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Writer's picturebertvdijk08

Week 3 (entry 3): April 23 2023





This is an image of the arts residency church. The main hall is my studio and the side wing are my living accommodations:


Entering my third week of this residency. The weather has been very drab, grey skies, grey harbour, grey landscape, everything seems drained of colour and there hangs a heaviness in the air. Humidity is 100%! I have met some of the locals, particularly the local artists and volunteers who run the No 1 Parnell Arts Gallery. Lovely people with a passion for what they are doing, but living in rural community is obviously a choice that is no longer for me. It is good for painting as there are few distractions. It is not so good for cafe life (the coffee at both cafes are not to my taste) or for my social needs.


The painting itself is going reasonably well, but of course with its ups and downs. Some days it flows and I particularly enjoy the first stages when I am not concerned about the outcomes and just moving paint around the surface. I love that feeling of endless possibilities. Then, when it starts finding its shape, it becomes much harder and at times I become tense and trying too hard to get it to look a certain way rather than following its own needs.


I am working across a number of different surfaces and sizes (wood panel & canvas and 60x60; 40x120 and 76x76). IN my first paintings I played around with the story of the two Hokianga rangatira competing with each other in whose karakia could send the whale that entered the harbour either further inland or back out at sea. At times the contours of the land suggest the whale, sometimes a long island in the harbour resembles a whale and in one of my paintings two whales are having fun in the strong tidal current of the harbour and the skies. The entire painting feels like it is flowing.

However, three paintings-in-progress, have piqued my interest the most. They are mostly abstract but expressing the moods of this environment in accordance with my feelings in new and satisfying ways. The painting above here is tentatively called The Whale's Eye.


And this one, a ship wreck in the gentle morning rise:



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Anthony O'Flaherty
Anthony O'Flaherty
Apr 25, 2023

Hi Bert. Lovely to read your blog and capture some of the process and challenges you are facing. Three very different paintings you've presented which in itself is exciting. You're pushing yourself into new realms. Hang in there and see what comes. Trust the gut! xx

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bertvdijk08
bertvdijk08
Apr 26, 2023
Replying to

Thanks Anthony, your encouragement means a lot to me. I bumped into your daughter by chance at the Daily Bread shop in Pt Chevelier!!! Hope you and Ann are happy and well. Keep me in the loop of your artistic endeavours! xxx

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rawiri.hindle1
Apr 22, 2023

I think I want the boat art work

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rawiri.hindle1
Apr 22, 2023

Wow - I love the purple haze - it creates such an atmosphere that is indictive of the Hokianga. In the second one I love the way the whale appears out of the water and how the water rushes away from him/her/they. The last one - the boat feels like another shift in your art style yet is still true to it (your style). I love the colours - they are somewhat more subdued then many of your other works but capture the moodiness of the area (as I remember it when I walked there). I really love the way the light plays across the sky, sand, sea boat and rocks. I think it's up there with my favourites. You're…

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