Tuesday, August 30, 2011

sea, sky

sea, sky ~ frank waaldijk
sea, sky (own work, 2010, 120 x 122 cm, click on the image for an enlargement)

i would like to post some fairly recent landscapes, now that i've been freed from the mathematical project `natural topology' (see one-but-previous post). however, i just realized that images will be better findable on the web if i dedicate a post to each image separately.

this is more work, but it also gives opportunity to describe the paintings separately, which should be added benefit. i just have to overcome my usual reluctance to add words to a painting.

the above painting is characteristic of my continuing resolve to paint `as is'. i don't know why a painting works or not, i just know when it does. and i know that by allowing my subconscious intuition free rein, eventually a painting will start to work. even though this may be a laborious and time-consuming process.

i think that i'm in the process of reducing some aspects of landscapes to their essence. this is probably an inevitable development, and i'm looking forward to start a new painting. each time it surprises me how strongly paint can speak, even when reduced to simple forms and strokes.

stolen drawing (art theft 1)

man (stolen drawing), frank waaldijk
man (own work, 1985-2005, 40 x 60 cm (approx.), click on the image for an enlargement)

the above drawing (of which i have only a poor photograph, and which has been slightly altered since) was stolen from the corridor in my studio building, last june. by someone with a key, even, which makes it all the more painful. i have since removed my paitings and drawings from the corridor.

obviously someone thought the drawing beautiful enough to steal. but for me it is a unique work, which i created primarily in art school (art academy utrecht) and which i later retouched and slightly modified for more effect. it was not for sale, because it is a dear example of how i started out as an artist.

i cannot put into words how cowardly and callous i find this theft. perhaps i will write some more posts on art theft in general.