Tagged: paintification

Detail of a digital painting depicting the landing of European space probe Huygens on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005

Seven Digital Space Art Paintings

Space art as a genre is older than you might think. As early as 1301, a certain Giotto di Bondone from Florence made a painting depicting Halley’s comet. But the big breakthrough didn’t come until the late 1800s, when science fiction writers like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells started writing books that needed to be illustrated. Space art pioneers like Chesley Bonestell, Pat Rawlings and Don Dixon used the tools available to them in their days: paint, charcoal, chalk, pencil. Today, space artists, not to mention filmmakers, use digital tools with which nothing is impossible. Miles long spaceships on which… Read More

Digital painting of a street in downtown Reykjavik, with colorful houses, shops and bars and in the background the famous Hallgrímskirkja

Impressions of Iceland Revisited

The landscapes and towns of Iceland are rewarding subjects for photographs, but they also inspire other forms of art. After four trips I have a hard drive full of pictures of the island of ice and fire. Thousands of photos, but also a growing collection of what I call digital paintings, for lack of a better term. This week it’s been two years since I was in Iceland, together with travel companion A; I wrote this blog post about it back then. It was great to see our beloved Reykjavik again but frankly speaking: the weather could have been better.… Read More

Artist impression of a fictional Icelandic cafe, warm and cosy inside, with paintified landscape photo's on the wall, beer on the bar and the Icelandic flag on the tables, and with a snowy landscape outside

Virtual Iceland – Cafe with a View

Iceland, the land of ice and fire, of volcanoes and glaciers, fjords and lakes, hot baths and boiling mud pools. The land of four seasons in one day, where the sun, the wind and the clouds continuously provide a spectacular light show. The land where nature is the boss and where you are sometimes get stuck for a day because a ford is not so fordable for a while. The land on the edge of the world; and perhaps the most beautiful place on the entire planet. I was in Iceland in the summers of 2005 and 2008, the winters… Read More

Paintified image of former cruiseship SS Rotterdam, with the neighbourhood of Katendrecht in the foreground and Waalhaven industrial area in the background

Markthal, Katendrecht and other Rotterdam Paintifications

Rotterdam, as you may know, is packed with tall buildings. But unfortunately most of those buildings are not accessible if you don’t live or work there. And that’s a pity because the city is at its most beautiful and surprising when viewing it from a higher point of view. Higher ground Fortunately, in every year there are those days when you suddenly can get to places that are otherwise off-limits: Architecture Day, Construction Day, Heritage Day. Over the years, I ‘ve been able to look at my city from above many times. The photographs I made on those occasions now… Read More

Paintified close-up of the Calypso building in Rotterdam by William Alsop as seen from Westersingel

Paintified Calypso

My exhibition, in March and April at the Nivon-building in Rotterdam, was quite successful. Especially the paintification appeared to be rather popular: photographed of Rotterdam buildings, edited into paintings. No, not by pushing the watercolor button, it’s not that simple. A wide variety of Photoshop filters, layers and adjustments are involved. I might eleborate in more detail some day. Feyenoord colors Their success is a good reason to make more paintifications. I want to produce larger canvases and also create series of works that belong together. Here is an example of the latter idea: a triptych dedicated to the Calypso… Read More