There is an industrial area outside the center of Bruges that most tourists don’t see. Perhaps for good reason. It’s the harbor that leads via canal to the port of Zeebrugge on the North Sea and is about 15 kilometers long.

I really like the geometrical shapes you can find there – at scale – especially when illumined by light. A few years ago I noticed the late afternoon light hitting some big ugly buildings at the edge of a scrubby dry field on the Pathoekeweg (the road that runs along next to the harbor). Nothing to see here? I beg to differ.

Last summer I did a drawing of the grouping, intending to create a watercolor first, but in the end, just transposed the drawing to a gessoed panel so I could jump right into oils. The panel-drawing was done in silverpoint and India ink. I shellac-sealed it then waited for a warm, sunlit afternoon. A few days ago conditions arose; I packed up my gear and headed off to see what might happen. On arrival, at 4 pm, the light was OK, but nothing spectacular. Yet as the afternoon waned and early evening approached, it all got glorious. By 6 pm I was singin’.

The painting you see here was created in a two and one half hour session. At the time I had treated it as an underpainting, fast and loose, fully expecting to return for a final session. But the more I live with it now, the more I recognize that there is no need to do that. Sometimes less is more.

If you are interested in hanging this on your wall, please contact me.