New member for The Netherlands
 

Hello,

Let me introduce myself: my name is Bianca Berends, I am a portrait artist living and working in The Netherlands. I am working full time as a portrait painter since about 5 years. In 2004 one of my portraits was chosen for the BP Portrait Exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

I attended the Academy for Fine Art in Maastricht from 1989 untill 1994, after getting my degree I chose to go to university and study art and culture on a more theoretical level. I graduated with honors in 2000. Worked in an office for about a year and found it was not my thing, took the leap and started working as an artist and teaching at different art centres.

At the moment I am studieing the method of John Howard Sanden. I bought some of his dvd's and books. My style is similar to his and it is great to have an example and not have to discover everything yourself. I greatly enjoy it. Sargent and Frans Hals (a fellow countryman!) are big examples for me.

I am thinking about attending a summercourse portrait painting at the Florence Academy of Art next summer. Has someone done the same course in de past? I will browse the forum also for this information.

My website (english version is coming!) :portretschilder Bianca Berends

Welcome Bianca! I look forward to seeing more of your wonderful work.

Bianca welcome!

I visited your web page and am quite impressed with your work not having had formal academy training. I spent three years at the Angel Academy in Florence. I also have a number of friends that studied at Florence Academy. So, I could give you some inside information. PM me or e-mail for additional info on the two schools.

Regards,
mischa

Hi Mischa,

Thanks for your reply. I think you misunderstood, I have had 5 years of formal academy training here in The Netherlands. Interesting to know you went to Florence, I will definitely email you with more questions, thanks for offering.

Sorry I'm pretty much a lurker here. I just checked out your work because your from holland as is my family. Very fresh and interesting stuff you have, a very contemporary look.

Holy cow! I was just reading your curriculum vitae on your site and you were born precisely the day after me. I haven't been to this site in over a month and yours are the first paintings that sort of captivated me to delve deeper into the artist and not only are you dutch but you were born the day after I was. Freaky.

Hello Bianca,

I had work accepted in 2005. This year I was shut out and am still in therapy trying to recover. I've gotten to the point where I can say the name "Festing" without going into convulsions.

The year you graduated from the Academie Beeldende Kunsten, I had just moved to Maastricht and was debating whether to enroll in the program with the intention of teaching. As it happened, things turned out quite differently.

If I had it to do over again, I would study in Florence. I think this is a very wise move.

Hi Jason,

Thanks for you reaction :o)

Bianca

That smiley is supposed to be laughing...

Welcome!

Welcome to the forum, Bianca!

I found your comment (below) very interesting:

Looking at your work, I would say you have a very original and interesting style, and that it doesn't look at all like John Howard Sanden's work! I don't mean that as a criticism! On the contrary, I'm marveling at how many different ways there are to look at one piece of art. And I'm now curious to hear what you are learning from John Sanden's tapes, and what direction you would like your work to take.

Thanks for you reaction! I am learning a lot from his tapes. For example I never thought about tones and the important part they play in a portrait. It was something I did automatically, and now I am more conscious, it improves my work. I also now use his basic colours, mixed them myself and put them in tubes. It saves a lot of time mixing the basics and you can get on more with your portrait. He also has a tape on painting hands, which is really fascinating!