Swimming in wine

Julia, Jeff, Kristen, Erik, Tamara. Photographer, Brian. Siena, on top of the Duomo. Rock album. Cover, for the new release. We're too sexy for our pants.

Snow in the 'hood

Tamara sure is awful cute in the snow! Notice the fur lining of the new sweatshirt from her pa and miss nancy. A new fav. Also pictured is a mansion in Scheveningen's chi-chi 'hood. Tres chic, all around.

Scheveningen in a storm

I went to Scheveningen on a really windy day with a member of the Dutch family, Jos Berkhout. It was so windy that it was hard to stand up. I tried to set up my easel to paint outdoors, but it was just too cold and windy. The surf was amazing.

A day at the beach

A day out painting at the beach, and I saw a fox, pictured.

I painted for 6 hours or so, enjoying the view of changing clouds and the cold, stiff wind off of the North Sea. The wind shook the canvas so hard that precision in painting was impossible. I kept changing the painting to match the changing clouds - maybe I should have brought a video camera instead of a canvas. My finished work has leaves, dirt, and sand in it from the wind.

new work

So, I'm very excited about the direction of my latest paintings, in a series I am calling "Abstract landscapes." All of the paintings are done very loosely with lots of gesture.

Here's an example, called Storm at Sea II. (I called it this because I made two very similar paintings.) Both paintings were inspired by a painting I saw hanging at the National Gallery in DC on tour from the Tate, by Joseph Mallord William Turner called Steam Boat off a Harbour's Mouth (1842).

To see more, you can go to my website and click on the gallery "Abstract Landscapes."

angle of the sun in holland

I am posting an email I received from Clair Garman. You can tell he wants to see what I look like colored orange. (My bolding for emphasis)

Erik,

Please, please get a tan.

According to my calculations, the sun at noon in Den Haag (Nov. 14) is about 23 degrees above the horizon. On Dec 21, it will be about 15 degrees. I am depressed just thinking of that. The angles for DC are 36 currently and 28 degrees. Your latitude is approximately 52 degrees N; ours is 39 degrees N.

Please get a tan.

Midwest cuisine, update

update on dad over the phone - he went grocery shopping, here's what he bought and the dialogue:

Erik (E) So, I posted our conversation about the midwestern cuisine.
Dad (D) I have an update for you. I went shopping, and got steak, got chicken, something else, I can't remember, nothing fancy like lamb or fish.
(E) sure you don't remember the third thing?
(D) it's all the same stuff I told you about last time, its all good.
(D) If you're gonna make money on this, I want my cut. (laughs)
...
(D) I tell you what, I sure like your cooking! You're a good cook! A fine lad!
and Tamara tells me you're a good lover!
(E) you're hilarious
(D) you've got it all man
(D) oh I know what you need - you need a good climate - it's time for you to get the gun (this last in reference to my state of near-constant depression given the weather here.)

That's my dad. What he lacks in tact, he makes up in wit. I really am depressed. It's hard being an artist alone in a studio all day, when you are a social person. But tomorrow I'm off to a tanning booth. It's a sure cure for seasonal affective disorder, and is why everyone around here is orange. The sun is about 30 degrees up off the horizon during the noon hour, that's on the rare occasions when you can see it.

Midwest food

My dad's from Minnesota, the heartland of the U.S. I interviewed him about Midwestern food while he and I were dining on a salad of sauteed river crayfish, flambeed in a anise liquor reduction, served with baby potatoes roasted in garlic, olive oil, and fresh rosemary, and a dessert of fresh berries and cassis liquor on intensely fatty ice cream. Here's my wry dad, on topic, and hilarious:

E (Erik) - So, tell me about Midwestern dinners?
D (Dad) - There's always some kind of meat, either chicken, beef, probably not fish. and a vegetable. and probably potatoes. And that's it.
E - Yeah?
D - How can you go wrong with that? You can't. It's ideal.

