At home

Finished another goddess for the exhibit in Luxemburg.
Goddess IV.5
Only 1 to finish and the series is complete !

Servaas in Peru

Added the last pictures on my blog 'Servaas in Peru' regarding day 20 and the visits of 2 museums and a clay pyramid.

Canvas-collectie

No works selected :-(
Nevertheless positive reactions ... they find my work open-minded, spontaneous and non-academic.

Sculptures for Canvas-collectie

I am presenting tomorrow 3 sculptures for the Canvas-Colelctie. This is a competion in 3 stages.
1. First pre-selection : 1600 persons will be at 'Wiels' this weekend and they can present each 3 art-works. From this only 360 works wil be selected.
2. Second selection : from these 360 works only 60 wil be selected for a naional show/exhibition in BOZAR in Brussels together with the other selected works from the other selections througout Belgium!!!
3. The prices are seleted between these final Art-works in BOZAR.

Here are the three sculptures I finished today !!!
From bottom to top :
s003 - relic
s004 - protection
s005 - healing

More details of the work on my new blog !!!

New painting

The next painting in the series of the goddesses is finished. 

It will also be on show in Luxembourg.

New painting

Finished today painting 088 I started 2 weeks ago ... Goddess IV.3 is one that will be on show in hotel Mélia.

The exhibition in Luxemburg

Just went this Friday to Hotel Mélia in Luxemburg do drop of 6 paintings (goddessess II.1,  II.2, III.2 and IV.1 and the smaller ones 'brown'  'purple' ... cf my gallery-blog). You can find them all in the VIP-lounge. They find them very colourfull and hope it will bring a bit of sunshine in their hotel. All seems going well. 3 other small paintings are at the shop to be gleud on wood as the other two at Mélia and goddess IV.2 is still drying.

Next exhibition starts next Friday afternoon.

Good news ...
I just have been contacted by the hotel Mélia in Luxembourg for the upcoming exhibition.
I can start next Friday with 2 small and 3 or 4 big paintings.
They will be exposed in the lobby and the vip-launch on the lower level.
I am taking the following paintings with me ... we shall see which ones will be on show.
The smaller ones : Brown & Purple

and the bigger ones will be : goddessess II.1, II.2, III.1 and perhaps IV.2 if it is dry !

Painting again

Started to paint again last week for the next exhibition in Luxemburg ...

Here are some pictures ... First the smaller ones ... p083, p084 & p085

... and then the big ones ... p086 & p087 from the series the goddesses ...

I am really into it now ... as I work 4/5, I am free on Friday ... time to make free for painting-sessions.

New ideas !

Going to work also 3-D with assembled sculptures. Wood, nails, copper-leaves, silver-leaves, metal-wire, etc ... Assembeling different pieces together to re-make the trees we humans destroy.
We will see ...
Collected some pieces of wood last Friday when i drove back from Luxembourg through the Belgian forests.
Also bought today different kind of material ...

Next big exhibition !!!

Great news ...
Went today to meet the staff of hotel Melia in Luxembourg.
They want to exhibit my paintings after the Christmas-period until April 2010.
10 big paintings like the 'goddesses' (already got 5 of them) and 5 smaller ones like 'Purple' and 'Brown' (3 others to paint).
As the goddesses I've got are painted on unstreched canvas, I need to get them streched. I also need to have new streched canvas to paint the other. I will paint 6 new goddesses to have a total of 11. The middle one I painted in Hasselt during the event 'Ruimte te gebruiken' is perhaps a bit to risky to show ... We will see what the hotel-staff will tell.

Realy thrilled for this big solo-exhibition.
Thanks Thai !

Separation

Hubert and I descided to break our relationship. Time to get both apartments ready and we will live separatly.

New exhibition

Got an email today.
Hubert and I are going to exhibit a few of our works during the parcours d'artiste at Chimay.
Looking forward to that !

National festivities

When going to the upper part of the city (I wanted to go to the Bozar for a few visits for free) I saw a series of horses comming up to the Parliament. It were the royal guards and they all lined up for the king and family to pass by.


Went afterwards to the Bozar and visited first the Jan de Cock exhibit - dreadfull (3/10)
Also saw the Young Belgian Painters Award 2009 - a few spectacular pieces I liked very much ! (8/10).
Went afterwards to visit the Cours des comptes/Rekenhof - a bit dissapointing.
Ended with the Museum of music instruments - always nice to do this one (8/10)
Was realy exhausted when i came back to the appartment for a little nap.
Afterwards went to a noodle restaurant in the centre (8/10)
Late in the evening saw the fireworks from my balcony.

A realy nice day !

black day !

