How walking can inspire fresh ideas for painting
Whenever I need to freshen up my ideas, I go for a walk. Being out in fresh air clears my mind and puts me in a good mood because I am looking for inspiration. This could be an unusual colour combination made by the passage of river over stone or a mini composition discovered in the way paint is peeling off an ancient wall. I record my findings on camera or iPhone and rush back to the studio with renewed enthusiasm. My painting, Panquin, resulted from just such a walk. It was a beautiful, sunny winter morning when I headed into my home town, Tervuren, in Belgium. I quickly found what I was looking for in an old historic building, called the Panquin. The building is in the shape of a horse shoe, and was originally a military barracks. It lay empty for a number of years until a group of local artists was invited to use the rooms as studios. Uniforms were replaced by paint-splattered aprons, guns by paint brushes. Twice a year, visitors enjoyed studio tours and admired sculptures on pli...