I have been interested in pencil drawings and etching since high school. My arts teacher wanted me to produce a portfolio for an art college in Amsterdam. But instead, I enrolled in Geography/Geology at University and my drawing skills came in very handy for assignments in geography, botany and geology. After finishing my PhD in applied physics, I emigrated from the Netherlands to Australia to take up a job at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, as an environmental scientist. Many fieldtrips, from the tropics to the poles, left me with a wealth of slides/photographs to draw inspiration from.

I started oil painting under the tutelage  of the late Frank Hodgert (in 2005)  and more recently (2021) with Margaret Ng. Through the Nepean art society, I’ve made some good friends and learned a lot in a short period of time.