Been to the doctor this evening ... bad news ... artrose in neck and muscle in leg ... both nothing to do about it ! Those pains will never go away ... only higher dose of anti-pain tablets and massage !
Had a few tears in my eyes when I told it to Hubert ! Cf message 24th ... this time it will NOT become better ... just wait and wait and wait and wait ... going downhill now !

working at the appartment

Johan (konijntje), plummer, and Rudy, tile-layer, did a fine job at our appartement ... but what a mess ... all dust everywhere ... even in the cupboards ... this will be for a few weeks ... as always in those situations : you have to wait and wish it will become better !

day at home

As always at our place Sunday equals breakfast-brunch! In the afternoon made a tajine with tomato, chick-peas, garlic, mint, coriander and kefta (little meat-balls) served with couscous ... they almost finished the paltes.

day at home

As Claudine (punaise) was here for the weekend ... big breakfast ! And with the kids at evening-dinner prepared a home made lasagne with green-beans ... they said it is delicious... (ego brightens up)

Indian Restaurant

Been with Hubert, my kids and Punaise (good girlfriend of Hubert & me) to the indian restaurant behind the corner ... had a few marvelous dishes and naan-bread ... DIVINE !

My flat

Hi ...
Time to share an art-work of Hubert - a curtain in my flat. Here are some pictures ...

Weekend at de Panne

As friends of us are in Budapest, they left us the keys to their apartment in De Panne (Belgian coast). Very good weekend thanks to the beautiful weather. Great walk through the Westhoek (nature reserve just before the border of France) and along the coast. Ended, as almost usual when we are at the coast, with a great dinner at Ocean in Oostende - a must.

Working on the blog

Hi ...
Just added a few years of messages (2000 & 2001)

Visiting my mother

During the visiting I told my mother that I found her old photo-albums during the moving ... got to take them with me the next time. She almost started to cry when I talked about the second world war - there must be terrible thing hidden in her head.

working at the appartment

Removed the flooring of the room an starting to remove the old tiles from the bathroom

Evening at the restaurant

Wet for dinner with Hubert and the (big) kids to Dona Flor in Brussels (1050). A Brazilian kitchen with an Italian touch. I had a lovely vegetable-ravioli and afterwards a delicious fish-course Mariscada Peixesde Bahia.

Day out

Visited the Castle of Horst - disappointing - no furniture, almost a ruin. This castle is part of the 'Vlaams Erfgoed', but there is a lot of restauration to be done. Went afterwards to a nature-reserve, but as the time was a bit wet the last days, we couldn't do a lot of walk due to the mud. After all a bit of fresh air did us well.

from servaas to ...

Started this blog on July 1st 2008
Will transfer data from my site to here ... will take some time.

Evening at home

Wanted to paint this evening and started on a wooden panel (previously prepared) of 60cm x 125cm by putting dark bleu-green in two directions added greens, white, kraplak red (three flower-like figures) and flattened everything out. It resulted in following painting nr 52. I added it as the 7th painting in the series of 'When a poet meet a painter... - Madrid'. When I went back to Toledo (which I visited previously with my friend) and bought 2 little mirrors. One for him and one for me. The two dark upright 'thighs' are pictures as in a mirror : not exactly the same, different for each person who looks in the mirror, but they seem the same ...

Afternoon at home - evening in Brussels

Slept till 11 am - that was a long time ago I slept so late - I needed it and so did Hubert. After breakfast, ironing, looking a bit of TV and while my friend was resting in the sofa, I'd put 'En attendant Cousteau' from Jean-Michel Jarre on the background, took a wooden panel 90cm x 90 cm previously prepared and put it on the ground (favorite painting-position). Started with blues and kraplak-red directly on the panel, added white and greens and started to flatten the colors with a big brush. Added other blues, a bit of yellow and more greens and a lot of white. The result after 2 1/2 hours is a beautiful (as I may say it myself) painting. Like plants stretching out from the bottom to the top. Dark to light from left to right. I am very pleased with it. Comparable with the background of Prague (nr48) but much lighter, softer. Hubert was standing full of emotions behind me when we looked at the finished painting. I'll put it in the series of 'When a poet meets a painter' nr 10 : Honfleur.

Afterwards got a shower and went for dinner in Brussels at a Thai-Vietnamese restaurant were I sweat allot when eating a green Thai curry with scampi.

All in all a Sunday I'll never forget.

