Zeearend (original Dutch title)
Color woodcut reduction on thin japan paper.
Edition of 21.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Image size: 8 5/8 x 14 1/2 inches.
Erik van Ommen (Dutch, born 1956) has a singular passion, rendering wildlife in a wide array of fine art techniques which he each masters with excellence. He received his formal artistic training at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten Minerva in the northern Dutch city of Groningen, where his famous compatriots Grietje Postma and Siemen Dijkstra also studied. Van Ommen soon discovered his ability to capture and render birds’ attitudes quickly in the wild using the Japanese-inspired ink painting technique named Sumi-E, which relies on grayscale for all shading. These sketches can be finished en plein air or in the studio, but often also form the basis for oil paintings, etchings, and more recently for color woodcut reductions. While van Ommen paints a greater variety of wildlife subjects in oil, in his Sumi-e paintings and in his prints, he almost exclusively depicts the birds which he so loves to see close-up in nature through his telescope lens. For this initial collaboration with Erik van Ommen we feature his color woodcut reductions exclusively. These are all printed in small editions. If you happened to be as enamored with them as we are, we recommend you do not pause too long before you decide to bring home the one that speaks to you. These works of art won’t last.
