Art Van Leeuwen
Self Portrait, Mixed Media on Paper, 11 x 14 inches
Artist Statement
Every once in a magical while, in the middle of a dream, I hear a niggling voice inside me say... “Wake up! Write this down”.
As quickly as I can, I will describe everything I saw. What I felt. How it smelled.
Then begins the dance. Making marks. Reacting to that inspired moment without care for accuracy. Honestly as I can, letting my inner Artist make the marks while me, the viewer, is trying to discover why each mark was made. Exploring with the color that puts its hand up and screams, "use me!”.
This is when the painting starts to get its voice. I listen to what i see. I hear what next mark will be made. These tell me what special moment is happening, what moment is being captured. I can then focus color and light to achieve the exact mood the painting wants. I create imbalance leaving areas under developed and others highly detailed to cause someone to ask a question, to take time, look to see the hidden or not so obvious, where I have left space for you to find what's missing. The painting and I dance, evolving to the point where I look at the canvas and can say “There you are!”
Climb in to these impressions. Wander around inside and discover the motion of color and stroke to feel what I wanted,
while I dreamed.
https://www.artvanleeuwen.com/home.php
https://www.instagram.com/art.van.leeuwen/
https://www.facebook.com/artvanleeuwen.com.artist/
Every once in a magical while, in the middle of a dream, I hear a niggling voice inside me say... “Wake up! Write this down”.
As quickly as I can, I will describe everything I saw. What I felt. How it smelled.
Then begins the dance. Making marks. Reacting to that inspired moment without care for accuracy. Honestly as I can, letting my inner Artist make the marks while me, the viewer, is trying to discover why each mark was made. Exploring with the color that puts its hand up and screams, "use me!”.
This is when the painting starts to get its voice. I listen to what i see. I hear what next mark will be made. These tell me what special moment is happening, what moment is being captured. I can then focus color and light to achieve the exact mood the painting wants. I create imbalance leaving areas under developed and others highly detailed to cause someone to ask a question, to take time, look to see the hidden or not so obvious, where I have left space for you to find what's missing. The painting and I dance, evolving to the point where I look at the canvas and can say “There you are!”
Climb in to these impressions. Wander around inside and discover the motion of color and stroke to feel what I wanted,
while I dreamed.
https://www.artvanleeuwen.com/home.php
https://www.instagram.com/art.van.leeuwen/
https://www.facebook.com/artvanleeuwen.com.artist/
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