From the moment that I had a pencil in my hand I started drawing. Even at school, where I was often punished for that. But bitten by the drawing microbe the punishments were never enough to stop me from drawing. I really want to draw and paint things that I see, love and admire. Back in those days horses were my favourite subject.
In the 70's art material was very expensive. From my very little pocket money I bought pastel pencils one by one. A gum, drawing paper, graphite pencils,... I always felt so happy in the art shop, even when I couldn't buy the things I was longing for.
In my bedroom I drew a lot. Sometimes I was very happy with the result, and other times I felt frustrated because I wasn't able to catch what I had in mind. But I never gave up.
During high school (in Belgium that's what we call the secondary school, from 12 to 18 years) besides my regular lessons I've got extra drawing and painting courses from our art teacher who saw the eagerness in me to learn and create. She learnt me a lot. All kinds of techniques passed the revue. I'm still grateful for what she did, because she wasn't paid to do this! And more, because I never had the support from my parents to draw and paint, as they were afraid that I would never be able to earn some decent money.
I got married. I still kept on drawing, but the birth of my children didn't give me the needed time. After a few years I returned to the drawing. But this time I was particularly interested in oil paintings. I watched artists painting and I loved (still do) the incredible details that one could paint with that medium. I had a strong preference for hyper realistic artwork. Those artists were the only teachers that I had. They never knew that they were my teachers.
Around the age when my youngest became 9, I stopped drawing and painting. I didn't have the time anymore. Two years later I divorced from my 1st husband. And I married my second husband, a musician, who was and still is a big support for me. He understands my needs and the time it takes to create something.
I don't have anything of my former work anymore. My ex and I weren't divorced in friendship, so everything remained in my previous house. Pity, but that's how life can be. I never look back.
And now I made my first steps into watercolour. Times have changed, and so do materials. What you can buy these days is incredible compared to when I was a teen. Back then I found watercolour quite hard to work with. I still do. It's so different from other kinds of paint or pastel pencils. So I bought me watercolour pencils, and my oldest daughter who is a painting artist gave me a Daler-Rowney Victorian water colour pan set . I bought new brushes and got started. Trying to paint things on my own. But I realised that I needed more. I really needed education to learn new techniques.
Amazon is a world filled with wanna-have-things. I try to resist, really, but it's hard ;-)
My biggest influences:
- Carl Brenders
- Marjolein Bastin
- Sarah Stokes
and many others.
