Bruce Holwerda

My passion as an artist has been the wonder of experimentation and the thrill of seeing the results of a finished piece. My history as a visual artist has been to play with the medium, to have fun with the subject and composition. I am a big fan of many forms of art. I love to study photo realistic landscapes and wildlife paintings. I am in awe of modern glasswork and am fascinated with bronze sculpture. But when my creative spirit kicks in, I want to paint. I have been defining and redefining my paintings in a continual process in which every completed piece leads to the next. Looking always toward future endeavors ensures that my current work is the best of my ability. Hopefully, my work will always continue to grow and evolve, combining fresh ideas and innovative executions. As a visual artist, it is my goal to master the skill necessary to translate the ideal image conceived in my minds eye to a tangible form. I begin with a strong idea of the type of pose or figure that I want to paint, but the designs, colors and even techniques come during the painting process. I believe that it is important to put a finished piece out of sight and out of mind for several weeks, while continuing to work on other projects, until I have detached myself from the last finished piece. This is when I bring it back out to critique. A fresh eye will reveal whether or not I have succeeded. There is always a struggle between the balance and form the eye understands, and the emotional involvement invested in the work. It is also very important to me to bring the finished pieces out to meet the public, to display them in unfamiliar surroundings, and to listen to the comments and wonderings of art patrons. People are always wondering where I get my ideas, or what do you call these? If I were to be honest, one painting session years ago I veered off course a bit and took a serious pose and got wacky with it. I remember thinking "This is what I'm supposed to do". As for ideas, there's no shortage of them. When working with whimsical surrealistic subjects in a fantasy world, the real question should be, "Where do you find the time?"