CAMDEN — Ronald van Heeswijk has picked his brushes up and begun painting again; but, it hasn’t always been that way. A resident of Camden for 35 years, he made his living as a carpenter. Now semi-retired, it’s time to reacquaint himself with a love he had so many years ago.

The Dutch-born van Heeswijk painted since he was 17 years old and made a living at it in Finland.

“When I was in my 20s I was selling art in Finland and Sweden,” he said. “That was very successful. I would take a ferry to Finland out of Germany, pick buildings that had lots of offices, set up, show the art and people would flock to the work.”

He said it was inexpensive art, but he mastered his technique.

“Some of those paintings were repetitive, but I did very well by them,” he said.

When he lived in New York he attended the Art Students League.

“I drew there because I didn’t want all the paraphernalia,” he said. “I just had a big sketch book, which I still have. I’m semi retired at this point, and I have more time.”

As B.B. King once said about a guitar, “If it ain’t been in a pawn shop, it can’t play the blues.”

Ronald van Heeswijk has applied that philosophy to his canvas.

“I started to pick up these canvases at the swap shop, just so I could put white, chalky paint over them and repurpose them,” he said. “And it’s the same with the frames; they come from the swap shop. The paint, I had.”

Where do the ideas come from?

“At my house, every time there was a big celebration, we would have a piece of plywood painted flat black and everybody would do something on it,” he said. “I had the paints, so it wasn’t like it was a big investment for me.”

“That’s how it started. Some of these were a point of departure from a picture or idea. I would switch things around; there are no direct copies of anything. And I would take liberties with the truth. You can do that as an artist, take liberties.”

There were lots of his landscapes hanging in the Owl and Turtle, 33 Bay View Street, where we met to talk.

“Many of those scenes are from France,” he said. “They started as a black and white photo, or a sketch. With all these canvases I’ve collected I see myself painting more and more. The prices are moderate. I have $475 on some of the larger canvases because I want them to sell. I don’t want them hanging in my house.

“If anyone wants to talk about the paintings, their scenes and details about where they are from, I’m here at the Owl and Turtle every morning at 8 a.m. having coffee. They can see a sampling of the work and I will give them a lengthy explanation of the landscapes, or structure we’re looking at.”

The Owl & Turtle is owned by Elaine Knight and her husband, Rick. Besides offering a wide selection of books, there is also a coffee shop located in the store serving a variety of regular and specialty coffees.