About my artwork

It has been an extraordinary process to get to this point. 

In the sector of art, culture, creativity, there are no stipulations or conditions that something must meet before it’s finished.  And most artists forever doubt whether something is good enough to bring out there. 

That’s how it went for me too for a long time.

But then there’s that forever smoldering fire inside that won’t be extinguished, that won’t be dimmed.  It wil be drowned out for a while at most, but that will not continue to work.  As a child I was always very happy when I was allowed to open the box of my crayons in class.  What may have been nothing special to my classmates at the time, was a sensation for me.  The smell of the wood was overwhelming for my inner being and opened doors that still give me that wondrously happy feeling. 

But that experience, that perception was not important for the current school system.  Attention at school had to shift to other things, and my crush for the box of crayons became a little overgrown with the multitude of other things. 

It has taken some inner work to remove the thorn bushes, to clear a way to get to my “love”, and also to give it a place as such, neither to be denied nor to be diminished.

So I actually feel like a fish in water with my crayons. 

And I have finally come to honour that.

I spoiled myself with beautiful wooden boxes of colors arranged in rainbowstyle.

While working I love to sharpen them and I can endlessly enjoy the sound of that and the smell of the wood shavings in the jar in which I collect the sharps. 

Also a jar with a history, because it was once a gift from my grandmother, my mammie, when I first moved in chambers during my higher studies.

 

I choose my colors carefully, and am currently working with Derwent’s Coloursoft pencils.  I also use Derwent’s Watercolor pencils for certain aspects of a drawing.  And because the auxiliary lines of a mandala are sometimes useful, but have no function in the final drawing, I also use markers to be able to erase the unnecessary lines afterwards. 

 

I like to work on paper with a certain “grain”.  Not too much, but certainly not too little as well.  I like the structure that arises when I color.  When I mix different colors, that grain also ensures that the nuances come into their own. 

For me it is important that the same structure remains visible in the prints.  This gives the final result on a print something very organic, so that it stays utterly close to the image of the original drawing. 

 

Coloring is a meditative activity for me.  Every piece, every area of a drawing is recolored several times because I combine many layers of colors.  I like the slowness that comes with doing so.  I love the wonder of the new color when one layer mixes with the other.

 

At the time of this writing I work with a scanning company (specialized in artwork) and printer near my hometown.  That is a conscious choice.  No Print-on-demand at this time.  I have given a lot of care and attention to finding good and constructive collaborations, qualitative imaging while preserving the initial colors and atmospheres that I intended for the original.  It has already been an exciting road to get here, but I feel a lot of gratitude towards the people I work with.