Windmill and tulips

 Acrylics on Masonite, 20 x 15 cm:

This work is for sale. Contact me at brianvds@gmail.com. 

Old door, Greece

 Acrylics on Masonite, 20 x 15 cm:

SOLD

The Japanese call it wabi-sabi: the beauty of imperfection, and of old, used and withered things. Everyone (except perhaps very rich people?) seem to get it intuitively, which is why still life paintings are so often filled with such old things. One wonders then why, in the west, billions upon billions of dollars are spent annually in an attempt to make ourselves look younger more perfect. 

Cabbage field

Acrylics on Masonite, 10 x 15 cm:

SOLD

Abandoned truck

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 20 cm:

SOLD

Self-portrait

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 10 cm:

I cheated a bit for this one, using a photo instead of the traditional mirror. But I made a point of staring intently into the camera, as happens when using a mirror, to create that typical staring self-portrait look. 

Child soldier, WWII

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 10 cm:

SOLD

Around the bend

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 20 cm:

SOLD

I grew up in the rural boondocks, right next to train tracks, which is perhaps why trains have fascinated me all my life. I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, one of those train spotters who can tell you the make, model and origin of every train, but I always love watching them. Perhaps just about time for me to finally paint one too. 

Mugshot #2

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 10 cm:

SOLD

And another portrait from a police mugshot. 

Parked

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 20 cm:

SOLD

I tried out a limited palette of titanium white, ivory black, burnt sienna and yellow ochre. Supposedly, ivory black has a bluish cast, so one can mix subdued blues and greens from it, but it depends on the brand, I think: my tube is as pitch black as lamp black, so no blues, and my attempt at green (by mixing some of the black into ochre yellow) perhaps came out more brownish than green. Well, with the limited palette, you do not expect bright colors, and for some subjects I rather like the stark, subdued tone you get from monochrome or limited palette paintings. 

Cool shades

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 10 cm:

SOLD

Steelworks

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 20 cm:

This work is for sale. Contact me at brianvds@gmail.com.

I found this a rather interesting subject to tackle - trying to get that molten metal glow effect turned out quite a challenge. But I had so much fun, I think I'll return to this sort of thing in future. 

Cigar smoker

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 10 cm:

SOLD

Doll portrait

 Acrylics on Masonite, 20 x 15 cm:

SOLD

I have long thought that dolls, particularly antique-looking ones, are the most wondrously creepy things. And now I finally got around to painting one. 

Blue and green

 Acrylics on Masonite, 20 x 15 cm:

This work is for sale. Contact me at brianvds@gmail.com.

Mugshot #1

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 10 cm:

This work is for sale. Contact me at brianvds@gmail.com.

Painted from a police mugshot. I have no idea who the guy is or what he supposedly did, and I don't really care either. Call me crazy, but I find the faces on mugshots far more interesting to draw or paint than those of most other people. I may well do a whole series of these...

Welder at work

 Acrylics on Masonite, 20 x 15 cm:

This work is for sale. Contact me at brianvds@gmail.com.

Another one of my industrial scenes. Perhaps not entirely conventionally pretty, but a subject I enjoy. I used a limited palette here, of black, white, yellow ocher and burned sienna.

Unlike many modern westerners, I do not suffer from allergy to scenes of industry, and I find people's often extreme aversion to it somewhat strange. It's the very engine of civilization, providing us with all the stuff we like so much  (even when we deny it), including of course the computer on which you are reading this. 

Own a car? Microwave oven? TV? Knives and forks and pots and pans in the kitchen? Paintings on the wall? Clothes made of cotton? In short, just about anything? Thank industries and industrial workers for it. The Tolkienesque rural fantasy world that so many people today seem nostalgic for never even existed in the first place, and even if it did, it too could not exist without industry - even hobbits wear clothes, and use such things as tools, bricks and paint. 

And thus, unlike many (most?) people, I actually rather like scenery with such things as grimy, smoky factories, or train shunting yards, or modern farms with huge harvesters and grain silos. As far as I am concerned, all perfectly worthy subjects for paintings too.

Not that I object to pretty paintings, mind you. I like those too, and indulge in them myself. 

Two figs

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 20 cm:

SOLD

Spooky Mr Poe

Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 10 cm:

SOLD

Another one of my monochrome things. I am rather enjoying these; the monochrome gives a picture a quite different sort of look. 

Double burger, no fries

 Acrylics on Masonite, 15 x 20 cm:

This work is for sale. Contact me at brianvds@gmail.com.