Finally back in the studio. Have workedmore on portrait-half right side…

And the left side has received three layers of varnish – hard to convey the effect in a photo. Both paintings have to be seen in real, as with all my work, as with probably all fine art.

If you place them side by side it looks like this.

Probably more interesting like this…

It has been a very busy time with preparations for the celebration of our 25 year anniversary and my birthday. We were lucky with the weather and had very nice guests.

Julien Matei played for us.

Andrea gives a welcome speach.

About 50 adults and 20 so called children were enjoying the beautiful weather and Andrea’s excellent food.

A 4,8 meter wide board was painted during the evening.

Victoria and I had built the tables…

Each table was a section of a large painting. No table cloth needed.

Yesterday, 18 June, Andrea and I had our 25 year anniversary! I spent a good part of the day in the studio, working on a portrait in two parts. This is the first part I worked on a few days ago.

80 x 40 cm. A careful start to find the face.

After some hours. An almost photographic image that felt more like an illustration than a piece of art? I felt quite miserable in the process – the feeling “I can’t paint anymore” that hits me now and then, and which is a good feeling, because it makes me try harder. I will start on the other half of the face and do it very differently, and then go back to this painting and see what I can do. Maybe several layers of varnish will help create some action – some disturbing glare…?

The bathroom is almost done. Lucas has done a fantastic job, check this out!

Activities in the studio have been unusual. We have celebrated Victoria’s graduation. Andrea made a fantastic buffet, her kind of art, and we set up a long table in the studio. Instead of a table cloth we had brown paper and a lot of color pens.

Now we are coming close to finishing the bathroom. The floor is done, mirrors are there. We are now waiting for the glass walls for the shower. While we are waiting there are a number of things to do…

Another long day…
Several steps forward, but still a lot left to do. Now toilet, sink, and water connected.

Tomorrow morning the larger mirrors are coming up, hope we don’t break them. Lucas will do the mosaic on the floor in the shower also.

A big portion of the day was spent preparing for the graduation reception for Victoria tomorrow.

It has been a long day, entirely spent in the bathroom. A lot of things were done and the most evident accomplishment was the slate floor. A polished slate called Riverstone, 30×60 cm pieces – a lot easier to lay than mosaic. The shower will have mosaic on the floor also. Tomorrow night we will be able to use the bathroom, except take showers.

Not much happening in the studio right now. We are trying to finish the bathroom. The mosaic is there, looks good. Mirrors are coming up soon, walls being finished and floor will be done tomorrow.

But I heard from Cologne that my painting in the park has disappeared. Who took it? It was sitting pretty high up in a tree, somebody must have wanted it badly…

Lucas is now doing some of the most difficult stuff you can do – setting mosaic. It is much harder than you can ever imagine and the most frustrating thing is that you think it is looking horrible and you keep going back  fine tuning, fine tuning, fine tuning – and it just looks worse. But then when you do the grouting it normally looks really good! I guess it is a bit like painting – you have to be patient and wait for the result.

Well, I think I am now finished with the portrait. Today I added a much diluted layer of dark Cadmium Yellow. I let the paint run down the face for a while and then I placed the painting flat on the grass in the warm sunshine. The bugs where attracted to the yellow color. I guess they are called Lygus Bugs and are feeding on Canola. Fooled them!

Most of the day was spent helping Lucas with the bathroom, getting ready for the plumber.

But I did work on the painting a little more. Sometimes it is necessary to risk ruining everything in order to move forward. I decided to use white – half Zinc white and half Titanium white – and some linseed oil and just quickly and brutally paint the bright side of the face. I became quite pleased with the result. It almost looks like a mask over the face. Now the white will probably take a few days to dry. Creating is waiting.