Herman does the cleaning up. I get to paint the results. Yes, the fall is turning slowly into winter. Small birds are going for the sunflower seeds and we are bedding the garden down for the cold weather.

Here in Holland if you have achieved some unbelievable feat, you get flowers. Always flowers no matter what. Here you are Barak Obama. Congratulations with flowers. We are very happy with you and your family.

In 1980 I painted this book cover for a Dutch publisher. The book is "Adriaan & Olivier met Oerkoendoe" by Leonard Huizinga.
For art lovers the painting I used is obvious=Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe by Edouard Manet, a painting I have always loved. Copying masterworks is a century-old way to intensely study the work of an artist one admires. Once again, as in the 19th Century, you can now see students painting in museums. I take my hat off to anyone who dares this. Sorry to say I did not go to Gare D'Orsay in Paris to copy this Manet and to substitute the lovely woman bathing with a cave man. I did enjoy painting it in my studio and I still have the original.
I Blog this because I have begon a new series of paintings based on paintings by old masters. My next Blog will show the process.