REDISCOVERING BEAUTIFUL SHADES OF GREEN AND BLUE DURING CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS 2023
Once a year, I try to do a short walking holiday in the mountains. A backpack, good shoes, a pair of walking sticks and the phone on mute. Just a few days away from mostly useless possessions and the overloaded infrastructure. Addictive screens and the trusty painter's easel exchanged for breathtaking views; the comforts of home exchanged for panting and suffering on a slope.
Moving on foot in the mountains. For those who have done it know: it makes you reflect and confront mental and physical pains you have to deal with. With, from time to time, a reward: True beauty. Sometimes so beautiful that tears spring to my eyes.
But also a fleeting beauty. It is wise to always be on your guard and keep an eye on the weather. A lovely atmosphere can turn rigorously into a mercilessly erratic challenge. Fortunately, we have been spared that.
Below you can see the hike in light green, from Lenk im Simmental, over the ridge to Montana with two nights in a mountain hut. The first was more like a sweat lodge what I was lying in the ridge, with 9 unwashed hikers below me.... At the second, there was more ventilation but that did not eliminate the extremely faint smell from the basement of the restaurant the lodge room belonged to.
At the end of the first day (we were with a small group of friends, late summer 2023), we perched on a slope near the hut to enjoy the sunset. We were unexpectedly presented with a breathtaking scene. Rarely had we seen such a flaming horizon with the sun in it, a bright pit, hiding just behind a mountain. If I could, I would have written a symphony on it. In my case, a small painting became a response to the photo I tried to take there with a 2018 'vintage' iPhone.
It looks so unnatural you'll think I made it up. But this is only a fraction of visual power compared to what we really saw there.
Nonetheless, during the Christmas holidays 2023, I felt like going back through the limited quality of the photo to find the sense of my admiration for the shades of blues and greens we saw passing by in that short span of time. Not to mention, that depth, the perspective caused by the atmosphere, cut-offs and overlaps of the hills and mountain ridges.
The little work in oil paint is one of my first landscapes and I must say that I have a lot of fun making something like this. Not surprising really, because I can't get enough of staring at the mountains. The harmony of colours, the shapes, the massive behemoths of stone, the height... so fascinating.
It has awakened the 'en plein air' painting in me.
I am converting a small drawing box into a mini palette to which I can attach a painting panel. Lightweight so it can travel with me. A 'pochade' is called something like this. I'll probably write more about this in a future blog.
And should you want to buy the piece, let me know! I would be delighted and it will be sent to you 'ready to hang'.
Below some more details.
Heb je zelf interesse in een kunstwerk op maat of ken je iemand die geïnteresseerd zou kunnen zijn? Deel mijn werk of neem gerust direct telefonisch contact met me op.
Lees verder over mijn werkwijze en de kwaliteit die ik nastreef, door te klikken op een van de andere blogs hieronder.
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