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I am Stefan Bleekrode, 22 years of age, and for more than a decade I'm drawing. Six years ago I started to paint as well, mainly to express my interest in the urban environment. I'm fully self-taught and nearly all images presented on my site are painted from memory. At the age of ten I started to draw imaginary cityscapes. After a visit to Paris and to several Belgian cities, I became almost obsessed with architecture and all other aspects that make up the complex environment we call a city. So I needed a way to express this. The birds-eye view line drawing seemed ideal and since then I've refined my ability to draw perspective, architectural details etc. From little towns by a river my drawings became world class cities comparable to Paris or London. In those years, focusing mainly on drawing, I resented painting for a long time. During a visit to Rome I discovered the seemingly endless oppertunities painting has to offer. For some time my painted work was strongly inspired by Edward Hopper. I think one can clearly see his influence in several oil paintings I made in 2003- 2004. After having abandoned painting for some time I rediscovered it and began using watercolors. In particular the 'Dry Brush' method - applying watercolor paint dry on a dry ground. My images are composed of many impressions found, occasionally in nature but mostly in cities such as London, Paris and Liege in Belgium. My paintings don't usually resemble actual places although they certainly present the same atmosphere I found there. Still, though, I always make sure people can recognise these places. The paintings are my highly personal view of the world around me. Currently I'm represented by 'Gallery De Herkenning' from Wittelte, the Netherlands. They keep a substantial amount of paintings in stock and organise exhibitions.

 

This site is part of www.exto.nl, artists retain all copyright to their images.