Hello and welcome.

Congratulations on spelling my last name correctly. It's a tricky one.

Unless your Dutch.

Speaking of being Dutch, did you know that in the 1600's Holland was the place to be for making seascape paintings? Ya, it was super popular. So even though I'm born Canadian but of Dutch lineage, I carry the torch for painting the ocean. It feels good to belong. Now, the Dutch did have a world class naval fleet and managed to fight back the sea and build a country below sea level, which I have not done, so it's not quite the same thing. I would, however, like to draw your attention to the woo woo part of my art.

My work explores the connection between meditation and nature. Are you asleep yet? No?! Great! Hang in there. The ability to stay focused on one's breath during meditation serves as an anchor to maintaining presence and calm. As breath focus develops it eventually leads to feelings of expansiveness and a richer, more meaningful connection to the world around us. And who doesn't want that? The breath itself has become part of my imagery, represented as hazy colours that settle the underlying scenes. I have found the natural world, the ocean in particular, to be a great source of attunement. It's rythms, vastness and varied states of stillness or turbulence reflect our inner worlds.

These images are created by applying acrylic paint directly onto my large format photographs to create a seamless image that transitions between abstraction and realism. This process reflects the connection between our emotions and how they affect our perception of reality. Using thin layers of acrylic to build up colours and enhancing parts of the image with impasto, there is an emotonal component added in that reflects my experiences of nature more accurately.

Over the past 20 years my work continues to be featured internationally in galleries, art fairs and magazines, and is part of private and public collections including Air Canada, the House of Armani, and the Canadian embassy in Iceland. I studied fine art at Medicine Hat College and went on to receive a Bachelor of Design from the University of Alberta in 1995. My studio is currently based in Toronto.

Now, on to the good stuff.