Studio Fragments — Spring 18/3/2026

Walks and Fragments I find myself in a slightly uncertain place at the moment, not entirely sure where the work is heading. Recently, I finished a large painting, Onderweg naar Oudekerk, built out of fragments—images I collected during walks, especially on my way to Oudekerk. Small impressions of early spring.

A Loose Collage Usually, I combine images in search of a point of recognition, something that brings everything together into a shared memory/feeling. But with this painting, I let go of that. Instead, I approached it more like a collage—placing images next to each other without forcing them into one coherent space or story. What connects them is simply that they are all fragments of spring.

Karel Appel At the same time, I found myself experimenting more with the material itself. I had been reading quite a lot about painting, and around the time I was working on this piece I came across Karel Appel and Wassily Kandinsky. Rather than consciously applying their ideas, I started to try things out in my own way.

Paint Itself With Karel Appel, it was mainly the physicality of paint that stayed with me. I had always treated paint quite simply—as something to fill in an image—but here I began to explore how it could stand on its own, how different textures and ways of applying it could become part of the work itself.

My attention was also drawn to the way Karel Appel worked with animals, how humans and animals often merged or reflected each other, and how that interplay appeared in the titles of his works. A mode of approaching subjects that felt familiair.

Playing with Space With Kandinsky, I noticed the way he approached space in some of his more figurative paintings like ‘Das Bunte Leben’—how scale creates a sense of depth, with larger forms in the foreground and smaller ones further away. I followed that structure for a while, but eventually let it fall apart again, allowing different scales to exist next to each other.

Letting Go Working this way—without resolving things—felt new, and at times uncomfortable, but definitely something I would like to explore further.

Pulled into Spring. Lately, I notice how strongly I’m drawn to spring. I’ve been sketching a lot, trying to capture these fleeting moments. I don’t fully know where it’s leading yet, but for now I feel pulled deeper into it—into the landscape and into the season itself.

Onderweg naar Oudekerk

Das Bunte Leben, Wassily Kandinsky

The crying crocodile tries to catch the sun. Karel Appel, 1956