October 29, 202414 Comments

Birds Cry

I feel it is my mission to make people aware of the beauty and at the same time fragility of nature. At the same time, this sometimes feels like hypocrisy because I am part of the society that causes the destruction of the earth's habitability. Even though I do my best to live simply and keep my ecological footprint considerably smaller than "the use" of 1 earth...

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October 19, 202410 Comments

A Scorched Earth

While the ice caps are melting and the oceans and seas are warming and being robbed, polluted and poisoned, also on land the humans leave a trace of destruction. Or perhaps better to say, that's where the misery begins. Because that's where humans have settled and do most of their 'ingenuity'.

The Western world should really be called the 'world of never enough'.

A weekend read...

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October 12, 20244 Comments

Still Crying…

With COP29 (the "29th UN Climate Change conference") approaching, we are being fed scientific publications that give us the latest updates. Although these are not happy reads, it is important reading for me. It inspires me to make new work. And motivate me to live the way I live. Above that, it inspires and motivates me to tell you about it.

And why this post, why am I telling you this? Why do I hope you will read the whole thing?
Because it's important that you know the condition of your home. It is your only home, our only home.

A weekend read...

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October 9, 20246 Comments

Forests Cry

Screaming sounds of power
saws numb your thoughts
Ears bleed, hearts tear
Forests cry
The sun colors the evening in
the hues of the choking smoke
that kills tree after tree
How high may become
the price the future
will have to pay?

Read more

October 3, 20243 Comments

Trees Cry

Thick clouds of black
smoke darken the sun
Eyes tear,
trees cry
The sun colors the evening
in the hues of the flames that
scorch tree after tree
How high may become
the price the future
will have to pay?

Read more

July 18, 20244 Comments

Symbiosis (3)

Symbiosis

Drowned forests
Nurturing seaweed
Symbiosis

Commissioned by a poet for the cover of her new book of poetry, I created two new versions of the work Symbiosis. Herewith the second: a shoal of fish swims through a kelp forest.

In addition, I added an insightful quote from Charles Darwin and a link to an article on kelp farming.

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June 27, 2024No Comments

Finding The Self

what do you encounter when you look beyond the hollow words and empty promises ?

Your Self.

Your own responsibility.

The growing up of your children and grandchildren, or those of family and friends. The offspring of one society.

Why don't we take that responsibility ?

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June 25, 2024No Comments

Beyond The Void

'Beyond The Void' is the second artwork of a triptych about the endless series of hollow words and empty promises made by politicians, leaders and big corporations regarding…. Well, regarding everything that harms the earth, harms nature, harms the poor, harms the future generations….

Follow me on the journey through the void. More thoughts on this subject in the third post tomorrow...

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June 24, 2024No Comments

The Void

'The Void' is the first artwork of a triptych about the endless series of hollow words and empty promises made by politicians, leaders and big corporations regarding…. Well, regarding everything that harms the earth, harms nature, harms the poor, harms the future generations….

Follow me on the journey through the void. More thoughts on this subject in the third post, the day after tomorrow...

Read more

June 14, 2024No Comments

Symbiosis (2)

Symbiosis

Drowned forests
Nurturing seaweed
Symbiosis

Commissioned by a poet for the cover of her new book of poetry, I created two new versions of the work Symbiosis. Herewith the first...

In addition, I added an interesting development on kelp farming.

Read more

June 13, 20242 Comments

Travelers

Travelers

Dark sounds fill the void
A strong back breaks the waves
Travelers of the deep

But do humans never succeed in saving a species from extinction?
Of course they do, and the humpback whale is a good example.

Read more

June 12, 20242 Comments

Blooming Forest

Blooming Forest

Bright sunlight dances 
Coral reefs breathe new colors
Old forests in bloom

Would coral reefs stand a chance in the future, protected by drowned temperate rain forests in warmed waters in now too cold areas?

Their condition has never been worse…

Read more

June 11, 2024No Comments

The Other World

The Other World

You ask me why I live
alone in the mangrove forest,
at the edge of the infinite sea.
I smile, I am silent
until even my soul grows quiet:
it lives in the other world, 
one that no one owns.
The trees bloom. 
The waves keep coming.

Mangroves, just as seagrass beds and coral reefs, keep coastal zones healthy. Mangroves provide essential habitat for thousands of species. They also stabilize shorelines, preventing erosion and protecting the land — and the people who live there — from waves and storms.

