Some impressions of the upcoming Open Studio for next weekend. The work is larger in size than in my previous shows and most of it is painted in canvas. It is still all inspired by nature but becoming more and more abstract. The preparations are almost finished.

I am busy preparing to open the studio which Stefan so generously made available to me. Above is a foto colaage of some of the paintings shown. Most of them I did make or started during my artist in residence time in Sweden last autumn. Working on a larger scale was very liberating and I will probably continue with that. 

On Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 April between 14 and 18h. I will have an open studio in the center of Leuven Belgium.
Anyone interested is welcome to visit my workspace and see some of my latest work, and some work in progress. ​Send me a message and I will send you the adress and a description how to get here.

What I can share is the process of last year. During this year I switcht from working pre-dominantly with egg tempera on paper to working on canvas and including acrylic, oil pastels and oilpaint. It did offer me a new world of possibilities to explore. 

Sources of inspiration have been being in the forest, sensing the light around me and experiencing the alchemy of water and light. I can only translate that in abstract movements and patterns. The time I did spend in the forest coincided with a time of connecting in a dreamworld with the ancient civilisation of Lemuria where living in a harmonious unity with nature was still a given. 

During these open studio days my work will be for sale. Of every piece sold 50% will go to organisations working for reforestation, in Belgium and in tropical countries where the impact of reforestation on reducing global warming aswell as socioeconomic benefit is the biggest. 

Spring is coming into my works, plants sprouting, water pushing, alchemy of water and light. Experimental mixtures of techniques on canvas. The first and third are of size 50 x 60 and the second 40 x 50. The experimental stage makes that I haven't shared that much lately. 

I am still studying a lot as well and reflecting on healing, health, nature and my relation to her, dreams and reality and the place where I can function the best on a day to day base.

Trees are my best teachers in htis phase. 

The trees are calling me. From deep inside I feel a yearning to do something and bring treees and forests back. I did spend some time researching on the internet. Found very interesting organisations who work to realise that. The one I would like to support most (till I find even better ways of bringing trees and forests back) is www.weforest.org 
I decided to give half of every piece of my creative work which I can sell to this organisation till I find a more effective and active way to contribute. This organisation is focussing on reducing the impact of global warming by planting trees in tropical areas as the forest there has a big impact on the global situation. It happens to be also in countries which can use some economical support. So they employ women to take care of growing young trees, planting them and educating the community to protect them. This organisation also does a lot of scientifc research to support companies in reducing their ecological footprint. 

Insteda of travelling the world to find some unspoilt places of nature and regenerate myself there I can bring nature with me to every place I go.  And try to support trees, and wild nature whereve I am. I am sure it is of big value for this planet and all the living creatures on it. And the stronger and healthier nature becomes again the happier I am and the more I can feel at home.

If anyone reading this knows a way to bring trees and forests back in our immediate environment where they used to be, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Then I found this link on Facebook about the aliveness of water and how a Lakota woman did experience her relation with water. I do recognise that kind of connection with water. When I meditate close to the water everything is intensified. And water does communicate things to me too.
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Earth and water are the most dominant themes in my work.
​www.facebook.com/upliftconnect/videos/1162071853929794/?source=feed_text

Back in Belgium with all my art supplies at hand, space and good light. I very much enjoy going back to prevous project, giving old paintings a new life, with new knowledge and experience and new materials. The fact that it was already there and still felt unfinished gives me more freedom to play and experiment and just do what gives me joy.

Mixed media on canvas 50 x 70 cm.

A long time I have been holding myself back from painting the figures I see emerge in my work. Giving space to the viewer to project their own images. But now just working for myself , I find the freedom again to express the things I have seen. A lot of different experiences and memories come together in this painting. 

In Antwerpen Belgium, at the home of Dirk de Cock and on his initiative there was a very interesting mini exposition  this weekend. An interaction between the work of Ilse Pierard  www.ilsepierard.com and mine work. She calls her work: "An Ode to the cell" and it is all about bringing light. We met there for the first time and both felt a close connection in our source of inspiration altough the result is utterly different. 

This mini exposition was the background for an interesting meeting and exchange about the value of personally possesing an artwork and the possibility of exchanging it, bringing it beyond the personal in that way and out of the traditional 'art market thinking'. A very spontenous happening in the framework of Dirk 's project "Utopia"  and beautifully documented by him altough not yet ready for publication. 

On vimeo you can find this movie: " La belle verte":   vimeo.com/214163453?ref=fb-share

The movie shows what I have often felt and have written about on this blog. A knowing of a culture where people live in harmony with nature, communication via water. They even show the new transportation in a kind of soapbells just like I have imagined it and described here. It makes me very happy to know that there are apparently many more people who share my dreams.