About Peter
Born in Leiden, at an early age Peter was fascinated by drawing and painting. His grandfather drew, and somehow this passion passed on to him.
He studied Social Sciences at the universities of Leiden and Groningen and Information Technology as secundairy study. He is now engaged as an IT architect and consultant. In addition to his work, his interests are on topics of philosophy, architecture, arts and music.
Living in the small town of Twello he recently re-started drawing and painting again, "just to see if the skill`s still there."
What`s so special about his paintings is the passion and personality in it.
"Painting for me is just a way of writing the poetry of life," he once said, "although I`m still experimenting to see how far I can stretch my talents."
The men and women in his painting are memories of people he once saw or met - their minds often brooding and gloomy.
"I prefer to paint a state of mind, so that the viewer gets a feeling rather than a determination of what he sees."
He tries to create a tension, that serves to engage the viewer. To lead him or her to a comprehension just beyond the fringe of the canvas. In that the viewer must make their own interpretation and story of what is going on in a painting.
"I compare color and technique preferably with music and rhythm, the language of the heart. As in music the significance of each painting is determined by what it evokes in the viewer and how he or she is affect by it. Only then a painting will be completed. The only goal in my work is, to invite the viewer to stay and watch. The longer they keep looking, the better my chances to communicate with them. "
In his paintings he evokes, calls, anticipates, suggests what is coming, but what really happens he rarely shows. "It occurs in the end only the head and the heart of the viewer." With effortless grace, he refers to the beauty that surrounds us, if only we would take the time to see it ...
Today Peter splits much of his time between his daily work and his workshop. An individual who tends to go with the flow of his ideas, to invent new techniques and to bend their limits.
In the near future he still would like to play much more with the contrast between light and dark. To "catch the light in the painting", to give less information, and to create even more mystery...
