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Ewoud de Groot WAA Summer 2012.pdf
Wildlife Art Nature Journal.pdf
Biography
Ewoud de Groot lives and works in Egmond aan Zee, a coastal village in the north of the Netherlands. Born in 1969 in Alkmarr, he attended the Minerva Academy of Art, and received a degree in illustration and painting. After illustrating nature books for a period, he began painting full-time. De Groot spends a significant amount of time exploring the Waddensea, an internationally known wetland that is actually a chain of islands, mudflats, and sandbanks, starting in the Netherlands and ending in the south of Denmark. Thus, his subjects are often seabirds and waders.
His work has been featured in many exhibitions in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. De Groot's work hangs in both private and corporate collections across Europe, Scandinavia and America. Recently he became a member of the 'Pulchri Studio' - the artist society of The Hague and the most prestigious in Holland. In September he had the honor of being selected for the 'Birds in Art Exhibition' at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin, USA. He also is a member of several art organizations, including the Society of Animal Artists.
Artist Statement
To me, as an artist, producing a good painting is about exploring all the different facets of composition, colour and technique and not just reproducing an image in a photorealistic way. Although I consider myself a figurative painter, I always try to find that essential balance and tension between the more abstract background and the realism of the subject(s). In a way you could say that I am on the frontier between figurative and non-figurative, or the traditional and the modern.
My technique is based on the principle of painting in layers, using cold blueish-grays and warm brownish-grays. This delicate balance ensures that they compliment and enhance each other. I start a painting by sketching with big brushstrokes and using the palette knife to look for the right composition, not allowing myself to be distracted by specifics. Once the form of the painting has been established then I begin to work on the birds or a particular detail of the bird(s) themselves.
My familiarity with wildlife has ensured that they have become my primary artistic focus. Their shape and color and the balance of negative space around and between individuals. These are the main ingredients, also pattern, rhythm, depth and structure, all of which are vital in order to paint a good painting.
My subjects are mostly birds of the northern hemisphere, from Europe, Siberia and then into North America. I have encountered these species on many occasions on my trips throughout Europe, Poland Scandinavia, Russia, Canada, Wyoming and Alaska, where I used to work as a fishing guide a couple of summers.
Collections
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, Wisconsin, US
Unilever, Rotterdam, The Netherland
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Kopenhagen, Denmark
Ewoud de Groot lives and works in Egmond aan Zee, a coastal village in the north of the Netherlands. Born in 1969 in Alkmarr, he attended the Minerva Academy of Art, and received a degree in illustration and painting. After illustrating nature books for a period, he began painting full-time. De Groot spends a significant amount of time exploring the Waddensea, an internationally known wetland that is actually a chain of islands, mudflats, and sandbanks, starting in the Netherlands and ending in the south of Denmark. Thus, his subjects are often seabirds and waders.
His work has been featured in many exhibitions in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. De Groot's work hangs in both private and corporate collections across Europe, Scandinavia and America. Recently he became a member of the 'Pulchri Studio' - the artist society of The Hague and the most prestigious in Holland. In September he had the honor of being selected for the 'Birds in Art Exhibition' at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin, USA. He also is a member of several art organizations, including the Society of Animal Artists.
Artist Statement
To me, as an artist, producing a good painting is about exploring all the different facets of composition, colour and technique and not just reproducing an image in a photorealistic way. Although I consider myself a figurative painter, I always try to find that essential balance and tension between the more abstract background and the realism of the subject(s). In a way you could say that I am on the frontier between figurative and non-figurative, or the traditional and the modern.
My technique is based on the principle of painting in layers, using cold blueish-grays and warm brownish-grays. This delicate balance ensures that they compliment and enhance each other. I start a painting by sketching with big brushstrokes and using the palette knife to look for the right composition, not allowing myself to be distracted by specifics. Once the form of the painting has been established then I begin to work on the birds or a particular detail of the bird(s) themselves.
My familiarity with wildlife has ensured that they have become my primary artistic focus. Their shape and color and the balance of negative space around and between individuals. These are the main ingredients, also pattern, rhythm, depth and structure, all of which are vital in order to paint a good painting.
My subjects are mostly birds of the northern hemisphere, from Europe, Siberia and then into North America. I have encountered these species on many occasions on my trips throughout Europe, Poland Scandinavia, Russia, Canada, Wyoming and Alaska, where I used to work as a fishing guide a couple of summers.
Collections
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, Wisconsin, US
Unilever, Rotterdam, The Netherland
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Kopenhagen, Denmark