I chose to reproduce a work of my grandfather as an attempt to understand his choice of colours, but also as a means to explore his expressionistic handwriting.
The series of paintings he made displaying a park in The Hague (NL) called Zorgvliet was always inspiring to me. Some of these works are made with oil while others use ink & aquarelle. For my exercise I chose a Zorgvliet oil painting from 1953.
I originally planned to use oil as well. However, as I had been in the process of making ink & aquarelle portraits for a couple of months, I sketched the Zorgvliet with a few lines on a piece of paper and filled in the shapes with watercolours. This wasn't meant as a serious attempt, and that might explain why it went relatively smoothly, but in the end, the result was very encouraging.
The next day I painted the same motive, but this time using my own style and handwriting.
Ronald Theodoor Lindgreen, 1953
Ronald Aleksander Lindgreen, 2017
While recreating my grandfather's work, I learned that he had designed an outstanding composition, something I hadn't even paid attention to at first. This was a revelation, and I not only understood why he had chosen his colours, but also, quite remarkably, I found that it allowed for experimenting with other colours. Soon after, I started to make more aquarelles based on this work.
This gradually inspired me to try new things, and it quickly became part of my creative routine to play with lines & shapes, to create new compositions, as well as to experiment with colours.
What had started as an exercise to learn from my grandfather's artistic process resulted in a new direction in my development as an artist, because before that, I had never thought that I would ever use watercolours, let alone paint landscapes.
Sunflowerfield, 2018
See also the page Regalerija with the Zorgvliet created on a carpet.
Website of my grandfather where you can see more Zorgvliet's & other paintings: www.lindgreen.eu
The series of paintings he made displaying a park in The Hague (NL) called Zorgvliet was always inspiring to me. Some of these works are made with oil while others use ink & aquarelle. For my exercise I chose a Zorgvliet oil painting from 1953.
I originally planned to use oil as well. However, as I had been in the process of making ink & aquarelle portraits for a couple of months, I sketched the Zorgvliet with a few lines on a piece of paper and filled in the shapes with watercolours. This wasn't meant as a serious attempt, and that might explain why it went relatively smoothly, but in the end, the result was very encouraging.
The next day I painted the same motive, but this time using my own style and handwriting.
Ronald Theodoor Lindgreen, 1953
Ronald Aleksander Lindgreen, 2017
While recreating my grandfather's work, I learned that he had designed an outstanding composition, something I hadn't even paid attention to at first. This was a revelation, and I not only understood why he had chosen his colours, but also, quite remarkably, I found that it allowed for experimenting with other colours. Soon after, I started to make more aquarelles based on this work.
This gradually inspired me to try new things, and it quickly became part of my creative routine to play with lines & shapes, to create new compositions, as well as to experiment with colours.
What had started as an exercise to learn from my grandfather's artistic process resulted in a new direction in my development as an artist, because before that, I had never thought that I would ever use watercolours, let alone paint landscapes.
See also the page Regalerija with the Zorgvliet created on a carpet.
Website of my grandfather where you can see more Zorgvliet's & other paintings: www.lindgreen.eu
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