Reinterpreting reality
Ilike to work with brushes and oil paint because this traditional technique survives everything and is much more flexible than any other medium when used correctly. I use Belgian portrait linen of the finest quality that I sand and prepare 10 times, until the surface is smooth enough. I use Old Holland and Talens Rembrandt oil paint with a wide range of brushes, from squirrel to nylon.
I don’t work from life directly, the subject would vanish away during the days of painting. I take and use the combination of many photos. I integrate them into a new rough image in Photoshop to be transferred to the canvas and to be painted finally. But when I look at the work of some photorealist painters they do not add anything to the photo than just translating it into paint. That could and happens to be a statement, too, but I don’t think the result is interesting enough. Printing the photo is much easier!