Read more

June 10, 2024No Comments

Symbiosis

Symbiosis

Drowned forests
Nurturing seaweed
Symbiosis

Kelp forests are dense areas of kelp growth that occur near coastal waters. Kelps are ‘primary producers’ that modify the environment to create suitable habitat for a great diversity of species. Therefore they are known as foundational species.

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June 7, 20242 Comments

Bloom

Bloom

Pulsating blue
float gently between the trees
forest in bloom

I show you how I see the earth from, let's say, a few centuries from now. An amalgamation of the forests and the oceans. With hopefully in the distant future a rich ecosystem that has managed to adapt to the new conditions.

Read more

June 6, 20242 Comments

Refuge

Refuge

Sea turtles
finding refuge
among old-growth

In the new collection Drowned Earth I show you how I see the earth of, say, a few centuries from now in this collection of new artworks.

Read more

June 6, 2024No Comments

Swimming In Tears (1)

Swimming In Tears

While trees cry
fish shed their tears
in endless waves

When I imagine what the earth will look like in 100 years, the image that comes to mind most emphatically is one of an earth with sharply rising sea levels.

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March 29, 20242 Comments

Organic Change

Suppose an oak tree longs to become a birch. Then that is possible only if a single, individual oak cell is able and willing to become a birch cell. Then, after that change is accepted and then copied by the surrounding cells, eventually the whole tree will change. That's what I call organic change.

Suppose a government of a country....

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December 27, 2022Comments are off for this post.

Trees Cry (1)

Thick clouds of black
smoke darken the sun
Eyes tear,
trees cry
The sun colors the evening
in the hues of the flames that
eat tree after tree
How high may become
the price the future
will have to pay?

I feel it as my mission to make people aware of the beauty, power and simultaneously fragility of nature. Yet at the same time, this sometimes feels like hypocrisy because I am part of the society that is causing the destruction of the habitability of the earth. Even though I do my best to live simply and keep my carbon footprint considerably smaller than "the use" of 1 earth.
At times when I feel that, I also feel an urge to create a work with a poignant message....

Trees Cry - Impressionistic surrealistic digital artwork by Jacob Berghoef
Trees Cry

General info on this artwork

Trees Cry (1) is a digital artwork, printed with high-quality ink on museum-quality cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® 308gsm). The work comes in a limited edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity.

For these artworks, I start with one or more photographs made by myself. I edit it in multiple process runs and in several layers by color manipulation and adding and editing multiple digital photographic effects. I do that until a surrealistic atmosphere is created that touches me and tells the story I want to tell.

The photograph(s) I begin with has/have an impressionistic, surrealistic or abstract realist style, which is the basis for all my work.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page

ALL WE NEED IS LESS CONSUMING

Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke, on your actions to support the wellbeing of the earth and everything that lives on it, on what humanity loses when many of us continue on the destructive path of ever more greed and consuming, on how you can survive in this rapidly changing world…

Want to know your ecological footprint? 

Visit this website: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en 

Want to reduce your ecological footprint?

Ask me, I will help you. For free. Or simply choose Your Footprint in the menu

December 27, 2022Comments are off for this post.

Birds Cry

Thick clouds of brown
smoke darken the sun
Eyes tear,
birds cry
The sun colors the evening
in the hues of the poison that
factories vomit
How high may become
the price the future
will have to pay?

I feel it is my mission to make people aware of the beauty and at the same time fragility of nature. At the same time, this sometimes feels like hypocrisy because I am part of the society that causes the destruction of the earth's habitability. Even though I do my best to live simply and keep my ecological footprint considerably smaller than "the use" of 1 earth.
At times when I feel that, I also feel an urge to create a work with a more poignant message....

Birds Cry - Surrealistic impressionistic fine art digital artwork by Jacob Berghoef. Climate crisis, climate emergency
Birds Cry

General info on this artwork

This is a digital artwork, printed with high-quality ink on museum-quality cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® 308gsm). The work comes in a limited edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity.

For these artworks, I start with one or more photographs made by myself. I edit it in multiple process runs and in several layers by color manipulation and adding and editing multiple digital photographic effects. I do that until a surrealistic atmosphere is created that touches me and tells the story I want to tell.

