Bajau fisherman #2, Sulawesi Painting

From age 4 to 8 I lived in Lima Peru. My Steph father developed schools in 'los Pueblos Jovenes'. In the Netherlands I studied Communications and Design. At this time (1991) I became the singer of the most popular Student band in The Netherlands, The Hermes House Band. Our songs ' I will survive' and 'Country roads' became, among 10 other songs, a worldwide succes. In 2023 we even reached 100.000.000 streams on Spotify. I married my high school sweetheart and we raised 3 beautiful kids. In 2013 I decided to become a professional painter and so I did. I graduated at the Wackers Academie of Art in Amsterdam. My teachers are my biggest inspirators. Jim Harris, Sam Drukker, Robbert Vorstman, Rogier Willems, Maarten Welbergen, Tatyana Yassievich, Irma Braat. For graduation my work was judged by Koen Vermeule (among others) and also he is an artist I admire. Carlos Sagrera and Gustav Undin are my current inspirators. I also admire Arnout Killian, but it all started with my love for the work of Edward Hopper. In 2021 we decided to move to Bali. This is where I live and work at the moment. In my work I focus on daily scenes and subjects. The shadow of the tree on the tiles; the sunlight in the room; the view from one room through the other; the reflections on the floor; and the rhythm of lines in the stairwell. Figurative, but with a twist. Not just a nice picture, but everyday subjects with a melancholy touch. It's about time and stillness. It's about our transient live. Melancholic and beautiful. With a main focus on light and dark, strong lines and reflections. If you look at my work, you wouldn't tell that I'm actually a chaotic dreamer who could loose herself in time and space. As a child I did. Along the way I created structure in my daily life. I learnt to organize my living space. I never used an agenda so all that mathers is in my head, on small papers and in my sketchbook. Moving to Bali created a new kind of chaos. The sound of bikes and birds, the overwhelming colors, the organic forms of the jungle and chaotic architecture took me completely out of my comfort zone. It took almost a year to reorganize and discover structure and stillness in my new living space. Bali's ongoing rituals and spirituality are my new inspirators. I got caught by Bali's morning and night sights. Bali's magical sunrises and downers. I started to paint my daily view from the villa that we rented.