Wouter Tulp

[vodou]

Bumped into a comic shop at the mall this weekend. It's been a long time for me. I don't do single issue comics anymore, just trades and usually ordered online based on reviews. But I'm glad I broke with habit. Happened upon this little gem:

 

 

A Donald Duck portrait in the signature Van Gogh style. Neat, right?

 

So I go to the credits and figure out it's one of two variant covers, and I don't know any of the artist names. Do a little cell phone research and okay...this one is by a fellow named Wouter Tulp. Never heard of him, but I can tell he's good, he's got chops. And that's a foreign (un-American) name, which in my world = 5x more exciting (just the way it is). A discovery! Maybe somebody that not everybody is chasing (and priced at primary to reflect that!) I'm on the move (shopping with the wife at the mall -you do the math), so file the whole matter for more research later, at home.

 

Get home, dig in, and quickly discover this:

 

Okay, so not a fresh piece for IDW but instead re-used from a 2015 release in the Netherlands. Cool.

 

If anybody hasn't figured it out yet...I want this piece

But is it physical or digital art? Painted or linework with much digital coloring/enhancement? I'm hoping/praying it's a real painted object (ideally on large canvas).

 

So I track down Wouter online and shoot him an e-mail. At a .nl suffix. Reaching out to a dude in the Netherlands, impossible when I started doing the art thing twenty-five years ago. I mean, how would I have even 'found' him in the pre-internet era? Guess I could have stalked the line editor at IDW, but then again...what's the long distance phone bill going to look like that month?? And is this guy going to speak English? I sure don't speak anything else fluently! I still think just powering up the laptop and "doing this" is super great! It hasn't gotten old for me.

 

While I'm waiting for his reply, I bump into this:

And start to realize I'm going to have a problem. A big problem. This piece is too 'hot' for me, being at the Van Gogh Museum, and prominently featured, I simply may not be able to afford it! But now we do know one very important thing - it's painted large on canvas or board. This is good!

 

All this Saturday. Sunday, doing other things, hadn't heard back from Wouter. But now early (my time) Monday morning...an e-mail from Wouter. Oh-KAY!! Let's make it happen...

 

And so, if you thought this story was ending with me hanging the canvas on my wall, well...no. The sad, grim truth is: moments ago Wouter confirmed the Van Gogh Museum purchased it.

 

And life goes on, today is a new day, and there's new art everywhere! Pretty sure I'll find something else interesting to dig into...

[vodou]

A nice closeup.

 

 

Anybody seen it in person?

[Mighty Hal]

I've been to the Van Gogh museum, which is fairly wonderful, but didn't see this piece. My trip was a few years back, though.

 

I love this piece and I love the story of your hunt. Thanks for sharing it.

[Pete Marino]

Great story. 90% of the fun of this hobby is the hunt for me.

 

finding a piece of art that i really dig, and then tracking down the artist. It's led me to some interesting places and people.

 

Sorry this one didn't work out for you, but i'm sure one will eventually.

[vodou]

Sorry this one didn't work out for you, but i'm sure one will eventually.

Thanks but don't worry, almost all of them do which is why I'm perpetually broke

It's okay to skip one occasionally as long as it's gone to an even better home. I feel that's the case here.