About
I look at my paintings, speculate about them. They baffle me, too. That's all I'm painting for.
- Philip Guston,
(Source: Martin Gayford's How painting happens (and why it matters), 2024)
visual artist
As a curious and creative person to me life is all about discovery, investigation and expression. This is one reason why I consider the artmaking process at least as important as the final product. I experience the painting process as an experiment in the unknown. It concerns a balancing act between hope and fear, between futile holding on and hair-raising letting go. It is this so-called struggle that is the major challenge and fun of it all. And when I manage to overcome the obstacles the paintings put forth and create something which appeals to me, it's pure bliss.
I have been pursuing photography as an amateur, mainly on my travels, and as an input to my painting. I never travel without my camera. So far I have been guided by my eye. To professionalise I have embarked on a photography training. It has been, with hindsight, my love of photography, and colour, that led me to painting.​
​ My motto is ‘Journeys with and without maps’*. I live, travel, paint and make photos with and without a plan or map. As an artist I am always on a journey of discovery, on my way into the unknown, to something new.
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​* With a wink to Graham Greene's travel writing Journey without maps.
mixed media artist
My focus is on making abstract work. I also enjoy making representational paintings. I love to apply a mix of materials in my paintings, hence: mixed media artist.
It is my wish that my work inspires and moves the viewer. I aim for my paintings to be both bold and subtle at the same time, so that they are interesting when viewed from afar as well as close-up.
​ Factors that play an important role in my creative process are my intuition, experimentation, and layering/subtracting to add depth to the paintings. Whether I work from an intention, or just start and see what comes, the work always requires going into the unknown and taking risks, and always involves reacting to what is in the moment. Because the end result is unknown to me until it's there it is always a surprise. I usually work on a series of several paintings simultaneously. While the pieces in a series are related, each piece has its own individuality.
For my abstract work I use acrylic paint and a range of other materials such as crayon, neo-pastel, ink and collage paper. For my realistic work I use soft pastel, while my main source of inspiration is nature, especially flora. I have also explored water colour for painting landscapes.
Education & other pursuits
I received my art training through various programs at home and abroad, notably the online Creative Visionary Program (CVP) by Art2Life/Nicholas Wilton, USA, and Nikki van Es through the Gooise Academy, the Netherlands.​
In an earlier life I had an over two decades’ long career in development cooperation, of which many years with UNICEF. Ten of those years I lived and worked abroad, mostly in Africa; also in New York, London. I graduated in Economics (MSc, Univ. of Amsterdam, 1989) and Health Policy, Planning and Financing (MSc, with distinction, London School of Economics, jointly with London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 2000).
​ I travelled extensively around the world. While living in Africa I used to drive to remote areas to meet and photograph the traditional nomadic peoples, which resulted in a collection of portraits. Back home I wrote a non-fiction book (as yet unpublished) on the immigration process of a severely traumatised African refugee in the Netherlands, whom I assisted for four years, which included a one year stay in my house.
​ I'm a Dutch national and live close to Amsterdam.
Exhibitions & Memberships
Exhibitions:
Uitmarkt Huizen, September 2024
Open studios (Open Atelier Route), Bussum, June 2024
Group sales exhibition in pop-up gallery/art center Artes Bussum, Dec. 2023 – April 2024.
Group exhibition for emerging artists, Majella Kapel, Bussum, the Netherlands. 7 October 2023.
Art Fair Bussum, the Netherlands, 16-17 September 2023.
Group exhibition IWS Holland (Dutch branch of the International Watercolour Society), June 2022.
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​Memberships:
Artes Bussum, the local professional artists society
Art2Life Academy (Nicholas Wilton)
Art Tribe (Louise Fletcher)
Dutchies in Art (an informal group of Dutch artists who all went through the Art2Life CVP program)
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