i search for the moon

In the beginning of this year i told you about new paintings i was working on. Here she is, a new goddess from the FERTILITY series. It was a bit of a struggle in the end, but i am so happy that i made her complete today.
Just like Caio i complain about the colours, because for real the blue is very bright, her hair and body has lots of colors, more than you can see on the screen. And i welcome all my new blogfriends......

Some confusion

An old drawing i edited. In this form you also can see it in my booklet.

Secret whispers

De granaatappel * The pomegranate

At the moment i am very restless and all i want to do is paint, paint paint! My most favourite time to paint isat night, 'cause then all is quiet, no disturbances. Just me, my painting and some music. But to paint at night isn't possible when you have children ánd work. So i have to find my way during the day. Also i am struggling to find myself again in my paintings. Insecurity blocks sometimes my creative energy. This insecurity i never feel about my drawings. I have to find my goals again, to find my way to express myself with paint and being happy with it. Sometimes i still find myself too neat, as i pointed out before. But i will get there where i wanna be. In time....

This painting i started to paint some years ago, but never had the time and the courage to finish it. But now i've started painting again and can't be stopped so to speak ;-), i finally hope to finish this painting in some days. Sorry for the bad reproduction, i'll ask a good friend of mine to make better pictures in the future. But i wanted to upload this already haha.
It's a large painting; heigth 110 cm and width 130 cm. There's much too see on this painting. I call it the pomegranate. Because of the many symbolic meanings it contains. In a nutshell: The Christian symbolic of the pomegranate is resurrection. In ancient times it stands for fertility. And in the old Greek myths it's all about Persephone and the underworld. I like this one the most by the way. But i mixed all those symbolic meanings together to create my own mythological language. It speaks about good or bad, guilt and innocence, love, hope, fears, blood. All my favourite topics. If you take a good look at my painting you will find many references.

So here are some details of the painting:
Click on the images for a larger view.

About nuns and angels

When i was in my puberty, romantic soul as i was, i dreamed about being a nun. I suppose this grain of seed was planted in my imagination during my childhood. An aunt of mine was a nun, living in a monastery. Once in awhile we visited her, and me and my two sisters wandered thru the old garden while the adults were drinking coffee and talking. This garden was so mysterious. Lots of hidden places where little statues of saints and angels silently dreamed about the heavens. We always were a bit afraid 'cause the nuns who also walked thru the garden were silent and strict. They had on black veils with huge white caps under it, so it was dificult to see their faces, except when you're standing right in front of them. We didn't dare to, we only dared to look at our aunt who was very sweet and somewhat naive.
The big garden was surrounded by an old wall. There was a gardenhouse where the nuns were drinking their tea and far in the back their was a cemetery. The last restplace for all the nuns who lived there. Ofcourse we find that very interesting but spooky. Sometimes we dared to wander till the cemetery and then we thought we could hear the angels singing. After 25 years my aunt decided to leave the monastery. In the late sixties that wasn't that easy. But she managed. When i was about 16 years old and we often visited our somewhat unwordly aunt i find out that the monastery wasn't that peaceful and serene place i thought it was. Struggles for power, gossip etc......

But even today i have a weak spot for the images of nuns and the almost forgotten world they used to live in. So during holidays i wanted to visit the abbey of Montivilliers. Gladly i could convince my three men that it was interesting 'cause they don't share my fascination haha. And then i read a folder about the holy Theresa and her story stuck in my mind. So in the evening when all was quiet, only the sound of the sea, i had to draw her. My image of the holy Theresa.

Devotion Ink & watercolor 10 x 14 cm

For now i leave you with an angelkiss. ;-)
Sweet greetz and take care!

Keep you from sleep

I'm so happy! Today i started three beginnings for new paintings. And i was very content with it. I always draw, but i hadn't paint for a long time. Somehow it didn't work. That frustrated me so much. I need to paint, it makes me happy. So that's why..... I photographed one unfinished painting and used it to edit it further more on the computer for my graphic work. And there she is, a new icon. 'Keep you from sleep' i call it, although i also came up with 'i don't wanne be a pretty baby'. But i can use them both i suppose. I will upload the (still unfinished) paintings soon also.

As my love saw this image he asked me if it was Michael jackson. :-S That bothered me. A lot haha. Perhaps he thought it because of the overkill of M.J. images, videos etc. lately. And i have to admit there is some resemblance perhaps. But no, it's not him, it's a restless woman who doesn't wanna be the pretty baby the media tries to force us to believe as the only truth about beauty.

Sunday july 5: I loved my new 'no-baby' icon a lot, but since the association of my hubby something changed. My love has cooled down. ; -) But hey that's life.
Please, tell me what you think of her, who keeps you from sleep?

Momo moon

Industry

Woman

Mary and child

This is me with my eldest son, whois almost 13 right now. First of all i make a collage and then i work on it on the computer, using the drawing program iUlead Photo Plus. I brood on how i will print this image. Silk-screening? I want a large dimension. But perhaps that will be ugly because you see to much the pixels? How can i solve that problem? Maybe i can paint this on canvas.... Well, if i have decided what to do, i will inform you. ;-)

Icons

Gods and Godesses, mythological creatures, symbols, mystic tools. The modern world around us is impregnated with 'The forgotten language' of mythology. In images and everyday speech.
Female icons: The holy virgin Mary is an archetype for solid feminity: mother ánd virgin. An object of worship. Mary Magdalene symbolizes another image: selfconsciousness, sexuality, the remorseful sinner. Eva stands for temptation.

In old masterpieces you can find lots of symbols with specific meanings. Nothing is painted just like that. In my series Icons i use the female archetypes and try to place them in our time. I choose photomanipulation to realize this. Collages made of photographs, then edited on the computer. I use Photoplus from Ulead. Most of the time, i noticed, photomanipulations today are smooth, like realistic pictures. I like to edit my photographs rough, more like if it's painted. Therefore i use an 'antique' drawingprogram. And i love to use dark, thick lines. I can't help it, i love it so much. A clear outline, a kind of fencing off. Looking like glass and lead.

God said no!