Painting is, for Willy, looking. Concentrated viewing.

Her starting point is always visual perception; she paints after reality. She paints people, landscapes, still lifes and flowers. In all subjects the greatest challenge is always: “Am I able to switch off my mind and merely paint what I see and experience. Not painting what I think I see. Not painting what I know is there. Just looking and doing.”

Willy finds the world complicated. She tends to oversimplify that complex reality in painting. Reality is so complicated and interesting by itself; exploring it is an adventure that does not require imagination. She tries to unravel rather than embellish. She does this by focusing on the essence, by painting quickly and directly, with large brushes and loose strokes.

Willy deliberately creates a twilight zone, therefore details fall away. This allows her to focus fully on form, rhythm, tone and color; all those things that make the subject of the painting attractive.

A painting does not have to be completely “finished”. She likes to let the ground play along, or use drawing-like elements. With these she introduces irregularity. Exaggerating, enlarging or thickening comes naturally and is for her an important part of the pleasure of painting.

Even though Willy has a strong preference for painting reality, she also draws from old family albums, newspaper photos, the Internet, or photos and sketches made during travels.

April 12 and 13 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

website: Willy van der Beek