for beginners as for experienced artists.

To get a more precise description of the Mini Cuadros go to Costa del Arte Collective

Information Mini Cuadros
Information Mini Cuadros – Workshops

Some of my Mini Cuadros you can see in Almuňécar

I was rather engaged to create some Mini Cuadros, with time sitting in my neck, as the Art Walk Cómpeta  was also in front of me very soon.

I have been working on the Greenland series as well, making it a collection of five, acrylic on paper. They will be framed with museum glas. Pretty to look at. If you like to see the exciting photos of our Greenland journey tap here.

My new color preferences are shown in this series – still no name for it. They are 20x20x4 cm on stretched canvas and bring some energy to the room. It seems, I am just in love with orange and a bit of violet.

 

 

Mini Cuadros – Small works – Kleine Arbeiten

Costa del Arte Collective showing small works in Almuñécar!

The Costa del Arte Collective is quite excited. We are going to have an exhibition in Almuñécar in May – in the Espacio Creativo of Annabel Keatley. The exhibition will be opened on the 3rd of May and can be visited until the 24th of May. So I spent quite some time concentrating on Mini Cuadros. I am pretty sure, that it will be a wonderful exhibition. I already had a sneak preview of some of the works to be seen of my artist colleagues Annabel Keatley, Anouk Slegers, Lieuwke Loth and Sally Hirst.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of exclusive workshops held by Annabel, limited to only three participants for each workshop!
I am rather tempted to take part, as Annabel works with with special techniques – as all of the members of Costa del Arte Collective do.

I was rather engaged to create some mini cuadros, with time sitting in my neck, as the Art Walk Cómpeta is just a week before, starting at the April, 20th. So everything has to be ready soon!

I have been working on the Greenland series as well, making it a collection of five, acrylic on paper. They will be framed with museum glas. Pretty to look at. If you like to see the exciting photos of our Greenland journey tap here.

My new color preferences are shown in this series – still no name for it. They are 20x20x4 cm on stretched canvas and bring some energy to the room. It seems, I am just in love with orange and a bit of violet.

Coming soon – more information soon!

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Trees , trees, trees…..Arboles….Bäume!!!

Para uso en espanol hay traductor de Google en mi pagina web

Lately I developed a great interest in trees. I am always fascinated by their aura, shapes and structure. We enjoy them on our walks in the country side but also from the terrace. The diversity of the Mediterranen plants and trees is impressing. Especially impressed I am by palm trees – they grow in the garden and in the wild, on the beach and in the parks, you find them from very small to tall, the Palm fronds towering high above our heads. So I lately started to paint some of them. Then I discovered, that there is already quite a collection….so I think, its an ongoing project that I share today with you!

Palm trees are fascinating me….Palmeras fascinantes..

Tapp to enlarge

 

 

 

More trees in the landscape….Más árboles en el paisaje

Tapp to enlarge

 

 

 

 

And woods are something wonderful! Bosques son maravillosos!

These is not an assembly of Mediterranean trees – actually they reflect a holiday at the Baltic sea. You can find them in the entrance hall of the Apart Hotel Kaiser Karl in Bonn.

 

 

 

If you want to save the trees and the sea: carry one with you for your shopping! Or may be you want to rest your head on art?  I discovered this website and as I like to play, see here my results. If you want a print of any of my art works, here is your chance!
See more here: Pixels.com

 

 

 

You have the chance to get an email, when ever I publish a post – just go to my homepage and insert your email. I am publishing a newsletter as well – so if you would like to join, fill in the formula. It will keep you informed about my life as an artist, about new works and about art events in which I am participating or which I liked! It would be a pleasure to welcome you!

 

 

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Wonder of transformation – from old to new!

Esta pagina tiene Google-Translate en la barra lateral

I had to reorganize my studio – space was needed, a disturbing problem with many artist studios. So this was my opportunity to undertake a serious inspection of my collection of paintings. Some made me smile, they are still dear old friends and it was a very warm reconnection. Some clearly didn’t  pass the check. I build a nice staple of “ready to be re-worked again”.

Reworking a painting is a tricky task. In the end it asks for a lot of boldness, courage and “letting go”. But paintings on this staple are not all boring but have some very nice parts.  So I am tempted to “save” these parts – against all experience that for me and my style of painting it is nearly impossible to create an authentic, lively and balanced abstract work while trying to save some parts. Working on an older painting of course keeps also some risk: You never know if you will manage to make it a better painting despite all your work…..so  the question, did I succeed?

