Introduction
I was born in Zeist in March, 1947. It was around my 13th birthday that I received some watercolour pencils and a bit of instruction from Jaap, my 'Painter-Uncle'. I still have both that box of pencils and the love of painting uncle Jaap instilled in me, though the watercolours have been mostly replaced by acrylics and mixed-media. It's been a journey from the figurative to the abstract and than back to the figurative. And the journey is not over.
In Utrecht, in the 80's, my formal education was in sociology, but during that time, I was also studying with, among others, Maria Prins (Lyrical abstraction) and Jolanda Schouten (Freestyle), as well as participating workshops offered by the Kade-Atelier in Utrecht. After that, I went off on my own.
After living in Portugal for 14 years, and there having intensely both painted and exhibited, I found myself first in Leeuwarden, and then Eindhoven, later on in Dronten, Flevoland and finally in Tilburg. After all that realistic work I have done, I am now going back to abstraction. Well, a new adventure, that's for sure.