Inky Animals on iGNANT

My ‘Inky Animals’ series has been featured on iGNANT.

‘Inky Animals’ is an ongoing series of expressive ink-drawings aimed at catching form, expression and movement of animals with bold and minimal appliance of ink. They are all drawn/painted with wayward twigs, feathers, leafs and other unconventional drawing tools which compared to conventional drawing tools like fountain pen or brush leaves far less control over the flow of the ink, leading to a broad variation in the thickness of lines and also the occasional blob of ink.

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The Intruder

Sketch from imagination with a bit of Vallotton in mind, revisiting the theme of a previous sketch

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Waiting for the Maestro

Another sketch inspired by aspects of Bonnards work as seen in a recent exhibition, particularly an interior scene, perspective, a faithful little (dachshund) dog and a cat demanding attention. It started out as a quick preliminary sketch of this idea I had for a watercolour, but I got a bit carried away drawing with my new fountain pen and eventually decided to just leave it as it is and do a separate watercolour version later on.

A Toast to Bonnard

After visiting the "Bonnard" exhibition in Wuppertal, I set out to do a playful sketch with some aspects of his work in mind, particularly colour, perspective, an interior (table) scene and a cat making an appearance. I used my mother's dining room as a base for a rough and distorted sketch of an interior and then added the rest from imagination. Ink pen and watercolour. Speelse schets gebaseerd op impressies van het werk van Pierre Bonnard in de "Bonnard" expositie in Wuppertal.

Sleeping Cat - Nemuri Neko Figurine

The figure of a sleeping cat has a special meaning and status in Japan and in Japanese art. Nemuri neko [眠猫] is Japanese for sleeping or peaceful cat but it also is the name of a famous sculpture of such a cat in the Shinto Tosho-gu shrine in Nikko, Japan and has been an inspiration to Japanese artists. The first time I came across such a sleeping cat figurine was in the house of Claude Monet in Giverny (now a museum). He had a special interest in Japanese art and received a sleeping cat figurine as a present from a Japanese. It lay very peacefully and cozyly on a cushion in the dining room and I found it very striking. I kept it in mind and later on bought one myself and now used it as a model for a watercolour. De figuur van een slapende kat heeft een speciale betekenis en status in Japan en Japanse kunst. Nemuri neko is Japans voor slapende kat, maar het is ook de naam van een beroemd beeld van een dergelijke kat in het Shinto Tosho-gu heiligdom in Nikko, Japan en is een inspiratie voor Japanse kunstenaars geweest. Ik kwam voor het eerst zo'n beeldje van een slapende kat tegen in het huis (nu museum) van Claude Monet in Giverny en het sprak me zeer aan. Ik hield het in gedachten en kocht er later zelf een, hier gebruikt als model voor een aquarel.

Cat

I like the way many artists have made cats a subject in their art. Théophile Steinlen and Pierre Bonnard are just two artists whose depictions of cats I find really special (and I'm certainly not the only one ... came across this very enthusiastic blog-report on paintings of cats and Bonnard's cats in particular: Pierre Bonnard - a great painter of cats). So when, in an ad for pet supplies, I saw a photo of a cat lying in this very majestic pose, I just had to try it out myself and catch it in a (ink pen-) watercolour. Ik hou van de manier waarop veel kunstenaars katten hebben verbeeld in hun kunst. Theophile Steinlen en Pierre Bonnard zijn slechts twee kunstenaars wiens afbeeldingen van katten ik zeer bijzonder vind. Hier een poging om zelf een kat, afgebeeld een reclamefolder, in een (inktpen-) aquarel te vangen.