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.