Blog

In this blog I share with you what inspires me, my passions, struggles and lessons learned, works in progress and my finished paintings.

• Cistus Ladanifer painting24/06/2021
  Each Spring, the Cistus Ladanifer (rockrose, gumrose, labdanum) takes over the landscape of the Algarve with abundant white flowers. It is a rather invasive plant which overgrows all the abandoned farmland. But in Spring you forgive this plant that bad habit. It is so beautiful to see them in the morning sun, opening their flowers […]
• Riders on the storm in a painting16/04/2021
  A heavy thunderstorm in November that kept me awake for a night, inspired me to paint these 2 paintings. They belong together (diptych) and are for sale. It reminded me of the Doors song, “Riders on the Storm” (June 1971). Although Morrison must have given it a more existential meaning than the one I give […]
• Lady with turban 2 (painting process)11/03/2021
  It’s a long time ago that I wrote about my painting process. This time I wanted to give attention to the highlights and darks in a painting. A good amount of highlights and darks can give a dramatic effect on a painting. The old masters and especially Caravaggio, often used this technique to create more […]
• Inner thoughts, portrait painting12/05/2020
  Today a total different painting than Floripes was. It was already quite a time ago that I painted a portrait. I started on an old painting that I didn’t want to keep. I putted a few colours over it and then a blueish kind of grey with also a pinch of yellow in it. Then […]
• Floripes, legend of Olhão finally painted06/05/2020
  In the Algarve there are a lot of legends. Most of them from the time of the Moorish occupation. One legend is still alive: Floripes, legend of Olhão.  Floripes was a beautiful Moorish woman who was left behind  when the Moorish were expelled  from the Algarve. Also her fiance fled away without taking her with […]