Technique

Part of a new painting which is under construction.

A lot of people ask me how I am able to create the textures in my paintings.

My paintings are made with paint on canvas. Nothing more, nothing less. No acrylic gel medium, no sand, no glue, no textile, nothing of any other kind of 'aid'. I build my paintings, sculpt them using palette knifes, brushes and my fingers. That's why there is so much paint on my pants, and that's how the reliëf rises on the canvas.

Before I start to paint, I've got to free my mind. If I don't succeed in that, the painting will not be good. It's not always easy to free your mind when you're tight up with the issues that confront us on a daily basis, especially when they are more serious and numerous than average. In that case it takes a lot of concentration to 'step up' but when I succeed it's a perfect get-away from daily life. The result of my paintings, though not figurative, always is autobiographic. But everybody can 'read' them using their own interpretation.