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.

Weekend in London

Visitid the Tate Britain galery with some fine pre-raphalites and some fine Turners, Dali-exhibition (0/10 - do not go !!!) - 'The mikado' operette of Gilbert & Sullivan, British museum (go also to the top-top-floor for the japanese contemporary dishes and bowls) and Tate Modern (in superb renovated old power-station - no not the Battersee).

Evening at home

There I go 2 paintings in one evening. Expressionism, quick, automations, ... meanwhile I listened to 'St François d'Assise' of Olivier Messiaen. My god !!! This is strong... and of course influenced the first series of 3 paintings ... a triptych : Stigmatization / upwards. 3 panels of wood of 34 cm on 90 cm. The name comes from a scene of the last act of this opera where François recieves the stigma's.


The second painting that followed immediately was only 50 cm on 60 cm

Evening at home

At last I am home again !!! After being a few months away it is good to see all the different things that surrounded me again.

My life is for the moment in a twirl. Divorcing my wife, working 3 days a week in Madrid (Spain) ... I'll have to work to re-design my interior and execute my design.

Sorry also for not maintaining my site ... this will come as soon as I have a little bit more time.

Evening in 'the old bakery'

For the moment I am not living at my home - divorcing my wife makes it impossible to live together in the same house. A couple of friends invited me to come live with them until everything is arranged and they even proposed to use the top level of 'the old bakery' to use as 'paint-room'. I wanted to share this moment with you and took a few images just before I started to paint and the result of this paint-session.



I painted already the background in august and added a first tree. I think there will be a couple of them and I think I'll make 'seeds' of them... you'll see the result after the next painting sessions. My god !! I feel good....

Resuming the past

Hi to you all again !!!
Nice to be back on internet !!!
At last I feel much better. I am divorcing my wife and it is as if a big weight has left my body. I am feeling very well and had plenty of ideas for new paintings. We will see what I will make of it. Time to re-install myself, get the prepared wood an start painting again. I think that I will start again this evening. I am going to prepare a second piece of wood of 90 cm on 90 cm and start painting a subject on the one with the sky already on it. I had the possibility to go to a concert tonight, but I think I go back to my old painting-habit.

Evening at home

As I haven't got a name for the moment I'll number this painting as beeing 1: the first of this year. At last I started again. I painted the background of a 90 cm x 90 cm wooden panel. I prepared the wood around a month ago and kept it aside. It has a smooth surface and after putting this first layer it is even smoothier.


As you see it is a degrading of bleu into light-blue. I got some ideas to go further. I would like to create one or more trees with water or clouds as leaves. I used three kinds of bleu : sky-bleu, ceraeleum-bleu and magenta-bleu. I think I will need a second very light transparent white layer to make the whole a bit more sky-ish.

Evening at home

Gaining at last confidence and self-esteme. Want to paint some pictures now ... perhaps this week-end.

Evening at home

I was very down this month ... but still i painted 1 picture : Open abscess. A painting on wood.

Evening at home

Problems ... problems ... problems ... when will it end ? When will there be peace in our harts ?
You can imagine that I don't want to paint now ...

Friday there will be a concert ...

Evening at the opera

'Oeudipus Rex' of Stravinsky in the Royal Circus in Brussels.
Fine opera ... very special all in Latin (except for the spoken parts). I think I prefer the Japanese version on video ... more static, mystical, dramatic, less lyric ...

Evening at home

Tomorrow I am going to see 'Oeudipus Rex' of Stravinsky in the Royal Circus in Brussels.
It must be something very special ....just looked at a Japanese version on video.

Holliday Malta

Went to Malta for a few days ... If you like visiting and like prehistorical (megalithical) age and you want to know a bit more about the knights of Malta... don't hesitate ... go for it. Don't go to Malta for beaches (there are anly a few small ones). Have done some beautifull walkings through the island ... very dry but beautifull. Colours, taste, sent, almost all the senses are filling me up with impressions ... even wanted to paint at a certain moment !!!

Evening at the opera

My god !!! Saw a concert version of St Francois d'Assise of Olivier Messiaen with Mimi. Reinbert de Leeuw was conducting the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Groot omproepkoor and Chor des Westdeutschen Rundfunk. 10 out of 10 !!!!
You know that Olivier Messiaen's speciality were birds ? In a part of the opera you realy hear music like songs of birds ... !!! Of course you have to be 'open-minded' when you go to listen his music, but it is worth-while.

