Work in progress June 2020 “Being elsewhere, going nowhere”

I´m working on a series of new paintings called “Being elsewhere, going nowhere”. For me personally, the largest impact of the covid-19 pandemic are the restrictions on international travel. I have many good friends and family who live outside of The Netherlands, who I am not able to see (yet). I also miss the forests, lakes rocks and trees that inspire my paintings. Landscapes where I feel at home. The last few months have been this strange emotional mixture of suspense, not knowing what is about to happen, longing for those we can´t see and touch and at the same time we were all thrown mercilessly into the here and now of our own home and surroundings. No escape!

It was (and still is) an interesting challenge. On the one hand, it helps me settle and get to know the river landscape around our new home more intimately. On the other hand it makes me want to run away and be somewhere else more than ever.

The new paintings, as always, are inspired by nature. This time I asked friends and family to send me pictures of their favorite places in nature, as a substitute for the pictures I usually make on holiday. I also go to the river to draw in-situ. The resulting series of paintings is a mixture of far-away (partly imaginary) landscapes and impressions of my immediate surroundings. Being elsewhere in my mind, but going nowhere. It´s a mixture of longing and acceptance, themes relevant at all times but especially now.