A Pear’s to be a Trout
When I paint from reference, most of the time it’s from photos displayed on my computer monitor. There are quite many benefits to using a photo versus the real thing. Living beings barely staying still long enough for a camera to capture won’t make an exception for an artist, regardless of their skill or fame. Unless you’re a fast worker, the light of day too will change on you and that scenery’s colours you are trying to capture along with it. If you cut open some fruit for that extra juicy still life, you better make sure to finish […]
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Self Sabotage
Originally I put the following blog post up on ko-fi titled “Procrasti-no-tion”, but seeing as how that was in May and now it’s September and I’ve not at all managed to move ahead with the plans I had back then, it really can’t be called anything else than self sabotage. For a minute I thought about leaving this blog post out of the mirroring process to my own page here, since it probably comes off even more embarrassing now than it did then, but the point of this is to be authentic after all. Besides, omitting mistakes and low […]
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When Digital & Traditional Meats
While I’ve done quite a bit of digital painting in recent times, my acrylics had been patiently waiting for me to give them the time of the day. Not because I don’t enjoy using them, but there’s more friction to get going and when the end result is primarily shown on a screen anyway, it’s easy to reach for the stylus in front of me over setting up an easel, brushes and a palette. About a week ago however, their moment had come. A friend from overseas told me about his upcoming visit to Vienna and we made plans […]
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A Study of Comfort
Despite having been an artist for a long time, I only got into painting studies quite late. Though by now, they have become not just a learning activity yielding satisfying results, but also a source of comfort for me. While I wouldn’t claim that discerning shapes, forms, colours and values from reference and putting them down onto a canvas with your own hands is easy, it does mean there’s something tangible you can work from. Be it a photo or a still life arrangement, if something feels off in your painting, you can compare, look just a little harder at how […]
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The Sweet Smell of Nostalgia
Despite the title of this post possibly suggesting so, I’m not much of a nostalgic person. In fact, if this article were focused on the topic of nostalgia, it would very likely be critical and step on toes and be some sort of analytical downer. Maybe there will be a time for that, but not so now. Now, there is a board game to be talked about. Amusingly, I’m also not much of a board game person, having no recollection of the last time I even played one. Yet here I am, next to me the glossy cardboard box which has given […]
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Small Legged Bowl
Get a look at my thought process and the steps involved in the creation of a small legged bowl of wood.
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Been a while…
…since I wrote a new post, yet that timeframe is dwarfed by how long it took me to revisit what I’ll be talking about. Which, at the time of writing, has already happened over a year ago and… well, maybe that’s enough talk about time. We all know it’s flying by and that feeling of being trapped in a perpetual cycle of trying to catch up. If this blog post does only one thing for you, then I hope it’s reassuring you that it’s never too late to pick something up again, even after putting it down over two […]
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A table for…
…1:6? I’ve been looking through my backup folders and old projects, picking this little table as the next subject to show on here. I made it in 2011 for my niece, sized to go with the Barbies she played with at the time. Back then I posted my projects on a woodworking site (https://www.lumberjocks.com/HorstPeter), which I used to visit daily and rather enjoyed the project gallery, feedback and community too. Although I don’t remember why I stopped being a regular, it brings to the forefront once again how time and energy consuming it can be to stay active in […]
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Doing it wrong to get it right.
After my two recent digital speedpaintings, I started to wonder where to take things next. As fun as doing very time limited studies was, once I’ve proven to myself I can do something successfully, I always begin to feel like trying something new or do it differently. As coincidence would have it, my trusty Twitter feed was right there, ready to help me out once again. My friend and one of my favorite photographers Cri, tweeted a photo of a Scrub Jay happily displaying a freshly acquired peanut. It was the perfect image to try something I’ve meant to […]
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Recreate & Re-Create
As is too often the case for me, I tend to forget how much I enjoy doing something (or the satisfaction I get from the result) after not having gotten around to it for a while. This time it was painting studies. I had no idea how long it had been since I made my last, but when I saw a photo of cut up, deliciously lit grapefruit in a bowl over on my Twitter feed, I knew I had to paint it. Now I have to admit that I’d very much prefer to have a go at it […]
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Of Heart & Sap
With most of my recent work happening on 3d models, woodwork especially has taken a back seat for a long while by now. The want to return to craft a new piece is rising, but in the meantime I’ll use the opportunity to highlight my previous works here, starting with the Marriage Box and how it came about. One day, I received a surprising letter in my mailbox. A friend of mine from a faraway country had invited me to his wedding. Sadly my lack of funds prevented me from going on a journey to attend their union myself, […]
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Just start.
Get things rolling first, worry about steering them into the right direction after. The above really is the mindset I’ll have to get myself into (and stay in!). There are so many things I “planned to do” or am “figuring out how to approach best”, that it becomes paralyzing and I end up retreating to work on what feels most safe and comfortable at the time. Currently that would be my backlog of unfinished 3d assets that accumulated over the past years. They are fun to work on and I’ve settled into a workflow to get them wrapped up, ready to […]
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