S Bee

I started my first drawing (and later painting) lessons in January 2017. Until then I was a singer songwriter, composer and music producer. But I grew out of it. Beginning 2017 I visited a free lesson at a local atelier, and I was sold. No screens, no batteries, no wires… only charcoal and dirty hands. I found my new medium. I was hooked, until this day. I reduced my working hours to spend 2 – 3 days a week on drawing and painting.

The process of painting I call my yoga. For me it’s a door to the here and now. A way of being real, at least to myself. A way to make deep personal contact. To have meaning. It’s also musical for me, for the rhythm in the brush strokes, dancing around on the canvas, the overall balance. Like music was before, making art by painting I would now call a necessity. It is an important way to feel alive.

My main motive in painting is the human condition. For that I’ve done a lot of portraits. I particularly enjoy that as a conversation without words. It’s a way to learn about myself and the model, by looking and observing.

My first (abstract) work in 2017 was made the spirit of the action painters. I gave it the title: And a fried egg.

More followed: lessons, workshops, and many hours in the studio. In addition to my early abstract works, I started and wanted to draw and paint more figuratively. The one does not exclude the other. I think they should live with each other. For me the process of painting always is the translation of reality into an ‘abstract’ form. I paint and study from life (live model), and also from photographs or from old masters.

In 2019, the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam selected my work "Paul in Purple, free after Rembrandt" for the exhibition Long Live Rembrandt (Lang Leve Rembrandt). It’s on top of the page with paintings on this website. I worked on it for two months. Layer by layer in oil paint. The painting was selected by a professional jury from nearly 8,500 entries.