The Art Walk

Every first Friday of the month we have something called the Downtown Miami Art Walk, where almost all the artists in the downtown area have their studios open for everybody and all. For me personally that means that I need to "nice up" up my studio and turn it partially into a gallery so I can present my work in a professional way. 

Once every so many months I even fill the holes and repaint the walls, so everything looks fresh and nice again. Of course I only do this in a month when I do not have many obligations and deadlines. Then we (me and the 2 other artists) prepare the rest of the floor: besides 3 studio spaces, there are 2 gallery spaces, the bar, the hallway and the bathrooms.... and you probably guess it, no more time to work on a painting. 

We made it a rule on our floor that if we do not have an opening, we do not serve alcohol. The Art Walk for us artists means that we work. We present our art, we talk art with the visitors, and of course we hope that we will be able to sell work or at least have a potential buyer come back on another day.

Last Friday was a very nice Art Walk for me as I talked to a lot of new people who showed real interest in my work and I sold 3 pieces of art. 

And when a buyer is so happy to have bought your work that he wants to show that to the world, that makes it even better!!

Nudes

Getting Ready (12" x 12" oil on canvas)

I love the human body. I love how the light creates this beautiful effects on the skin and more so to capture that in my paintings.
By the way, each body is so unique and especially when you look at the skin tones. For me it is really fun to work with that.

Not only do I paint the female nudes but also the male. Now I know that many consider the male body not as beautiful (to paint) as the female. Perhaps the female nude is more accepted nowadays, but I find that the male nude is equally as beautiful as the female body.

Future (12" x 12" oil on canvas)

And even though the female body is celebrated for its round shapes, I find that the male body has many of the same beauty.

If you are interested to see more of my nudes, please click here.

Fresh from the Fridge (2009)

When I knew I would have a solo at the Focaccia Rustica in Coconut Grove, I also realised that this would not be the place to hang nudes. It is after all a family restaurant. And this implied that I had to come up with a new body of work. To be honest, I went blank at first. For days I stared at two empty canvases and all that came to mind were nudes.

One afternoon my partner asked me why I didn't start painting and I replied: "Paint what? I have no other subject on my mind than nudes."

He suggested to go out and look around the house, to see if anything would inspire me. But I am not a plein air artist - ok, I never tried it and the large amount of hungry, bloodsucking mosquitoes outside doesn't make it very inviting for me to try a landscape out there.


Then he said to me: "Why don't you look in the kitchen, maybe there is something in there that will give you ideas."

And so I did, not that I am normally so obedient, but I was blank and he tried to help me. I opened the fridge... nothing yet, no celestial flash of inspiration. Then I opened the vegetable drawer in the fridge and I saw a variety of fruits and vegetables, each with their own colours and shapes... and there it was... my source of inspiration: Fresh from the Fridge.

To see all the paintings from this series, please click here.