Behind The Art

behind the art

Hey!

Before you think I’m a sad, moody, miserable person to be creating the art that I create - you’re wrong haha! I’ve gotten the question; “are you feeling sad all the time?” a lot over the years! No, I am not a sad, moody person at all myself. I am just passionate about creating moody melancholic art. Let’s go back to the beginning!

I was born and raised in the Netherlands and grew up in a creative family. Surrounded by my mom's handwoven creations and the smell of clay and paint, I spent my childhood drawing to the sound of my dad playing piano. Enough inspiration, right? I couldn't quite find my niche though, and being a restless teenager, I wanted to go “travel the world”. At seventeen years old I met an American guy online whom I fell in love with. A year later we met in real life, we got married, and I left my country to be with him in the United States. I lived there for ten years, and we had amazing adventures together. After having children we decided to settle in the Netherlands for a few years. Seven years and five children later we missed the USA and moved back once again. We now live in beautiful Colorado where I homeschool our children and continue creating art. On the weekends we like to go for long hikes with our kids to enjoy nature.

I spend my days creating art from my humble home “studio” in our house. I start the day making breakfast with the kids, spend a few hours homeschooling, and then start my work day. My favorite medium over the years has been pastel pencils and the majority of my work has been created with this medium. Recently though, I’ve really grown to love watercolor and I’m becoming really passionate about painting. My art is dreamy, whimsical, and warm, and often portray portraits of sad women. There’s something so beautiful about sadness, and I feel like many women cover up or hide their sadness or emotional pain. My girls are my way of expressing that sadness and hurt are a part of life and that we need to accept it to feel true happiness. I hope women can relate to my paintings, and I can inspire them with my art this way.