Painting is my first love

I think I signed earlier than I could talk. I discovered my talent already in primary school. Got ten (and sometimes a nine) with drawing lessons, so thought, that must be good. In the fifth grade (that was what it was then called) I gave private lessons to students who also wanted to learn to draw better. I was regularly found along the waterfront with a sketch pad. Only later did I hear that my great-grandfather, from my mother's side, was Johan Frans Tulling, a well-known sculptor in the 1920s in Rotterdam. Then I must have received my artificial roots through him.

The inspiration for 'painting' arose around my 16th thanks to my first employer at the time. He had a style of painting in the atmosphere of "The Hague School" (19th century). Thanks to him, my color pallet has been formed, this pallet is not much different now. See also early work.

My style can be described as nostalgic, iconic, romantic, warm and averse to false sentiment. To me, making a painting is like an old Whiskey. It must mature, rotated and treated with care. Only then will it get rich tones, color and character. This is also the reason why I work on wood and not on canvas. With wood I can scratch, sand and I have much more control over structure and substrate.