Robert de Niro Painting

"Dirk draws on Renaissance tradition, while firmly entrenched in the 21st century. He reminds me of Fragonard and Boucher. He succeeds in thinking, while feeling and putting paint on canvas in a most alive manner". (Chris Stakenborg, Stakenborg Fine Art, Sarasota, Fl.) Dirk Hiel is a Dutch-born portrait painter. He now lives in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, after more than 30 years in Edmonton, Alberta,. Dirk likes to do 20-30 commissioned portraits per year. To complement the portraits, Dirk likes to do paintings about water. Dirk's work can be found in more than 109 private collections. You can reach him at dahiel1212@gmail.com Big influences are: 1. the chiaroscuro, compositions and moods of Rembrandt 2. the light and compositions of Vermeer, Whistler and Robert Johnson 3. the teachings of Jannes de Vries, David Leffel, Greg Kreutz, Thomas Buechner, Zhioming Wu and Richard Schmid 4. the sensual style and compositions of John Singer Sargent and J.M.W. Turner 5. the vibrating sunlight of Joaquin Sorolla. 6. Toronto architect Harry McDonic, whom I watched doing his water colours. Edmonton artist Loraine Ure has given me unlimited and very valuable assistance. I participated in eleven shows, of which one was a one-man show in a public gallery. Twice I was 'World of Art Featured Artist" on the Painter's Keys website: www.robertgenn.com/