The photograph(s) I begin with has/have an impressionistic, surrealistic or abstract realist style, which is the basis for all my work.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page

ALL WE NEED IS LESS CONSUMING

Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke, on your actions to support the wellbeing of the earth and everything that lives on it, on what humanity loses when many of us continue on the destructive path of ever more greed and consuming, on how you can survive in this rapidly changing world…

Want to know your ecological footprint? 

Visit this website: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en 

Want to reduce your ecological footprint?

Ask me, I will help you. For free. Or simply choose Your Footprint in the menu

October 4, 2022No Comments

Swimming In Tears II

Swimming In Tears II

While trees cry
fish shed their tears
in endless waves

In the project Drowned Earth I show you how I see the earth of a century from now. A fusion of the forests and the oceans, with hopefully in the distant future a rich ecosystem that has managed to adapt to the new circumstances.

Read more

September 13, 2022No Comments

Living In The Other World

Living In The Other World

Mangroves, just as seagrass beds and coral reefs, keep coastal zones healthy. Mangroves provide essential habitat for thousands of species. They also stabilize shorelines, preventing erosion and protecting the land — and the people who live there — from waves and storms.

Read more

July 11, 2022Comments are off for this post.

Scorched Earth (1)

[scorched]
adjective

UK  /skɔːtʃt/ US  /skɔːrtʃt/

slightly burned, or damaged by fire or heat

While the ice caps are melting and the oceans and seas are warming and being robbed and poisoned, humans on land are not sitting still either. Or perhaps better to say, that's where the misery begins. Because that's where humans have settled and do most of their 'ingenuity'.

The Western world should really be called the 'land of never enough'.
There where consumption was invented, at the same time as growth for growth's sake and the 'creation of shareholder value'. In other words, profits that are never high enough.
Our addiction to money is so strong, that we are prepared to exhaust the earth for it, to destroy plants and animals and to make the world of the children and grandchildren of humanity dry, or flooded, and hot. In many places even unbearably hot. 

Many people even think (still!) that the consequences of global warming will not be too bad. After all, we are smart, a technical solution will be found that will allow us to continue living the way we are used to...

Meanwhile on the already scorched earth...

...larger and larger parts of the earth are being scorched. Scorching by the ever-increasing temperatures. By spraying poison to make the yield of intensive agriculture as high as possible. And by the emission of poison into the air, land and water as a by-product of our endless consumption. Scorched by the fires that rage around the world day in and day out as a result of increasing drought. And by fires started by humans to turn even more nature into monoculture with endless fields of genetically engineered crops on exhausted, diseased soil.

Scorched Earth - surrealistic digital art based on fine art photography by Jacob Berghoef. - A cry for climate action
Scorched Earth

You all know by now that a text like this accompanying a work of art is not quite my style. But sometimes you just have to go outside, look up at the sky and scream really loud...

A cry for climate action...

General info on this artwork

These artworks are digital transformations of a photograph. Printed on order with high-quality ink on museum-quality, acid-free cotton/rag paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® 308gsm). The work comes in a limited edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity. But of course, it is also available as Open Edition print, without signature and not numbered. Available in any size you desire !

Maximum size is 150Wx150H cm / 60Wx60H inches. The work can be printed in any size up to that maximum, so please let me know the size you would prefer.

I start with one or more photographs made by myself to create these artworks. Then I use digital painting, color adjusting and adding and transforming multiple artistic textures and effects. I do this until there is a surreal atmosphere that touches me and tells the story I want to tell you.

'Scorched Earth (1)' is an artwork in my collection 'Secret Places'.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page↗️.

ALL WE NEED IS LESS CONSUMING

Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke. Thus to think about your actions to support the wellbeing of the earth and everything that lives on it. And on what humanity loses when many of us continue on the destructive path of ever more greed and consuming. And please, reflect on how you can survive in this rapidly changing world…

So do you want to know your ecological footprint? 

Then visit this website: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en 

And do you want to reduce your ecological footprint?

Then ask me, I will help you. For free. Or simply visit my website and choose in the menu for Your Footprint.

And if you appreciate my writings and art and want to support me, you can buy me a piece of fruit here: https://ko-fi.com/jacobberghoef, thank you 🍏 !

So are you interested in more? Then read what I wrote about System Change, Man's impact on the earth, Organic Change, Regenerative Agriculture, Regeneration

June 20, 2022No Comments

Travelers (1)

Travelers

Dark sounds fill the void
A strong back breaks the waves
Travelers of the deep

But do humans never succeed in saving a species from extinction?
Of course they do, and the humpback whale is a good example.