E - How are the veggies cooked?
D - Steamed, sometimes microwaved - you never know. Seasoning, salt and pepper.
E - Butter?
D - Sometimes, you add it at the table now. Connie used to add a lot of butter. Like a big bunch of butter in there. But people complained, so she stopped doing it. And people put their own butter on now.
E - No other seasoning?
D - Nope.

E - How are the potatoes cooked?
D - I would say most of the potatoes are baked or mashed. What else is there? That's it, man.
E - Do you use garlic?
D - No. It's the Midwest. Come on, man.

E - Tell me about the meat.
D - What do you want to know?
E - What do you eat the most?
D - Chicken, first. Beef, second. Pork, then fish. No lamb. Forget about lamb. It's too high-falutin. It's the Midwest, man. Fly-over country. Get with the program, man.
E - That's hilarious.
D - What'd I just say?
E - You're kidding.
D - It's the Midwest, man. (laughs)

E - So, how do you cook the chicken?
D - Bake it.
E - What do you mean?
D - You roast it.
E - You're not giving me detail.
D - You just put it in the oven. Real simple.
E - No seasoning?
D - You have to ask Connie.
E - You've never baked a chicken?
D - I've never baked a chicken in my life. Connie is the conquistador of baked chicken.

E - So how do you cook beef?
D - You mean my beef?
E - Let's not go there.
D - It could be anything. Hamburger, Roast, Sirloin. I mean, you just don't know. The possibilities are endless.
E - So you basically have 3 options?
D - Yeah, that's it. There are no other options. This is the Midwest, man.

E - How do you cook fish?
D - It's only fried. It's the only way you can do fish. It is the only way in the Midwest.

E - How do you do pork?
D - I don't know. I'm not a big pork fan.
E - So mom never cooks it?
D - She roasts it. It's getting boring, jack. Let's have dessert.

Lost

The Hague has some winding streets that are difficult to navigate. They also look different at night. I have lost count of the times I've gotten completely turned around in this town, heading confidently off in exactly the wrong direction. Last night, I had one of those moments, except that it was actually a whole string of those moments. Biking in the dark, I was on my way to the art club to draw from a live model. I found myself in new territory and figured I must have overshot the turn to the art club. So, rather than backtrack I took a shortcut to the right. It started a whole chain reaction which ended up with me in the Bermuda triangle of the Hague. I had a map, but no compass. I kept heading off, and ending up in the opposite direction I'd intended. I'd backtrack, locate myself, go about a half mile, re-verify with the map and find myself in an entirely unexpected area on the map. I'd backtrack again, and find myself coming right back to where I'd started. It just wasn't possible. I couldn't understand it. I'd go past the same thing spot, over and over, in huge circles. I saw a strange canal with houseboats I'd never seen before, three times. It was almost as if I was losing my mind. After several false starts, and completely losing confidence in myself and the map, there came a point where I asked myself if this was real. It felt like a movie. I stopped the bike, and really wondered, "Am I in Hell? Did I have a car accident, and my mind is playing terrible tricks on me? Am I really lying in the gutter, injured or worse?" I thought about it for a good five seconds. A disconcerting interlude, to be sure. Since I didn't remember any strange near-collisions or flashbacks to an accident, I decided I was alive, and ended up laughing out loud at myself. Quite a moment. I spent an hour biking around, and in the end went home and had a beer.

The Hague will do this to you. Beware the curvy streets and buy a good map and a compass. It's worth the peace of mind.

Driver's license update

(See earlier post) for the chronology of the first 6 visits)

Visit #7 to the city offices to get a license: I show up, and all of my paperwork is accepted! It is miraculous! I am almost disappointed that I won't get to blog about this anymore! I am told to wait for the letter to arrive which tells me to pick up the license. A couple weeks later, the letter arrives - however, it tells me that my application is incomplete, and I neglected to give a copy of my health certification. I had given it during visit 6, but apparently they forgot to photocopy it. No problem, I don't mind going in for ...

