It's early in the morning. A beautiful iris opens its flower and turns toward the sun. The petals bathe themselves in light, seeming to dance in slow motion.
Iris is a flowering plant genus of more than 300 species with showy flowers.
Iris is not only the scientific name, but is also widely used as a general name for all Iris species.
What if I could paint the city
in cheerful colours, plant trees
as tall as skyscrapers, have concrete
foundations intertwined with roots,
have leaves be a canopy against the bright sun
and give shelter to millions of birds.
...
I lift my gaze to the stars, it doesn’t matter. There’s so much more out there, up there than my tiny, confused self, yet I’m a part of it. Getting lost becomes something wonderful.
...
Always silent, seemingly staring into nothingness
What tales would they know and share?
Intertwined roots, touching branches
How do I listen in, share in their wisdom?
I walked in the woods, on a path I walked
many times before, completely lost in thought
not noticing that darkness was falling, that stars
appeared in the sky, that moonlight
brightened my path. A sound brought me out of my musings...
A special calm comes over the evening when the sun disappears behind the horizon and the light of the day slowly dies. Nature awaits the night, the trees lean against the darkening colors.
I love that intens, quiet moment of the day...
It's a cold evening at the end of a heavily cloudy, gray winter day. Just before the sun sets, the clouds open up allowing the light for a brief but intense moment to say hello to the night.
A gray, foggy day. A day like so many, where you only see vague outlines of the path you are walking. The silence and lack of sight are oppressive at first. Until you regain peace and confidence, and let the trees guide you.
When I make a landscape artwork, I am often trying to give a minimalist view of the feeling that the landscape gives me. The photo for this work was made in the scarce light of a setting winter sun.
Do you dream in color? Or in black and white? Or both, or do you not know? Are all people dreaming in different color palettes, or does everyone have her/his own palette?
Some people are always dreaming in color, other's in shades of gray, or both in an irregular variety. Many people are not sure, or hardly remember it.
A beautiful sunny winter day. A group of gulls fight each other for a piece of bread. When the gull with the bread in its beak crosses a wide ditch, the whole group follows; screaming as if panicking to lose sight of the seagull with the bread.
At the end of a beautiful sunny day, there are often some clouds over the sea. Does that make the sunset less beautiful? Often it doesn't, or it even makes it more beautiful. The clouds make the colors even more intense.
It is very cold, the sky is clear and the meadows are frozen. The ideal conditions under which a Nordic sunset shows itself in all its splendor.
The light along the long coastlines of Nordic countries is special: clean air, bright sunshine interspersed with wind-driven clouds and rugged coastline. This light has inspired many artists, especially impressionists from more southern European countries loved to come to the Danish and Norwegian coasts.
It is my conviction that after our death our spirit, our soul, travels to its origin somewhere in the universe. Once arrived, our energy is reunited with the energy from which everything around us once originated.
The sun sets under a heavily clouded sky, and for a brief moment shines over a slightly frozen Limfjord near the village of Amtoft, North Jutland, Denmark.
It is still dark, very cold and quiet, this early morning in the lightly snow-covered forest. But then the sun rises, the light plays with the frozen branches of the fir trees...
I love Fado music and, more in general, Portuguese folk music.
One of the most beautiful Portuguese songs for me is Meu Alentejo sung by Dulce Pontes.
But even without knowing a translation of the lyrics (and I don't speak a word of Portuguese), this song really touched me the first time I heard it. And it still does...
Early morning light
Patches of an unfinished dream
floats towards eternity
It is quiet in the forest, this morning. The sun is just rising above the horizon, its fragile rays gently touching the trunks of the trees still damp from the cold night.
The sun has set, the water of the fjord rapidly takes on the cold color of the night. Thin cloud veils seem to swallow up the colors of the sunset, until it's dark.
An unexpected snowstorm blinds us
Even as we squint into the sunlight
Blinded, shivering, caught in the brightness
Turning away from its fierce glare
The burning, live-giving light
The soft, chilling snow
Flirting, sparkling, fluttering
...
After many days of rain, the late afternoon sun shines almost horizontally through the damp forest. It is quiet, except for a soft rustling, a song of the last leaves of the trees…
On a walk on the shore along the fjord where we used to live, the sun emerges from behind the clouds just before it sets. An enchanting display of winter colors, slowly drowning in the calm waters of the fjord.
An artwork that I made on the occasion of the exhibition 'El Duende' in 2017. I made two series of photos in the mountains near Bellano, Italy. When making those series, the theme of the exhibition inspired me. I went looking for the spirit of mountains and valleys.
