MEDIUM oil on paper SIZE ~ 12 x 12 cm
I am very happy with this semi-abstract work. It is both quite figurative and abstract. It is the effect of letting muscle knowledge 'flow', combined with the effect of a certain medium, giving something back in return that I cannot not anticipate.
Muscle knowledge
If you paint a lot of portraits, you eventually get muscle knowledge.
As an artist, I know how a face is put together, which muscles are where and how they extend to the skull. And how to use that knowledge to portray a desired facial expression.
The amazing thing is that in time, your hand will also ‘know ‘this.
And then you can start playing with this almost automatic motor skill.
Playing
In other words, I can partly manipulate my hand, while at the same time it is going its own well-worn motor way. It is wonderful to create intuitively and emotionally in this amazing freedom.
This painting came about through that combination of disciplined study and intuitive freedom and 'just let it be'. Then not everything has to make sense (will be realistic) and you enter the semi abstract realm. And it is in that combination that this painting was created.
I am playing, as it were, with skill and intuition.
ORIGINAL DUTCH VERSION, WRITTEN BY Arjo de Vries
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