Cap from Walcheren Drawing

It might have been for nostalgic reasons that ten years ago, I became very interested in my cultural background and the harbor of my hometown. I was also looking for a more personal and emotional connection with my work, so the unique and rich culture of Zeeland, a province in the Netherlands where I grew up, became my new source of inspiration. I became particularly interested in the history of the traditional costumes. When I was a child there were still many women dressed in traditional costumes, my own grandmother was one of them, but now they are mostly gone. Each region had its own style of costume and by the shape of the cap you could tell from which town or region the women came. Patterns and textures have been reoccurring themes in my work, so I was immediately drawn to the textures of the delicate lace caps and the patterns of the fabrics. In the harbor drawings I try to hold on to my childhood memories of the harbor, once a vibrant place but now in a state of decay. I still see beauty in the weathered colors and textures of the deteriorated buildings, fishing nets and rusted chains. I like to work with oil pastel and acrylic on paper because they allow me to s scratch and scrape in the surface, to create my textures for the lace and the fishing nets. In order to give my work a nostalgic quality, I use dark colors, which I associate with black and white photography from the past.