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- Jeroen Verhoeff’s paintings are distinguished by their high realistic content and their originality. All designs for his paintings spring from his own fantasy. The detailing and brushstrokes are so refined that his paintings are often mistaken for photographs. The choice of his subjects is very wide, from frolicking dolphins, flying birds, hunting predators and schools of fish to intimate moments of rest.
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- The untrained eye may not see it immediately, but his paintings always show pure wild animals that behave naturally in an original, natural environment. Achieving this “wild realism” requires a great deal of knowledge of nature, experience, time and patience..
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“When painting still lifes, landscapes and nature realistically, the process starts with the copying of a piece of reality, or from a photo of it. Creative and original art starts blank as far as I’m concerned, so nature art wouldn’t be my choice in that respect. But because I think nature is so fantastic, I still have chosen this art form, but in my own way.”.
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He also likes to paint animals in action. These are the most difficult subjects to paint, because in addition to the complicated postures and muscle tensions, other details such as the complex anatomy of wings, the precise hunting techniques of each predator and the specific flight responses of each prey must also be taken into account. He wants even minute details such as the correct pupil size under different circumstances to be correct.
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- In short, his pursuit of authenticity and purity is unprecedented. That is why he never copies photos of animals in captivity, as is common practice in willdife art..
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- “For me the differences between wild animals and zoo animals are quite big. The shine of the coat, the cautious gaze in the eyes, the essential top condition and the continuous alertness visible in every sense and muscle give wild animals their ultimate beauty, whereas the lifeless, obese animals in captivity largely lack those wonderful qualities.”
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- He also doesn’t want to copy photos of wildlife, because “that doesn’t bring anything new”. That is why he developed his unique working method, based on self-made, flexible models as the basis for his painting designs. This method, although very time consuming and demanding, gives him the opportunity to bring his self-invented events to life in an extremely realistic way.
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- Achieving this desired “essence of wildness” is partly achieved by his many experiences in the field. For his underwater paintings, for example, the thousands of hours he spent snorkeling worldwide in fresh and salt water are invaluable. Together with his use of many layers of diluted paint, this ensures that his painted animals really are ín the water..
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- Because of all this his work belongs to the top of worldwide, original nature art.
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