Bruce Holwerda’s passion as an artist is the wonder of experimentation and thrill of seeing results of a finished piece. That experimentation is playing with a medium and having fun with a subject and composition. A fan of many forms of art, Bruce loves studying photo realistic landscapes and wildlife paintings but he is equally in awe of modern glasswork and bronze sculpture. When his creative spirit kicks in, however, he paints.

It is not unusual for Bruce to have more than one painting in process simultaneously. Defining and redefining his paintings in a continual process tends to allow for every completed piece to lead to the next. He begins with a strong idea of the type of pose or figure that he wants to paint, but the designs, colors and even techniques come during the painting process. As a visual artist, it is Bruce’s goal to master the skill necessary to translate the ideal image conceived in his mind’s eye to a tangible form.

Bruce believes that it is important to put a finished piece out of sight and out of mind for several weeks, while continuing to work on other projects, until he has detached himself from the last finished piece. Confident enough to bring pieces back out to critique; Bruce believes a fresh eye will reveal whether or not he has succeeded. Bruce finds there is always a struggle between the balance and form the eye understands, and the emotional involvement invested in the work. It is also very important to him to bring the finished pieces out to meet the public, to display them in unfamiliar surroundings, and to listen to the comments and wonderings of art patrons.

People always wonder where Bruce gets his ideas and titles for his works. In reality, he suggests that in a painting session years ago, he veered off course a bit and took a serious pose and got wacky with it. It was then that he realized that the creation was what he was supposed to do. As for ideas, Bruce says that there are no shortages of them. When working with whimsical surrealistic subjects in a fantasy world, the real question should be, "Where does he find time?"