Painting is in my blood. I always think about it, breathe it and live it. It is my passion.
Originally from the Netherlands, I learned to be resourceful and industrious from a young age. This comes with growing up on a farm. My studies took me to Tilburg Katholieke Leergangen where I learned about the history of art, fashion, design and printmaking. With teaching degrees for both art and crafts, I taught high school for five years.
I moved to the United States in 1974 as a young mother of three sons, and there I used materials economically and worked mostly in fabric appliqués, which gave rise to my work in fiber art. In 1979 I started to make monotypes, some of which I reworked into collages. My fibercollages, paintings, watercolors and mixed media are figurative and all linked. They depict an imaginary universe with landscapes, people, still lifes and dreams—often inspired by real events and people.
My most recent pieces are inspired in part by my grandchildren, who are artistic in their own right. They, and so many others, inhabit my thoughts and dreams.