I sometimes get quizzed about how I come up with ideas for new paintings. Some people might romanticize the idea of an artist going about his or her day when suddenly, like a lightning bolt on a cloudless day, inspiration strikes. We stare inward to a point beyond the horizon, run for the nearest emergency sketch book and quickly lay down our ideas before they evaporate and everyday life gets a hold on us once more.

Alas, it aint exactly like that. Not for me at least. It is more of a nudge over the edge. One final image or piece of information that completes the picture. Let me start at the beginning so I can provide you with an example. The fun part is that it just happened. That’s the reason for posting this right now (and my coach suggested I do this at some point).

Last week I joined the everyday working and commuting man while working on my mural in Amsterdam at Media Buying Systems. (More on that later when I properly photographed it in daylight conditions). Instead of scrolling through my pinterest feed I have to make do with actual stuff I see around me when not creating the stuff for others to see.
There’s a poster of a woman ,somewhere at central station, cycling underneath a milky translucent bridge. You can see dark blue shades of pedestrians feet from below fading into the white space above the semi transparent window. Very dreamy. Combine this with a memory of a book on pregnancy which offers a detailed look inside a womb and were almost there.
Today I was painting to a youtube playlist revolving around FSOL (future sound of london – if you don’t know who these guys are you need to crawl from under your stone and get with the program homeboy or this type ‘o music is not of your liking) For some reason playback just stopped and I had to manually affirm that I was still alive and was actually listening to what was played. The grainy quality of the videoclip and the yellow and green colors complementing the browns captured my attention and there it was. The houses of the city fade into the distance like those people on the bridge. They both make sense. Add a floating baby into the mix and the unconnectable has been connected. Now it all comes down to the nuts and bolts of painting and emphasizing a certain mood.

Here’s the video which complemented the other images and thus formed a qualified Painting Idea.

Do you wanna balloon? They all float down here!


A story is born.
The painting made (not yet, I’m just predicting the future painting of Herman – FPOH)
Your mind is tickled and wants to fill in the blanks.
Your money starts to burn in your hand and it seeks the cool confines of my wallet.
When I snap my fingers you will forget this blog post and keep a deep yearning to own one of my paintings.

SNAP!

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