1 The material
1.1 Jus Juchtmans works with what in German one calls “Farbe”.
1.1.1 Farbe stands for paint (medium with a certain viscosity, transparency, structure) as well as for colour (red, green, blue).
1.1.2 Farbe (paint and colour) is made out of acrylic medium and pigment. The mixing of the Farbe, of the raw material is the first step.
1.2 Farbe is applied on a surface, most of the time canvas.
1.2.1 Juchtmans paints on the kind of surface that is the closest to his way of painting, and on which the paint flourishes the best.
1.2.2 The developing of the right kind of surface to paint on is painting technology, not the art of painting. Or maybe it is.
1.2.3 The ultimate surface is no surface.

2 Painting
2.1 The painter works with a fixed plan.
2.1.2 One can deviate from a fixed plan.
2.2 The painting is done horizontally.
2.3 The painting is done in different layers.
2.3.1 The applying of a layer is at the same time thinking and doing.
2.3.2 By working with many layers, the painter builds in reflection.
2.3.3 Reflection is to reason (experience, the knowledge of certain materials) and to feel (sensations, sensibilities, memories).
2.3.4 Painting in layers is like playing chess: afer each move of the painter, a move of the matter follows, and then another move of the painter.
2.4 Only those that know the rules can deviate from them.
2.5 The making of a painting never fails. It can only ask for more patience, more layers.
2.6 Mistakes are no mistakes.
2.6.1 Discoveries happen by coincidence.
2.6.2 The discoveries are the essence; what the painter already knows is less interesting.
2.6.3 The sensation, the challenge is in the struggle with the matter.
2.7 Painting is problem and pleasure.

3 The painting
3.1 What the painter thinks of the painting is relevant while painting it, later it becomes unimportant.
3.2 The painting is not a kind of secret code the spectator has to decode.
3.3 Direct references to the collective memory in the work are avoided.
3.4 Meaning cannot be excluded.
3.5 The painting is never unambiguous.
3.6 The process of painting is complex. The result is simple.

4 The spectator
4.1 The spectator is not a part of the creation of the painting.
4.2 The spectator is an essential part of the interpretation of the work.
4.3 The spectator sees colour.
4.3.1 Colour makes things visible.
4.3.2 Colour is dependent on light.
4.3.3 Light is dependent on time (moment) and space (place).
4.3.4 Colour adds time and space as variables to the painting.
4.4 The spectator sees reflected space.
4.4.1 Through the reflection, the space paints beyond the canvas.
4.5 The painting can never be captured in one image.
4.5.1 Each image of the painting works as a quote, with the same consequences.

Peter Theunynck by indications of Jus Juchtmans. 12-04-99 Translated from Dutch by Judith Juchtmans.