It's early in the morning. The first sunlight touches the moss between the trees. And as if the forest had been waiting for it, immediately the most wonderful scents rise up and mingle with the nightly smell of thawing leaves and wood.
Spring. A gentle breeze takes the petals of fading cherry blossoms into the light. Although still far away, or perhaps just because, a new version of this artwork.
A special calm comes over the evening when the sun begins to disappear behind the horizon and the light of the day fades away. Nature awaits the night.
I love that quiet moment of the day and the scents that announces the coming of night.
Early in the morning, it's quiet after a night full of mysterious sounds. Suddenly the first sunlight hits the tops of the pine trees, the forest awakes.
Some people dream in color, other's in black and white. Many people are not sure, or hardly remember their dreams. I am quite sure I sometimes dream in surrealistic color palettes and atmospheres. But as far as I remember, my dreams are always multicolored...
In all the turmoil of the world, there are trees that remain standing perfectly straight. Offering protection and holding on no matter how severe the storm rages around them. Deeply rooted, connected to the earth and to the trees around them.
It is a stormy autumn day when, during a short vacation on Schiermonnikoog, we decide to make a beach walk. Schiermonnikoog is one of the Wadden Islands on the north coast of the Netherlands.
A gray, foggy autumn day. A day like so many, where you only see vague outlines of the path you are walking. The silence and lack of sight are oppressive at first...
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'.
Many people dream of an earth that is safe and clean, that is treated with care so that it can give enough to all that lives on it without becoming exhausted.
Only when all those dreams come to life in common sense and people take action to live modestly as a part of nature, the earth can recover through our care and compassion for all that lives, giving us what we need.
Weeping pine tree –
Blue rain falling to earth,
mixed tears of happiness.
Weeping pine tree - A pine tree on a sunny winter day, the sunlight brings tears of happiness, but mixed feelings because of the declining state of nature.
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.
It is early morning on a beautiful, sunny but damp spring day. Sunlight warms the forest floor, patches of fog rise. The trees seem to be moving, appearing out of the mist, as if they are gathering for their morning meeting.
Reaching into the highest worlds,
drinking from the three wells
Yggdrasil, from Old Norse Yggdrasill, is an immense mythical tree that connects the nine worlds in Norse cosmology.
An immense ash tree that is center to the cosmos and considered very holy. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily to assemble at their things.
Longing for that morning
I remember the garden
where I used to walk
Alone among the flowers
as the sun rose
into a long summer day
It is early one summer morning, I am walking through our forest garden. The first sunlight awakens the flowers, they open their petals and show their vibrant colors. Musing, I pause for a moment among the ornamental onions. Is it a memory or a dream?
It's early in the morning. A beautiful iris opens its flower and turns toward the sun. The petals bathe themselves in light, seeming to dance in slow motion.
Iris is a flowering plant genus of more than 300 species with showy flowers.
Iris is not only the scientific name, but is also widely used as a general name for all Iris species.
Weeks later, the allium has finished blooming. Her exuberant colors fade to an earthy brown, seed pods form where the purple has sacrificed itself so the seeds can ripen.
And then the seed pods open, the seeds slowly becoming visible...
Do you know the sound of green? No? Then listen to the birds in the trees after the rain.
And do you know the scent of green? Take a stroll through a wet spring forest, and you will never forget this wonderful scent.
Some time ago we spent a few days on the beautiful island of Langeland.
On a rainy day we went to the northern half of the island...
Trees tangled
together in green
A lonely road,
deep
into the woods
Shelter for the cold
May rain
A dark, chilly and rainy day in May. At some point the rain comes pouring down. But luckily, a beautiful lane with a tightly tangled canopy of leaves provides shelter.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A bright morning arrives fresh and new
Pine trees lean toward the first kiss of light
We walk together among the trees
as the sun climbs into a warm spring day
A special calm comes over the evening when the sun disappears behind the horizon and the light of the day slowly dies. Nature awaits the night, the trees lean against the darkening colors.
I love that intens, quiet moment of the day...
Crying pine tree –
Blue rain falling to earth,
mixed tears of happiness.
It is based on a photograph I made on a walk on a bright sunny day on the threshold of spring, in nature park Lövö, a beautiful fairy tale like peninsula on the Baltic coast in the Kalmar region, Sweden.
It was one of those typical windy Danish late summer days. Fierce rain showers passed over all day, alternating with brief moments of sunshine. On the beach, you could see the showers coming from afar, especially when they were shone upon by the setting sun.
