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.

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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."

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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.

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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 🍏 !