Johan and his woman, sleeping / 1997
I studied to become an architect so I seriously started drawing in black and white (pencil) when I was about 14.
I loved it.
I also loved the technical drawing and the precision of geometrics.
In the same time I felt the need to draw something else than what was "ordered". And because there was so much to draw for my studies I found it difficult to start.. I always loved to have that big white paper before me, as a little Big Bang before I layered down the first line. At that time it was easier for me to write than to make art.
I finished the faculty and I started my first job as an architect. i was working enormous long hours and that is when it really started, on one small corner of a drawing that I had to finish for the building site.. I just let the pencil go it's way and the first drawn friends started to appear, in the beginning a bit monstrous and disorganized.
For years I drew in pencil and very small, as I did not really let myself be an artist, because of all the limited beliefs I grew up with. My deep and at that time hidden passion for color expressed itself through me collecting bits of colored paper and color pencils.
I loved it.
I also loved the technical drawing and the precision of geometrics.
In the same time I felt the need to draw something else than what was "ordered". And because there was so much to draw for my studies I found it difficult to start.. I always loved to have that big white paper before me, as a little Big Bang before I layered down the first line. At that time it was easier for me to write than to make art.
I finished the faculty and I started my first job as an architect. i was working enormous long hours and that is when it really started, on one small corner of a drawing that I had to finish for the building site.. I just let the pencil go it's way and the first drawn friends started to appear, in the beginning a bit monstrous and disorganized.
For years I drew in pencil and very small, as I did not really let myself be an artist, because of all the limited beliefs I grew up with. My deep and at that time hidden passion for color expressed itself through me collecting bits of colored paper and color pencils.
what's growing? / 2007
Than one day I was playing with the paper and tearing it apart. It fell on a white sheet of paper and I immediately saw something I did not see before. That is how my first collage started. I made a series of 5 and I gave them as a present to different people. At that time I was not yet aware that I could hold on to them by making pictures of them so i do not have them to show but they where my amazing starting point with color and they remain in my heart as my first hundred percent inspiration moment.
The next step was that I started introducing one color in my black and whites. It was a great red or a beautiful blue. My drawings were still small.
I started working again very much and I traveled a lot so the only spare time I had I spend sleeping:-) This was a time of big creativity as an architect so my need to draw went sleeping, only to wake up a few years later. When I started again it was with lots of color. In this new beginning I was like a crazy spider (you know, after you tear apart their first three webs on that one place, there is nothing organized in their construction any more), putting everything together in one painting because of my desperation to express all the things bottled inside. I was at the time in a beginning burn-out which turned out to be long and heavy so putting things on paper felt more like making graves for all the pain. Soon enough some light began to appear on the paper and it felt good to be able to see that in my drawings even before I could feel it in my everyday life.
Mama and Son / 2010
Since then I grew (up) in my being an artist and I allowed myself to study and explore more and more artistic venues. I am in love with making art and I get inspiration from all things that come along on my path. I am an Explorer and every new material I encounter transforms into a new inspiration. I cannot and i will not put myself into one category: everything touches and inspires me and everything I touch can be transformed in art. I have a few favorite directions at the moment of this writing and I feel that (as in "real life") these directions will merge on a solid wide road to travel for me in my art.
Thank you for taking the time to read about my journey as an artist.
I hope that I can inspire and take you along in my love for color and life.
Thank you for taking the time to read about my journey as an artist.
I hope that I can inspire and take you along in my love for color and life.