bert feringa                                         painter

Since a few days a small herd of young cows is  grazing in the meadows next to my house. They are eating the fresh grass of Spring  and are happy to be outside after the long Winter. In the beginning they were a bit excited but now most of the time they are lazily  lying down to digest their food. It seems to me that they try to slow down the pace of our life. The atmosphere reminded me of a painting of the Dutch painter Gerard Bilders (1838-1865) who  was a master in painting the tranquil atmosphere of a herd of cows on a sunny day. (see above).  Bilders also had a great talent for writing. Just like van Gogh he was a fervent letter writer. But he did not have the obsessive drive of van Gogh. He was a hesitant adolescent with many doubts about his talent for painting, and often preferred to write about painting  rather than practice it. He died too young at the age of 27 of tuberculosis. After his death the Dutch poet Kneppelhout, who was his mentor and maecenas, published his diary and his collection of letters, which are very interesting to read. I painted a landscape with cows, inspired by Bilders. You can see it on the site here.