Finally it has arrived, from today 22nd of May 2023, my coffee-themed watercolor paintings will be displayed at Nelle's café Overgade in Odense. This is the largest painting I have made for anyone 76*56, Lykke, the kind manager asked explicitly to make a large piece with their front entrance and we agreed on showing it in summer with customers enjoying the sun with their coffee. I have to say it is not the piece I am most of proud of, but it helped me to push my boundary, I took a lot of time as I did not want to spoil it. I also used high quality material, my kolinsky brushes, Daniel Smith water colors, I think I have used most of the available hues. I tried to suggest the heat of a summer day just after the rain, as it is common in my beloved Denmark, so I combined warm hues, Quinacridone Gold and Burnt Sienna above all, and cold hues Blue Phthalo and Cobalt with hints of Burnt Umber for the greys. I have worked mostly wet-on-wet, and left the hues to bland and embrace each other on the paper, not to lose their individuality. The building itself is kind of white-grey, I tried to make it more interesting adding bluish shadows and golden lights, suggesting the sun being sucked by the building, which donates warmth to the customers, enjoying their time under sun or under the shadow of the big gingko tree outside. I tried to keep faithful to some of the landmark on the road, the old inn with flags, the stone paved road, the trees at the end of the road and the curve. The guy on the front with the red shirt, well, he is basically my husband ;) I wanted a key figure to guide the eye of the viewer towards the entrance, but not quite there, so I started sketching a tall slender guy, wearing a bright coloured shirt, with chestnut brown hair and well there you are, I have painted my hubby and as the figure was taking form, he just asked me if he was him ;) Here you can see the painting on the wall of the café, I will post more details on the paintings. Thank you for stopping by, I gotta get some coffee now ;)
Bertie xxx
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I started collaborating with Galleri Knægt in Bogense, North of the island of Fyn, last fall, when I was invited to draw live for Sprogense, a festival about language organised by Det danske Sprognævnet, which is the agency following the evolution of the Danish language, a bit like La Crusca in Italy. During the Sprogense festival, Galleri Knægt held a live event with an actress and a musician and three artists, me included, who were supposed to paint following the inspiration we got from the reading of the actress and the music. It was an interesting experience, which I have presented in this blog just after I have participated. I have also to say that the owners of the gallery are two nice men, who were very supportive of my needs for the performance, they offered me and my husband free coffee and they paid a good honorary for painting for 3 hours, when I paint all the time in cafés for free ;) A part from the jokes, it was an amazing poetic experience, but very intense. I had to concentrate on multiple stimuli floating around me all together at the same time; the music of the guitar, the words of the read text, the voice of the actress, who expressed her sensitivity in making the text alive through dramatic pauses, shifts in rhythm and voice pitch. And the text was in Danish, so I had to concentrate more than usual to follow in depth a literary Danish text read through a dramatic interpretation. But I was determined to create a series of expressive paintings, which could look nice and at the same time relate to emotions, rhythm and content.
I am glad to say that this time I am invited to paint during a live Jazz evening and it feels like it could be another nice experience. In the meanwhile I will listen to Jazz music to prepare myself to react to it, while looking forward for the event ;) The event will be held at Galleri Knægt in Bogense on the 9th of June at 19:30, here you can find the link to the event: https://galleriknaegt.dk/index.php/kunstforening/ Thank you for stopping by Bertie xxx PS I re-share this post as by mistake I drew the old façade of the gallery, here is a watercolor of the new location :) |
AuthorFreelance illustrator and painter. Archives
May 2023
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