Lost In Thought
I walked in the woods, on a path I walked
many times before, completely lost in thought
not noticing that darkness was falling, that stars
appeared in the sky, that moonlight
brightened my path. A sound brought me out of my musings...
Do you dream in color? Or in black and white? Or both, or do you not know? Are all people dreaming in different color palettes, or does everyone have her/his own palette?
Some people are always dreaming in color, other's in shades of gray, or both in an irregular variety. Many people are not sure, or hardly remember it.
Late in the evening after a sunny day. The sun is about to set, the world is waiting for the night to come. Dark rain clouds cover the sky over the lake, a rain shower passes by.
A beautiful sunny winter day. A group of gulls fight each other for a piece of bread. When the seagull with the bread in its beak crosses a wide ditch, the whole group follows; screaming as if panicking to lose sight of the seagull with the bread.
The 'Abysmal' triptych from the Infinite Sea collection comprises three digital artworks created from manipulated photographs to elicit a surrealistic atmosphere. These pieces highlight the profound connection between nature and human emotion, while they inspire a reflection on our environmental impact and urge a less consumptive lifestyle.
Huge amounts of toxic content drowns the lands Dead eyes, the earth cries The sun colors the morning in the hues of dead trees on the banks of greed How high may become the price the future will have to pay?
" The computing power for AI models requires immense – and increasing – amounts of natural resources. Legislation is required to prevent environmental crisis.* "
Why can companies develop products and services that are a danger to a human being or even humanity? And that even without making a proper risk assessment beforehand and submitting it for approval to a government agency that judges on objective criteria that protect humanity and its home?
And why, after the production and delivery of a product or service is no longer of interest to them, can companies turn around and walk away with pockets bulging with money, after which a government becomes responsible for the damage and you and I foot the bill?
So why do you and I accept that we are footing the bill for the second time? Didn’t we already pay heavily for the highly profitable products and services for the companies as well?
And why do you and I allow money, the ultimate driver of greed, to rule us to a degree that our children and grandchildren will end up in a world that is completely poisoned and unlivable, even in those locations where Western man has been able to build his destructive world in a comfortably mild climate for the past millennia?
Addicted to consuming
Are we so addicted to consuming that we do not care at all, or that we think (hope) that inventiveness and not yet existing technology will bring the solution to problems that are already so big that we cannot comprehend the consequences? And that while technology has never yet brought an solution to a big problem without in turn creating new, often bigger problems?
So tell me, what do you think a 1.5-degree temperature rise in the next decade will mean for the earth in - let's say - 150 years if it is not also and above all accompanied by an immediate end to greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and poisoning of air, water and land, depletion of the earth, destruction of biodiversity, ...?
Do you really grant your grandchildren and/or the grandchildren of your family and friends, that world?
* Note: we are already in a huge environmental quadruple crisis. Are we longing for one more? Link to the article the quote in the beginning of this post is referring too.
Artwork: Earth Cries (2), by me (of course...)
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Earth Cries (2)
'Earth Cries (2)' is a new artwork in my collection 'Drowned Earth', prints are available, contact me for a quote.
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…
Wandering between dreams and reality on a crisp winter morning, the artwork 'Blooming Winter Dreams' captures a magical 3D effect, created by Karina Mosser painting on a photograph. Part of 'The Narrow Path' collection, both original and various print editions are up for grabs—drop a message to own one.
Marshes captivate with their mysterious allure and fragile beauty, influencing Jacob Berghoef's latest 'Flat Lands' and 'Digital Art' series. His transformative digital art, derived from photos taken at Overasseltse En Hatertse Vennen, manifests in limited edition prints that embody the ethereal marshland atmosphere through surreal editing. His works are available for sale, complete with authenticity guarantees.
The first light Slowly awakening trees, for a brief moment woven in liquid gold
'The First Light (2)' is a new artwork in my collection 'Wavy Fields’.
The First Light (2)
General info on the artwork The First Light
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.
Morning glow The sun kisses the clouds Blinded by the eye
A beautiful autumn morning. The sun appears on the horizon, its warm light kisses the clouds above the fields in Kobberø, Thy region, North Jutland, Denmark.
'Kissing The Clouds' is a new artwork in my collection 'Wavy Fields’.
Kissing The Clouds - Digital artwork by Jacob Berghoef
General info on this artwork
The artwork 'Kissing The Clouds' is a digital transformation of a photograph, and will be printed 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 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.
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. But of course available in any size you desire !
