A Blog Full of Birds: juni 2013

zondag 23 juni 2013

Early Work with Birds,1991-1992 - Part 2

Serie of 3 linocuts for an exhibition in Galeria Arte & Fato

(after a trip to the Netherlands), 1991.

Linocut, 1991

Invitation for an exhibition in the Cultural Center in Porto Alegre

(Casa de Cultura Mario Quintana), linocut 1992.

For this exhibition I made a serie of linocuts about interior/exterior.

Linocut, 1992

Licocut, 1992

Katalin (dog of mijn mother) in the sun with my succulent and cacti, 1983.

I don't know why but I love these plants. Here is my collection in 1991.

See also my blog about cacti.

I used my cacti and succulents as models for this linocut, 1992.

Linocut, 1992

Watercolor 1992: influenced by the models of Dutch tiles with my own ideas

(rice fields in the village where I lived, birds from the books of my parents).

Watercolor, 1992.

Linocut made for an invitation for the choir of the Museum of Art (Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul). Via Crucis: here is the conclusion.

Watercolor, 1992

Linocut for a calender cover fot the Museum of Art in Porto Alegre (Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul). Luiza Coutinho, Maril Rodrigues, Wilson Cavalcante and Glaé Macalós made the engravings for the months of 1993. The museum building has four towers. The engraving atelier was situaded in one of these towers. When I worked at the museum I go to the atelier to talk with other artists. In this atelier is the idea to made a calender born.

Three watercolors for an auction to benefit the Museum of Art in Porto Alegre
(Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul).
The frame with tiles are from the three floor tiled of the museum.
There were always birds around the towers.

One of the towers of the museum, watercolor 1992.

Another tower of the museum, watercolor 1992.

Painting for an Outdoor in Porto Alegre, on the occasion of the year of the environment.

Commissioned by the Municipality of Porto Alegre.

My Dutch parents immigrated to Brazil in 1953. I was born in Porto Alegre, a large city with skycrapers and slums. Unfortunately I have not seen so much of nature in Brazil. We lived on the 23rd floor of a skyscraper, see the photo below) .

Many birds from my early work are birds from foreign books that my parents had at home. One of these books was a French book of Konrad Lorenz, a book about the study of his geese. I found this book fascinating by the beautiful pictures and by the idea of studying and experience geese so close.

I did not really feel at home in Brazil, so I moved to the Netherlands in July 1992. It was voor me a big step in my life, I had to start all over again and alone. But I'm glad I took this step because I was no more a fish out of water.

My father made these two photos of Porto Alegre.

zondag 9 juni 2013

Early Work with Birds, 1981-1991 - Part I

Birds inhabit my work for about 30 years. I thought it was fun to show a few pictures of my early work with birds. I have the pictures scanned but not all the photos were good enough for a good scan. But I have only these pictures.

About 1981 I could better work with my hands, so I made a few wooden reliefs and worked with clay. Formerly I could not draw and paint. Received no lessons at school; I was just very handy and had a lot of imagination. It took years of practice until I finally could draw a little.

1981, wooden relief

1981, ceramic

In 1981 I painted two turtlenecks. One is a Rhino with a bird.

Unfortunately I could not find a picture of the other turtleneck with flamingos, only a detail.

1992, ceramic oven (a gift from my parents)

1982, small ceramics

1882, painted stones

In 1988 I have taken a course on linocut. I had a very good teacher: Maria Conceição Menegassi (1954-1997). She taught me the technique very well but left me free on the subject of my work and the way of portraying something. At that time abstract was in fashion. I always felt attracted to nature so my work was figurative. It's fine if you're free to do what you most want to do. If I had to follow the rules or fashions than I might have needed more time to find my own way.

1988, woodcut

1988, study with pen and inkt for woodcut (see below)

1988, woodcut

1989, woodcut (Venbergse watermolen, Valkenswaard)

1989, woodcut

It was difficult to make woodcuts and accidentally I made many mistakes. That's why I swapped for linocut.

1989, linocut

1990, study with pen and inkt

1990, linocut (Picada Café)

1990, licocut (Picada Café)

Chang Bao Kee taught in a watercolor course not to make a sketch with pencil but just directly to draw or paint on the paper. It took some time to getting used to but it was a good advice.

1990, study with watercolor

1990, watercolor with pen and inkt

1990, watercolor (Loneliness)

1990, watercolor

1990, study for a calender

1990, linocut

1991, linocut (Circus)

1991, linocut