Evening at the ballet

Seen 'Un jour la nuit' : a ballet of Michèle Anne De Mey. All the music was of Gustav Mahler (music I adore), 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' and some movements of the 1st Symphony 'Der Titan'. Not so good compared with 'Drumming' of last month.

Evening at the opera

'La Cenerentola' of Gioachinno Rossini. I was looking forward to this one ... the setting was design by François Schuiten (very known drawer of cartoons - known for the 'Obscure Cities'-series), but what a desception !!! could have been must better ...
4 out of 10 ... As always one has to be carefull in hoping for a good moment , a lot of parameters plays with the definition of 'good moment' !!!

Evening at the ballet

Seen 'Drumming' : a ballet of Anne Theresa De Keersmaeker on music of Steve Reich ... simply superb !!!! Afterwards a little drink with Mimi and Geert ...

Evening at the opera-house 'De Munt'

Went to the opera-house for a concert directed by Antonio Papano (futur musical director of Covent Garden).
On the program :
Aria of Florestan of Beethovens 'Fidelio' ... could be better
A complete opera in concert 'Il Prigioniero' of Luigi Dallapiccola ... superb !!!
Last movements of the 9th Symphony of Beethoven ... very known as always
Fine evening :-))

Day at home

- family-visit

Other music-gifts (I asked for it) : 'Rubycon' of Tangerine Dream and 'Dark side of the moon' of Pink Floyd.

- evening at home

Put signatures on 'Midday in the canyon' and 'Here comes the flood'.
Painted a second wooden panel with finger/knife/brush in a few hours : 'Here comes the flood too'.
I've given the same name to this one while he has the same colors/structure/format as the previous.

Christmas eve at home

We decided to unpack the presents ... surprise ... CD 'Meddle' of Pink Floyd ... My god !!! ages ago I heard echoes !!!! Simply marvelous ...

Evening at the opera

Went to the new world-creation of Philippe Boesmans 'Wintermärchen' an new opera in 4 acts adapted from Shakespeare 'The winter's Tale'. It was snowing outside and on the scene ... fine production with superb setting and voices and wonderful music. For me the 3rd act (integration Jazz-music from Aka Moon - even improvising on scene) was not necessary : it broke too much the opera in two parts. Understand my point of view. I am not against integration of other kinds of music in the opera-house, it just irritated me. A superb Dale Duesing, Susan Chilcott, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Cornelia Kallish and even Heinz Zednik (known for his Loge/Mime interpretation in Cherau's Ring)... all by all a fine opera (but not as strong ad Boesmans previous opera Reigen).

Evening at home

Painted a wooden panel with finger/knife/brush in a few hours : 'Here comes the flood'.

Day at home

- afternoon

Prepared the wood-panels of most part of the panels by giving them a coat of gesso ...
Thanks to Bernard and his Malvica-camera I could take some pictures of Wotan ...

- evening

Put 'El Greco' of Vangelis as music and painted 2 panels with a sort of bleu-green-yellowish landscapes - give them the title : Midday in the canyon

Morning

Bought some wood and let it cut into different sizes ...

Evening at home

Just worked on the new painting for about 10 minutes. Added the front part of the spear of Wotan, the red-shine on the rocks below Wotan, changed some 'flame'-directions which were disturbing and filled in some 'gaps' ... added my signature too in the left-bottom corner. I don't think I'll touch this painting again ... I've got to leave some imagination to the viewer too ...

Evening at home

I was angry ... very angry ... Took a canvas (90 cm x 90 cm) which I was preparing for fine painting, laid it on the floor, emptied on it left-over of oil-tubes (cut open with knife) and had a go on it with my fingers. Added some colors of other tubes and finished it in about 90 minutes.
Put the canvas up, sat down and looked at it. Saw immediately the figure on the left ... which reminded me of Wotan after he kissed/put to sleep his daughter Brünhilde and demands Loge to create/be a magic fire around the rocks where she shall sleep until a mortal men shall wake her.
I think I have to put a bit yellow into the red (flames/Loge) and highlighted the figure of Wotan and perhaps even Brühnhilde ... perhaps the next session. I'll put the oil on the net as soon as I've got the image ...