Dubbel portret Mathilde Willink
My inspiration and how I realize my paintings and drawings
People, all living things, the market, the things around you, a phrase from a story, those are my inspirations. That is how my mythological paintings and still lifes, or small gadgets, such as jewelery, are born.
Old masters like Gustav Klimt, the Pre-Raphaelites, Laurens Alma Tadema, but also the Dutch and Flemish masters, such as Rembrandt and Rubens, are my teachers.. I can spend hours watching their work and get lost in it. There is so much to learn from them. And do not forget the beautiful illustrations in books. Especially Arthur Rackham, Aubrey Beardsley and Edmund Dulac are my favorites. All masters in a magical realism .
I mainly work with live models. My mythological paintings are a combination of abstract and realism, my still lifes are realistic. When I work in big formats I love to start first in an orgy of colors. In this color chaos my figures arise, then calmness again returns. For my still lifes I use the death paint technique, also called Verdaccio.