Up to now, De Natura Luminis is the only digital drawing I have created.
Although I had already created several works on the computer, one way or another I never got really into digital. It felt playful at best, a bit dadaist perhaps. Maybe because, compared to my works in traditional media, these works were always finished the day I started them, and I missed the intensity and satisfaction of the long hours of work? I got intrigued and wanted to find out. So I decided to try and create a traditional looking artwork in a digital way, with Photoshop CS5 and a Wacom pen. It was the best way for me to see how far I could go. Because I felt a bit uncertain to start improvising - the kind of fear of failure that often goes hand in hand with perfectionism - I wanted some guidance. I chose to play my own apprentice and to 'copy' my Labyrinth X pencil drawing.

So, with a 1 pixel brush I started to fill a 3000x5000 pixel surface...

I underestimated the size and the work involved: compared with the size of my .3mm pencil tip, this would be a drawing of about 1 x 1,618 meters, which is about nine times as large a surface as the largest-sized pencil drawing iI ever created. In the end managed to finish it, and I must say I am quite happy with it, but, at times, it was more an exercise in self-discipline that in being inspired. And, although I do want to create more digital works, I don't exactly feel like repeating this experience.

The title - On the Nature of Light - is a variant on Krzystof Penderecki's compositions De Natura Sonoris, which I like, the first one a little better than the second one. But the music that goes best with this work is, beyond all doubt, Gyorgy Ligeti's Atmospheres.