Detail: Red and blue layers

This is a detail from a large painting called "Red and blue layers."  The original is 120 by 100 cm.

Green and blue layers

I have been busy in the studio, but there hasn't been good natural light for photos: hence the lack of weekly posts.  Finally I broke down and took photos using studio lights.  Criminy, when will spring get here? 

This small painting, 30 by 24 cms, is a good representation of what I've been up to lately.  It combines the use of pallete knives, scrapers, brushes, resulting in layers of new and old paint.  Mostly, the paint is worked wet on wet.

Green and blue

100 by 120 cm.  (about 3 by 4 feet).  

Lately, I have been using bolts to attach paintings to wood frames, and/or a thicker impasto paint: I seem to be coming back to my roots in ceramic sculpture as my paintings get more three dimensional. 

This is a very personal painting, and a bit on the dark side.  On the one hand, it is a Dutch winter:  green moss and dark skies: death.  Yet when viewed in a brighter light the moss green becomes a deep and more verdant green, with  promise of growth and summer. The black center becomes a deep blue, almost more of a northern-lattitude midnight summer sky: rebirth.  I like this painting because of the ambiguity: it is my new favorite.

  

Blue and Yellow

Recently, I've been using discarded materials like old-wood, and architectural objects. The latest set of paintings explores the way the painting is connected to the support. This painting is mounted onto a cast-off wood shutter using bolts fastened through the surface of the painting to the underlying wood, done while the paint is still wet. The paint itself is augmented with oily painter's medium, so the paint surface shimmers like a jewel. It's been too dark and rainy to take photos here in Holland using natural light, so I can only share these photos now. More soon!

The Lisa

This is "The Lisa."  I loved painting the fabric.  The Lisa is a big painting, 2 meters wide.  You can see the painting in progress in the second picture (that's me, taking a coffee break), and some details of the painting in the close-up images below that.  The painting is done by palette knife.  This may be my favorite painting of the year.

Rothko counts to three

Rothko Counts to Three
Oil and gypsum on linen
30x24 cm (14x11 inches)

Yellow screen

Oil on linen
50x40 cm

I have a backlog of paintings to post!  (Detail of the painting, below.)

Green Lines I

Oil on linen
120x100 cm. (About 4 by 3 feet)



Another big painting with a theme of woven green lines (brushstrokes.) 

Blue field

Oil on linen
120x100 cm. (About 4 by 3 feet)




Another big abstract painting. Influences include Mark Rothko and Kresimir Niksic.  

Blue fields

Blue fields
Oil on linen
50 x 40 cm (23 x 18 inches)

Blue Fields is a playful artwork about color and texture.

Open House Saturday December 11

Green Layers 2;
Gypsum and Oil on panel;
About 20 by 19 inches;

Saturday, December 11 · 2:00pm - 5:00pm

Location: Atelier Erik R. Hagen
Parkweg 9A

Join me as I prepare for new artwork in 2011.  Out with the old inventory to make room for the new

Blue

Oil on linen
100x120 cm. (About 3 by 4 feet)


Blue was painted outdoors a few months ago: I have a backlog of paintings to post to this site! 

Invitation to a gallery opening, November 7

Sunday, November 7 · 3:00pm - 6:00pm

The Gallery Upstairs

Herenstraat 18B

Rijswijk, Netherlands

As you can see, I've been busy working on this gigantic painting, and getting ready for an opening in November.  Please come, and share this invite with your friends!  If you are in the states, hopefully someday the show will swing through your hometown.  For my Dutch friends, I hope to see you there.

The name of the Exhibit is "Exploring Beauty." Women from Europe and America share stories of self-love and body image in a photo and painting exhibition, beginning 7 November, at The Gallery Upstairs in Rijswijk. The exhibition will be opened by the Mayor of Rijswijk, Burgemeester Ineke van der Wel at 3:00, and there will be live music (soprano Liat Alkan Heymann and her colleague Silvia da Silva will sing a capella). The exhibit is a part of the national Kunstweek, 6-16 November 2010.  There will be selections from the Antwerp show as well as new images. You'll also see some familiar faces who volunteered for the project.

The exhibit runs from November 6 through 25, and is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays from 1:00 to 5:00, and on Saturdays from noon until 4:00. For further information, please visit www.exploringbeauty.org. Also feel free to pass along this invite. See you there, Erik

Red Head, Green Eye, Purple Hat

92x62 cm (about 3 by 2 feet)

Oil on Canvas

I've painted this canvas over and over; you can see the many layers in it.  I finished this painting about a month ago, in  time for the open studio.  Keep tuned, there will be another open studio in December!

North Sea, stormy winter morning

Oil on canvas
80 x 60 cm

This painting was done in the studio, and is based on a smaller oil painting sketch done out in the cold, windy, and rainy winter morning.  In the original setting, the temperature was a little above freezing,  the wind was about 50 or so mph, and the rain and sand blew off the beach into my eyes and pallet.  You can still feel the sand in the original painting.  Sometimes, it really is more pleasant to paint indoors.