Evening at the ballet

Saw with Hubert a ballet in the Varia-theater in Brussels: "L'âme du diable" of Thierry Smits/La compagnie Thor. A very gay-erotically ballet of 2 guys (alternated performances with 2 girls). I can imagine no gay-people being offended and schocked by the performance, but I did like it. The story was based on the Faust history/legend; Three 'pas de deux' interlinked with soundscapes, taking with it the SM/gay-erotic and the eros/thanatos issues resulted in a short (1 hour) ballet. I loved also the four slightly rotating rounded shapes on the background, revealing the red-metallic innerside. 7 out of 10.

Evening in Brussels - Zàpisnik zmizelého (Leos Janacek)

A short evening with poems from an unknown tchech poet put on music by Leos Janacek. The title means something like 'diary of one who disappeared'. The text are over 20 small poems found in a booklet of a person who disappeared. Leos Janacek saw these poems when they were published and put them on a musical score for piano, tenor, mezzo and a small choir (3 persons here): a remarkable piece. First an actor said the different poems and afterwards the singer came on scene and sang the whole series afterwards. A nihilistic setting which the piano in the middle of the scene. Remarkable color-lightning and superb voices. Especially the poem where the mezzo and the little choir were singing together was of a astonishing tenderness. Also the piano-play was of a high quality. 8 out of 10

Evening at the ballet

Twelve Seasons of Cie Michèle Noiret at the 'théatre Les Tanneurs' and music 'Tierkreis' of Stockhausen played life.
I am starting being difficult now. For me there was no structure in the piece, or if there was one I couldn't find it. Not that it is necessary. I loved some projections of water/clouds on the walls. And on the dance-level (even if for me it was more body-motion/movement than ballet) there were 2 moments I liked : first when 2 groups of three dancers where building stand-still positions where 2 of the 3 dancers are holding each-other without falling, the third one comes in and hold one of the 2 dancers so the other can go away, en so on ... difficult to explain but beautiful to see. The second moment I liked was the solo of a female dancer where she moved (body-motion) in a light-circle. There was one thing very special : they used electronic devices attached to their bodies to make effects on sound, light, projections, but for me they only 'tried' it out, they never developed further the use of one of those electronic devices. 4 out of 10

evening at the theater - De Monstruos y Prodigios, la historia de los 'Castrati'

Saw a Mexican piece at the 'De Bottelarij' about the castrate singers from the baroque period till the beginning of the 20th century. A good piece mostly spoken in Spanish, but hints of French and Italian. A soprano sung/played the part of the castrate. 8 out of 10 I loved the part when a men in the audience, which at the end seemed to be part of the program, started to insult the actors and they reacted by throwing little sandwiches (little soft breads in Belgium) to the audience, and we throwed them back.

Day in Hilversum (The Netherlands)

Went for the office to a training at a firm in Hilversum and took a long walk in the evening through the city to see a bit of the architecture. I was lucky ... the first realy sunny days over here in western Europe.

Saw a few buildings from Dudok (influenced by the school of Berlage - another famous Dutch architect). I surely liked the town-hall of hilversum. Architectural cubes put together and covered with creamed colored glazed bricks/tiles with some hints of bleu and black. Very structural and very beautiful.

Day in Brussels

After late breakfast went to the major exhibition of Marcel Broodaerts in the 'Paleis voor Schone Kunsten'. A experimental guy who in a first period made sculptures with eggs and mussels and went more into Literature-Experimental-Art afterwards. Visited afterwards the Errata-Hotel of the Flemish Government. What a beautiful weekend !!!! Thanks Hubert !!!

my anniversary

Went to art @ belgium at the big exhibition halls in Brussels. Galleries from all over the world exhibited their best contemporary pieces and I was curious what is the art-market for the moment.I was disappointed. I love photography, but almost one third of the complete exhibition where photographs. Too much for my taste. There were a few sculptures that I liked and at the most another 10 art-pieces caught my attention.
In the evening I was invited for a dinner at Armand & Co and afterwards we went out in Brussels. My god this was ages ago!!!

Paper problems

Have been halted by the police on the highway for paper-control... and yes I missed one paper: the 'assurance'-paper or the green card as we call it over here. For one reason or another the latest one was not in my car. So they decided to take me with them and escort me to their office. They said to me I could get my car back when I showed them the missing paper. You can imagine my astonishment : no car for the weekend as all offices and companies are closed !!!
Even when I asked them if I could pass on Monday showing them the paper or if they wanted to speak with a woman of the car-assistance-company who was on my portable-phone and who could say it was my car, they wouldn't listen. So I was there in the middle of nowhere without car. You had to see the smile on the face of the officer when he asked me how I felt without a car !!! I thought they were there to help us !! Now I know that there are bad people in the police !!!
So I took 2 busses, went a few miles on foot and was taken by a gentlemen in a car for a few miles, then again 40 min on foot: all in all it took me 4 hours to get home. Searching all the papers, everywhere in my house: nothing !! Put some phone-calls to friends to explain everything. I had a concert that evening with modern music of Luigi Nono, but I was to down to go... phoned it off. Luckily on Sunday friends were coming over so I could cook a little dinner for them and my son (whom they gently fetched for me). Monday morning went to the office (40 min on foot, bus 1 hour, metro 30 min, foot 15 min) to get to the office and ask for a copy of the document (luckily the secretary had one) and went to the police-office with a colleague. Showed my paper and could get my car.

