On a spring green background, with light spots (sun?), a bunch of tulips spread out. The largest begins at the bottom left, the smallest ends at the bottom right, pointing out of the picture with its leaves like a finger. In between, the other tulips form a graceful arch. But of course, if you look closely, you can see that below the big red one, on the left, hangs another smaller pink one. The tulips begin where the vase ends. If you were to put this image above a vase, it is as if they were coming out of that vase.
The start of this work is a photograph of a bunch of red and pink tulips. I then used digital techniques to paint and shape it. I wanted to soften the hard image of the photo and spread the tulips nicely across the plane. In the end it became a dreamy tulip painting. Realistic, yet not quite. The twists and turns in the work make it look a bit like embroidery.
Since about 1974, I have been involved almost daily in photography, drawing (charcoal, graphite, conté, chalk, ink), painting, watercolour and/or collage making. In all these branches of visual work, I have tried a lot, found my own way, but.. Read more…