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…
she lifts the shade, impatient for a glimpse of flight: a sparrow, a swallowtail— something with wings she can memorize.
The above stanza is from Laura Ann Reed's poem "As Clouds Before the Wind", and inspired me to make this artwork. Laura Ann is a poet from the US, her work particularly appeals to me. Moreover, she is a very inspiring woman; I am fortunate to have a regular email contact with her. Read more about Laura Ann and enjoy some of her poems via this link to her website. The entire poem is below the image of the artwork.
'A Glimpse Of Flight' is an artwork in my collections 'Secret Places'.
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A Glimpse Of Flight
Laura Ann's poem:
As Clouds Before the Wind
There are borders toward which she moves, although she can’t say what galaxies they lie between.
Daily, she prepares for a parting in the trees, waits for the window hinge to break, the pane to crack
and fall. She’s ready for the wind to fill her room. She has one foot planted on another planet,
and in her sleep she yields naked to the Eros of its magnetic field— its ethereal embrace. When she wakes
she lifts the shade, impatient for a glimpse of flight: a sparrow, a swallowtail— something with wings she can memorize.
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.
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…
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.
I have the right to fly To grow, to prosper The right to be To raise offspring Feed you and others To be fed myself Who defends our rights?
Does a human being have more right to a clean earth and a safe and healthy life than a bird, a tree, a flower?
If your answer to this is "Yes," then why?
Hasn't that human being forfeited that right by polluting the earth, by risking his health through bad eating habits and by using year after year more than what the earth can provide?
Does a Western person have as much right to it as a person in a developing country who has never been guilty of that unbridled consuming, polluting and unhealthy behavior?
Right or Favor?
Do I have a RIGHT to live in a healthy environment? Or is life a FAVOR of nature, which I may enjoy as long as I behave nicely and don't make a mess of my body and my surroundings, and that of people around me and people far away?
I can get terribly irritated by the cries of Western people about their rights. Right to clean air, right to clean water, right to healthy food, right to... In my opinion, we in the 'developed countries' have long since forfeited all our environmental rights, and yet we continue as if the amount of available rights for us can never be exhausted.
Wake up, it's long run out. There is no clean water anymore, no clean air, no clean fertile land. Your rights, my rights, they all stop, where and when we abuse the rights of nature.
We spoiled children, we must earn our rights for today and tomorrow and the rights of humanity in the future. By sustainable living, by consuming significantly less, by cleaning up what we ourselves have polluted.
Right To Fly
General info on the artwork Right To Fly
'Right To Fly' is a new digital artwork in my collections 'Stray Birds' and 'Digital Art'.
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…
Dreams wander between the trees, waiting, longing to be reborn as common sense in a new time
Many people dream of an earth that is safe and clean, that is treated with care so that it can give enough to all its inhabitants without becoming exhausted. Only when all those dreams come to life in common sense and people take action to live differently will that dream become a reality.
Do you ever dream about that too? And what did you do today to make those dreams come alive?
I washed myself this morning with cold water, yesterday I grabbed my bike to go shopping. Then I covered a section of the vegetable garden where the harvest is finished with a layer of shredded garden waste. As food for the new sowing season next year, to cover the soil in its resting period against drying out and prevent the growth of too many weeds...
This digital artwork was created through a collaboration with Janet Akselrud↗️, here is her website↗️. She generously gave me permission to use one of her digital artworks. Thank you Janet, I hope you like the result !
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…
Sun and rain have done their work Barnacle geese dance above the fields The harvest has begun
August heralds the beginning of the harvest season. In practice, we have been harvesting in our vegetable and fruit garden for several weeks, but the farmers around us are now gradually beginning to harvest the crops as well.
It feels to me like the beginning of the end of the growing season. It is not yet autumn, or in my words, nature's rest period has not yet begun; in fact, it is the busiest time of year for food-growing humans. But nature's task is almost over for this growing season, the fruits can be picked.
And in recent days we have seen the first flights of geese pass by, shuttling back and forth between the nature reserve where they spend the night, and the fields where harvesting has taken place, feeding on the scraps left by the harvesters.
Have they sensed that harvest time is beginning, and there is plenty of food for them? I think so...
Harvest Dance
General info on this artwork
This artwork comes in a Limited Edition of 4 per size group, signed and with a certificate of authenticity. But of course, it is also available as Open Edition print, without signature and not numbered. Prices starting at €50 / US$55.
'Harvest Dance' is a new digital artwork in my collection 'Wavy Fields'. The photo of the fields in front of or house, which is the basis for this work, is made by Anuscka.
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…
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