What I try to show, to feel, to see breathe in my paintings is the strength, the presence, the power of these beings called plants, weeds, grasses, in short, flora. When I was young, I loved to take the schoolchildren's path through the dunes and woods along the Dutch coast. And then, at the age of eleven, I started making drawings, sketches and washes. After my training at the Royal School of Fine Arts in The Hague, at a certain point I wanted to forget traditional techniques and began to paint more directly, more spontaneously, perhaps more euphorically. I add layer upon layer of paint and bring meadows, foliage, flowerbeds and wild gardens back to life. Flora is an invasive inspiration.
