Artist's Statement

Why do I paint?

It seems that I have been painting, drawing, cartooning or sketching all my life. My children grew up with the smell of turpentine in our house and they considered it quite natural. Their visiting friends did not.

So why do I paint? I believe that a degree of creativity is inherent in all of us; artists just happen to be lucky that their form of creativity is socially acceptable. Creative accountants usually end up in jail. Painting is a glorious obsession. More than a few days away from my easel and I’ll become tetchy, irritable and frustrated. While I can speak and write reasonably well, to paint a picture takes communication to a different level.

So why do I paint?

I love it.

How do I paint?

My work is deliberate rather than impulsive; this is both by choice and by temperament.

The conventional medical training I had predisposed me towards an organised scientific way of looking at the world. It is not surprising, therefore, that my methods lean towards the traditional Old Master techniques of sound drawing, monochrome underpainting and several layers of transparent glazes with opaque over- paintings.
Over the years I have experimented with many different mediums, starting with just linseed oil, which later I combined with a mixture of varnish and turps, one third of each. This still the simplest and safest medium a traditional painter could use. About 10 years ago I discovered Maroger medium which until recently was my standard medium. Unfortunately it has become too expensive and cumbersome to import it from the USA and I switched to Liquin gel, which works for me equally well.

The longer I paint the more I am convinced that the role mediums play in a painter’s technique is over emphasized.
This does not apply to brushes. I love brushes, the more the merrier, particularly the fine sables I can’t really afford, but can’t do without. I prefer boards to canvas, but I am not fanatical either way.

What do I paint?

As I work slowly my subject has to interest me sufficiently to maintain the necessary keenness for several weeks. Even so I work on several paintings simultaneously, preferably in different genres. A landscape, a still life, a portrait and an urban landscape with figures are a good combination.

My thoughts on art, the selling of pictures and my three Dutch heroes…

I am a professional amateur artist, and this is not a contradiction of terms.
A professional artist must have talent, attitude, integrity, output, recognisable quality, but above all he must sell his works. Lots and lots of it if he wants to make a decent living.

Well, --- I think I have some talent, a good professional attitude and integrity and people tell me they can recognise my pictures from miles. As to sales… I do have a few dedicated collectors (alas, not too many) and most of my family, friends and students have already got, bought or received as gifts some of my works.

I am not a millionaire and not likely to become one.

I am a professional amateur artist.

Vincent van Gogh is my first Dutch hero. He was a genius and we all know of his sales record during his lifetime, but wow…look at him now. There is hope for all of us even if we have to die first.

Jan Vermeer, my second, had a large family and his output was less than forty authentic paintings in his lifetime. He earned his living (as much as we can ascertain) as an innkeeper and art dealer. It took a couple of centuries before his genius was recognised. Heck--- I think he was the ultimate professional amateur!

As to Rembrandt? Early in his career he had a lot of success and enjoyed it to the fullest until the money ran out. Then he went nearly bankrupt and died a poor man. Is there a message here?

My three Dutch heroes taught me many things, among them that selling pictures is good, but it is not the only important thing for an artist.