Evening at the opera

'Yevgeny Onegin' of Tchaikovsky at 'De Munt' in Brussels. Good voices and a wonderful acting of the chorus. 6 out of 10

Evening at the opera

This time it was 'The lighthouse' a modern opera of Peter Maxwell Davies at the 'Lunatheater' in Brussels. The singers were Michael Bennett, Robin Adams and Kelvin Thomas.
A good contemporary setting and music I adored. I am moving further and further to modern opera. Verdi and Mozart are too 'easy' for me now. 8 out of 10

Evening at home

Started a new painting : oil on wood. I would like to make a series of oils representing the process of healing. For this I think I would paint a surface in a color and containing a distortion or better said a 'cutting' in the surface from which other colors are coming out. The surface is 'self'-healing itself by creating his or itself over the cutting. a bit complex to explain, but as soon as I got pictures I'll put them here. This painting's surface is a mixing of turquoise and other blues with a bit of white mixed in it, the wooden panel is horizontal and on the left hand is the cutting. I painted already one healing-arm, but I think another 2 will follow.

Evening at home

Prepared 7 wooden panels with primer ... I am going to paint this week ... and I think it will be modern ...

New exhibition

There I go again with the next exhibition. 19 oils are on show in a private collection : Dawn of Childhood, Creatures of land, Creatures of Water, Algues, Chaos 1 and 2, Autumn rain and wind, The guardian, Meeting 1 and 2, The unexpected visitor, Wotan und Loge auf Brünhildes Felse, Midday in the canyon, Here comes the flood, Here comes the flood too, Open abscess, Stigmatization 1 and 2. This is the first time I give a solo-exhibition in a private exhibition : we will see the result.

At last !!!!

Sold my first paintings : Electra and Salome (see gallery), two older paintings.

Evening in Brussels

Manfred Honeck conducted the Orchestra of the opera-house 'De Munt'. On the program : Musique funébre pour cordes 'à la mémoire de Bela Bartok', Concerto for orchestra of Bela Bartok and the 5th symphony of Tchaikovsky. Perhaps I wasn't in the mood, but the only one that I realy liked was Bela Bartok's Concerto, even I thought that I liked it more the last time I heard it.

Evening at the ballet

'Rain' of Anne-Theresa De Keersmaeker on the 'music for 18 musicians' of steve Reich. (9/10). When De Keersmaeker let her dancers move on music of Steve Reich it is like ... speechless !!!! A few negative points are : too much running in circles and the ladies are sometimes to 'baroque' in their jumping-movements. The scenic part (ropes making an almost broken-circle-spiral-curtain) gives it a plus.

Evening in Brussels

Went to the 'Messa da Requim' of Verdi at the 'Paleis voor Schone Kunsten' in Brussels. Good production with the mezzo Michelle DeYoung and the Bas John Relyea. Soprano was less good and we will forget the tenor. Choir and orchestra of the munt superb and superbly conducted by Antonio Pappano. After all 7/10.

2nd weekend in London

Local London restaurant, Portobello Road, Indian Tandoori, and for the second time Tate Modern.
An this with my friend Hubert.

Evening at home

Finished the next painting and called it : Stigmatization 2 / sidewards. I started this painting on november 23rd by making the greenish background. I listened at the same time to the last act of 'St. François d'Assise', an opera of Olivier Messiaen, at the moment of the stigmatization of François. Today I listened again this same act end wanted to finish the painting. It started as the previous stigmatization by adding a line in white/crimson/orange/jellow but this time horizontal) with the knive and flattened it out with a brush. I also added a second smaller line with knive/brush. I'll take the pictures as soon as possible to put it on this site.

Evening at home

It took a bit of time but at last I updated my site with the new paintings.

Evening in plane Madrid-Brussels

Working in Madrid has come to an end. Have seen some beautifull things. For modern art I guess it must have been the 'Museum reina Sofia' that impresses me the most, more than the 'Bornissem-Thyssens', but the contemporary art-collection in the Conce Dunque is very, very good.