Visit #8: I drop off the appropriate form, after waiting in the requisite line. NOW I can wait for the letter informing me to pick up my license. A couple weeks later, I get a message from the post office that I have to come in from across town and pick up a letter. I bike in, wait in line, pick up the letter. It is a denial from the state, saying that the RDW, the government agency that issues a license, cannot issue me a license since the computer at the RDW does not show that I have a long-term residency permit. Which I do have, but the main problem is that the RDW computer does not recognize my residency. We have gone around and around with this problem. And there apparantly is no way to fix this problem. APPLICATION DENIED.

Bob Hagen portrait sketch

A last portrait of my dad, of course wearing his stocking hat. He left today, and we had a great trip. I took lots of pictures while we explored the town and the countryside, and will use them as inspiration for a new painting series called 'abstract landscapes.' Here's hoping that the series will be slightly less gloomy than the weather and outdoors appears now.

Bike ride in the dunes and harbor

Dad and I went for a bike ride in the dunes near Scheveningen and Den Haag. These dunes protect the inland areas from flooding. The pictures give a sense of the muted colors and somber beauty of the dunes.

We stopped by the harbor on our way out of town. I always enjoy the brightly colored boats and unusual shapes that can be found there.

On our way out to the dunes, I mad my dad stop so I could take a picture of our front gate with spiderweb.

Dad enjoys the crossword puzzle in the teahouse

It's cold in the teahouse, but dad likes to go out there for the crossword puzzle and a coffee. Here's some sketches of him puzzling.

A day in Leiden

Leiden is a beautiful city, located about 20 minutes from Den Haag. It is a medieval city with intact buildings and canals. My dad and I enjoyed a very nice day there.

In the 1570s, Leiden survived a siege by Spanish troops. About a third of its 15,000 inhabitants died of starvation and disease - it is reputed that the mayor of the city offered his own body to feed the inhabitants, perhaps to keep the support of the population to resist the Spanish. The leader of the Spanish troops, the Duke of Alba, was known for his cruelty - it was feared that surrender would be worse than starvation. The siege was eventually lifted on October 3, a date that is celebrated even today by the residents of Leiden with a day off and a massive street party.

Pictures from the train - den haag to amsterdam

These were all taken from a moving train. The last photo is of Bob Hagen, my father, on the train.

My dad does not like the weather here

"It's so cold, and its so bleak, but at least it is not raining today. Thank God I wasn't born here."

I don't think my dad fully appreciates the weather here in Northern Europe. Maybe it is time for us to take a trip to Amsterdam. He does not understand - it is beautiful, once you've been here awhile. There's fungicide to take care of the mildewy bits, and hey, you can always wear layers. He's missing the watery romance revealed by the green moss lining the brick walls along the bike paths. He's missing the eloquent Indonesian puppet poetry in the long shadows of the mid-day sun. We did have sun, during one of the days he has been here.

Shiva, cat slut

My dad the cat whisperer is visiting, pictured here. He is one of only 6 people who have significantly pet our cat Shiva.

Notice the wool hat?

On a call home to my mother, my dad said that "I brought 3 pairs of long underwear, and I STILL had to go out and buy a wool hat. Damn it's cold here! It's a wet cold that goes right through you. It might be 40 or 50 degrees, but it feels like how 15 would feel back home."

Taking risks

These images are of the final version of the Brian Soden fire painting - this is a painting that evolved into something I really love. There's texture and depth from so many layers and layers, including a layer of painting medium, mostly dried, topped by a layer of rubbed sand. It is the last bit, the rubbed sand which brings this painting together. While I struggled with this painting and thought at times about giving up on it, it also was marginal enough to let me take huge chances with it. It is one of those paintings that almost fails and turns out to be one of the best paintings. In the near failure, I felt freed up to take risks because there was nothing to lose. Boy Howdy, now that's an adventure in painting.

Winter at East Twin Lake, Minnesota

I've been taking an abstract painting class at the International Art Club of the Hague. This is a painting of a lake in north-central Minnesota in winter, from memory. It is kind of an abstract landscape, in that it comes entirely from what I remember, without reference to a photo. Painting this way is very liberating, allowing me to "see" and apply the paint in a very different way. Because I am not trying to represent what is in front of me, I am free to explore the paint's texture and color and its application becomes much looser and freer.