When I go out to paint, I am mostly drawn toward scenes with trees or plants that break up my view into the distance. One reason is that it gives me a feeling of intimacy, but also I am not a very big fan of painting straight horizons. Since the Netherlands has a total lack of mountains, I often avoid visiting open fields for my paintings. Perhaps another thing is that I don’t want to be too nostalgic or romantic in my art. Of course, I also sense that there are contradictions in my way of thinking. But this is probably also a key element that keeps me searching and drives me to paint more. It’s a good thing that I haven’t figured it out.
On the day I painted this painting, it was a beautiful sunny day in May. I went to a place called “Wijnjeterperschar”, which is at biking distance from Drachten, where I live. Wijnjeterperschar is a nature reserve that has both forested parts and fields with grasses and flowers. And the fields are just gorgeous in spring and summer. Not only the flowers, but also the insects they attract. For example, the bright red six-spot burnet moth, which I have painted before, has found its home here.
On this day, when I was walking through this field filled with all those yellow buttercup flowers alternated with patches of soft, warm red grasses, I felt that this was just so beautiful. Even though, as mentioned above, there is this internal voice in me that would often stop me from painting such a scene, this day I submitted myself to it.