Read more

June 19, 2022No Comments

Blooming Forest (1)

Blooming Forest

Bright sunlight dances 
Coral reefs breathe new colors
Old forests in bloom

Would coral reefs stand a chance in the future, protected by drowned temperate rain forests in warmed waters in now too cold areas?

Read more

June 15, 2022No Comments

Bloom

Bloom

Pulsating blue
float gently between the trees
forest in bloom

I show you how I see the earth from, let's say, a few centuries from now. An amalgamation of the forests and the oceans. With hopefully in the distant future a rich ecosystem that has managed to adapt to the new conditions.

Read more

June 14, 2022No Comments

Refuge (1)

Refuge

Sea turtles
finding refuge
among old-growth

In the new collection Drowned Earth I show you how I see the earth of, say, a few centuries from now in this collection of new artworks.

Read more

June 13, 2022No Comments

Swimming In Tears

Swimming In Tears

While trees cry
fish shed their tears
in endless waves

When I imagine what the earth will look like in 100 years, the image that comes to mind most emphatically is one of an earth with sharply rising sea levels.

Read more

December 5, 2021Comments are off for this post.

Colorful Days

I have enjoyed converting a small selection of my forest photographs into intensely dark black and white artworks. They were of course meant to express my concern about the climate and the lack of climate action.

But they have also become a new way for me to look at my earlier work. After I finished the black and white works, I felt a great need to do something with colors. Much bolder colors than what you generally see in my work, sunsets excepted.
I asked myself: how do we prevent the forests from becoming as dark and gloomy as in the black-and-white photos. How do we bring back color where it is needed, and keep the colors that are still present from fading?

And then, Black Friday came into sight, so I read in various newsletters and posts on LinkedIn... The desire to make a statement against it was strong.

And so the series "Colorful Days" was born.

(Text continues below the image)

Colorful Days - A call to restore and preserve the multi-coloured nature
Colorful Days

Preserving color by degrowth

It is an indictment of the greed for buying, the unbridled consumption that many people, living in so-called "developed countries," practice on a daily basis.
The works ask you and everybody who sees them the question, "What have you done to preserve my color, to restore colors where they are fading, to bring more color into the gray world that people create around them and where there is no place for nature anymore."

(Text continues below the image)

Colorful Twilight - A call to restore and preserve the multi-coloured nature
Colorful Twilight

An appeal to you too

They call on you to boycott the increasing number of "black days" like Black Friday. Days that further fuel humanity's consumerism. They are telling you that living with nature, preserving and restoring nature, is only possible if Western man consumes significantly less. And what we consume, must be produced colorfully, that is, in harmony with nature.

(Text continues below the images)

Colorful Evening - A call to restore and preserve the multi-coloured nature
Colorful Evening
Colorful Morning - A call to restore and preserve the multi-coloured nature
Colorful Morning

Availability

The series 'Colorful Days' is part of my collection'Secret Places'.

Prints are available in my Saatchi Art portfolio, ask for a quote or contact me through a message.

General info on these artworks

These artworks are a digital transformation of a photograph, printed with high-quality ink on museum-quality, acid-free cotton/rag paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® 308gsm). The works come in a limited edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity. But of course, it is also available as Open Edition print, without signature and not numbered. Available in any size you desire !

Maximum size is 225Wx150H cm / 90wx60H inches. The work can be printed in any size up to that maximum, so please let me know the size you would prefer.

I start with one or more photographs made by myself to create these artworks. Then I use digital painting, color adjusting and adding and transforming multiple artistic effects, until a surrealistic atmosphere is created that touches me and tells the story I want to tell.

ALL WE NEED IS LESS CONSUMING

Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke. Thus to think about your actions to support the wellbeing of the earth and everything that lives on it. And on what humanity loses when many of us continue on the destructive path of ever more greed and consuming. And please, reflect on how you can survive in this rapidly changing world…

So do you want to know your ecological footprint? 

Then visit this website: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en 

And do you want to reduce your ecological footprint?

Then ask me, I will help you. For free. Or simply visit my website and choose in the menu for Your Footprint.

And if you appreciate my writings and art and want to support me, you can buy me a piece of fruit here: https://ko-fi.com/jacobberghoef, thank you 🍏 !

All content © 2014-2020  Jacob Berghoef