As an abstract painter I work with many layers to create depth in a painting without constructing something like a perspective. So working on an older work is interesting as it always has in store already quite some layers and if I don’t whiten the whole painting the previous painting will speak through the new layers. Here I show you some of my re-worked paintings of the last months. Do you see the connection?

Tapp to enlarge.

 

“Metamorphosis” had already gone through some changes, but I was not too pleased with the result. So after some months I said “Good bye” to the Metamorphosis and it developed into a “Wonder Flower”. This one I did without trying to “save” parts, but elder parts very nicely fit with the newer parts.

Tapp to enlarge.

 

The “Vancouver service street” holds nice memories but it lost in the “survival of the best”. It has undergone a very bold change. You see the influence of the under laying layers? How do they influence the new composition?

Tapp to enlarge.

 

This one gave me  a hard time as I liked so many featured in it but never could sort out how to make it a complete painting. So I loved it and I hated it. I started this work in Tuscany, where I spend several summer painting. Definitely I was in love with the upper part. I fought to keep the red one, but it turned out to look like a big whale…so it had to go, so sorry dear red!   Here you see, which parts survived and which not.

Tapp to enlarge.

 

These is also a painting from my “Fluid Periode” which I looked at and I liked it but never felt it was finished. But as I liked the flow and the style and the colours , I didn’t want to destroy it, so I did only little changes, like deepening some darker parts, darken with a pink the very light part at the left and interrupt the light horizontal part by taking down a little bit the green. Very small differences that made a notable difference to me. Now it has become a harmonic painting for my taste. What do you think?

If you want to see more changes – look at these paintings in a room!

Tapp to enlarge!
 If you want to see more paintings in a room , tapp here!

If you want to see more paintings in a room, tapp here!

Newsletter

Time by time I am sending out a newsletter. I inform about new artworks, I have made, I give some insights into my studio work and information about exhibitions and artists friends, that I like. I would be happy to include you. So please leave your address, if you are interested. You can cancle the it any moment you want!

“….dónde estás, Salomón?” Exhibition in Coín till end of August

Don’t miss it! Coín has had a great cultural night,  „la Noche al Raso“ (night under the stars)! Still to admire is an exhibition in the Convento de Santa Maria de la Encarnacion in the middle of the charming white village. To be seen are paintings of Anouk Slegers , Gerrit Oppelland-Hampel (member of Costa del Arte Collective) and the art work of 11 more artists! Thanks to Rafael Fernandez Pacheco who set up this exhibition !

 

 

NEWSLETTER

I  inform regulary about my exhibitions and send a newsletter about 3 to 6 times a year to inform about my art events and art events of members of Costa del Arte Collective.
If you are interested to receive this newsletter,  please leave your email address and your name! The data I collect will only be used for the purpose described here. No data will be given to a third party.

Send me your newsletter/ Schicken Sie mir Ihren Newsletter/Envíame su boletín de noticias:

 

 

Self discipline-Selbstdisziplin-autodisciplina

The summer invites me to leave behind some routines in order to create room for new things. As I have some time, paintings are all gone to two upcoming exhibitions, I decided to abstain from my most loved colors blue and turquois and from licorice. I had fallen in love with yellow – the experiment is thrilling but a true exercise in selfdiscipline – to abstaine from my familiar way of working is a challange. With licorice I was not very successful.

Der Sommer lädt mich ein, Routinen und Ziele zu verlassen und so Raum für Neues zu schaffen. Da ich Zeit habe – die Gemälde sind schon alle unterwegs zu zwei neuen Ausstellungen – nahm ich mir vor Abstand zu nehmen von meinen Lieblingsfarben blau und türkis und von Lakritz. Ich hatte mich in Gelb verliebt – das Experiment ist spannend aber auch eine Übung in Selbstdisziplin! Mit der Lakritz war ich nicht so erfolgreich 🙁 .

El verano me invita a dejar algunas rutinas para crear espacio para cosas nuevas. Así que decidí abstenerme de mis colores más queridos azul y turquesa y de regaliz. Me enamoré del amarillo -el experimento es emocionante pero un verdadero ejercicio de autodisciplina- abstenerme de mi manera familiar de trabajar es un desafío. Con regaliz no tuve mucho éxito.:-)