“Guilty pleasures”, one of a series of sketches in Amsterdam. I often finish them in my studio, but try to keep the random overall impression as much as possible. The methods to stimulate your creativity and personal style are actually childishly simple. One of them is, in the words of Frank Webb: “look intently at your subject, then close your eyes. What you see with your mind’s eye, you then paint, without looking at the subject”. ( a still more simple method that I have been using all my life, is BLIND CONTOUR DRAWING. That’s for next time, if you’re interested).
“Traptreden bij vuurtoren Urk”. Nog een guilty pleasure, ik schaam me dood. Misschien als alibi dat het het hier een opdracht betreft. Nog een geluk dat het in m’n atelier lekker koel is vandaag. Een paar uur later was ie ingelijst. Niet dat snel altijd goed is, maar ik hoor dat soort opmerkingen vaak. Ik wil me vandaag eens conformeren aan…, dat met die puntjes had ik beter niet kunnen zeggen, sorry . Ik heb er overigens wel met veel plezier aan gewerkt, ook omdat ik me kon uitleven aan de witte accenten aan het eind van de sessie. Ik ben hierin niet de enige , ontdekte ik laatst. Een bekwaam Engels aquarellist, z’n naam ben ik even kwijt, grijpt aan het eind ook altijd gretig naar de tube witte gouache, net als ik deze keer, zichtbaar onder het adagium: “schilderen is een plezierig makkie”. Iedereen kan het leren. Ook jij. Zelfs jij. O ja, nog even voor de volledigheid: kobaltblauw, Engels rood, oker en witte gouache natuurlijk, dat heeft veel werk van de ondergang gered.
“Stairs at the Urk Lighthouse.” Another guilty pleasure, I’m mortified. Perhaps it’s an alibi that this is a commission. Luckily, it’s nice and cool in my studio today. A few hours later, it was framed. Not that quick is always good, but I hear those kinds of comments often. Today, I want to conform to… I shouldn’t have said that about the dots, sorry. Incidentally, I really enjoyed working on it, also because I could really enjoy the white accents at the end of the session. I’m not the only one in this, I recently discovered. A skilled English watercolorist—I’ve forgotten his name—always eagerly reaches for the tube of white gouache at the end, just like me this time, visibly under the adage: “Painting is a pleasant breeze.” Anyone can learn it. Even you. Even you. Oh yes, just for the sake of completeness: cobalt blue, English red, ochre and white gouache of course, that saved a lot of work from destruction.
PARTY IN THE CITY. You want to capture the exuberant atmosphere well and yet not deliver a messy, chaotic work piece. My approach is often this. As a basis an underpainting in a few large abstract shapes, one in a warm the other in a cool color. The amount of details doesn’t really matter, as long as you concentrate them in and around the focal area. This gives the rest of the image plane the chance to serve as a contrasting resting point. I may have exaggerated the details a bit, to make my point clear. From now on till end of june some works are available.
Leaving out the tops of the buildings in the background would have saved me some work. Still a nice picture, right? From now on till end of june some works are available. Feel free to contact. keescita.van.aalst@gmail.com
…….I prefer to make such a quick sketch from the wrist. Combined with the magic of suggestion, guessing the true meaning, is for me the pinnacle of freedom in drawing and painting. Here reality and abstraction enter into a wonderful union………….What is that “reality”actually? According to Heraclites a moving process – panta rhei- like a kaleidocope. Socrates also made an attempt with his allegory of the Cave, which was recorded by Plato in his “Republic”. In short, every individual experiences the world differently, because of his genes, upbringing and experiences. Nature and nurture. Hence the differences in taste. One admires Rodin, the other is crazy about the garden gnome……………. Read at a chalet in Switzerland: Einer acht’s, der Ander veracht’s, was macht’s
