Until now my return to the Netherlands has been a happy one.

I quickly found a place to live and paint. A stroke of luck (corona sort of forced me to move, should I see the virus as a blessing? And then things rollar-coasted)!

The first thing I did was to start painting. It turns a place into a home.

Still much 'Spanish' blood running through my veines, I chose for bulls as subject. Both paintings are not finished yet. For one or another reason, I find it hard to make them 'fit in'. Atmosphere is important and the Netherlands and bulls seem to have little in common.

I see the theme much broader than just the Spanish folklore. The basic rules of life are not very different between Spain and the Netherlands. So maybe a solution is to strech the theme up. To read more about bulls and me, click on the grey word 'bull'.

BULLS AND BULLFIGHTS, THE THEME

I stumbled upon the bull and bullfight theme in 2000 thanks to a commission. In the early sketches I treated the subject in the more traditional way, showing the actual bullfight as seen in Spain. The theme stuck to me but moved from folklore to expressing who we are and what we do to our surroundings.

I must have made more than seventy oil paintings and at least five hundred sketches. 

early bull sketches

In the oil paintings I moved quickly to a more mythological approach. It all led to interesting confrontations, valuable reflections on life and humanity. 

early bull oil paintings

As time went by the bullfighter moved more to the background and I concentrated mainly on the bull.

later bull sketches 

later bull oil paintings 

Maybe here a next step will be made thanks to the new environment?

FLOWERS AND COMMISSIONS

The start in the Netherlands was great because I had assignments for big works. All flower paintings. Apart from exploring the existential questions of life and death in the bull and bullfight theme there was something else to attack: beauty.

I put aside all artistic pretentions like dramatic distortion and literary drama in these flower paintings.

With the years I have become more humble. I still have many things to tell, but there is also the admiration for the world around me without this need to shout out my visions or opinions. I try to honor beauty; this is the whole story and it is interesting enough!  

The one I started with was a 200 by 150 cm painting.

FLOWER 052.

Request was to have much purple and black in the painting. Irony, the painting went back to Barcelona. It will take some time before I will have a photo of it on site.

It is always hard to imagine what the impression of a big canvas is, so I took a photo with me next to it.

These works I paint with small brushes and the weirdest colors (often recently invented ones, not the traditional ombre and ochre). Instead of my older (and bull) stuff, these paintings are very elaborate and need careful planning.
The detailing is precise. To see the painting on my site and details click on the image above.

The next assignment was twice the size: 200 x 298 cm.

FLOWER 053.

A diptych and again irises as subject.

The canvases dominated the studio.

How long did it take to finish? I ordered the canvases six months ago.

For the diptych and details, click on the image above. Now the studio feels empty…

Back to the two bull paintings... The other side of my spectrum asked attention. As usual they made me turn to old and finished paintings too. These will have a new life. It is never enough and a painting is only finished when it is sold.

In this field Francis Bacon often lends a helping hand. Is it the egg or the hen? Is it coincidence that I started reading his biography? A good advice given by him is the use of shadows to bring the painting in the right distorted shape. 

When these are done I will start the next commission, slightly smaller than the ones before. Again irises, this time accompanied by morning glories.

sketch for the triptych

As I said, my return is a feast. And who knows, one day, I can bring the bulls and the flowers together instead of hopping back and forth between the two.

August 6, 2021, Utrecht.

P.S.: I have finised one bull painting (August 13, with a broader approach?). To see it, click on the grey word 'bull'.