A Blog Full of Birds: Early Work with Birds, 1981-1991

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.