254words, 1min reading time
In deze serie blogs blik ik tot de kerst eens per twee weken terug op eerder werk. Vandaag staan mijn collages van 2020 tot nu in de spotlight. Eerder publiceerde ik al over:
In this series of blogs, I’ll be revisiting previous work every two weeks until Christmas. Today I’m putting the spotlight on all my collage experiments from 2020 until now. Previous entries within this series include:
I started collaging in 2020 and it has been at the heart of my art practice ever since. Working with shapes and colours, experimenting with composition and layering, it all has taught me so much about myself and my art!
About how many layers you can add and still say something true. About how many layers you can add and still make something that feels like one coherent piece. About complexity and how different parts decide to collide or work together.
2025:
After 20 sketches, 9 collages, 48 canvas boards, and 5 paintings on canvas, there was suddenly the bonus of 4 A4 collages on paper. Created from the leftover materials I used for the 82 artworks: clippings, scraps of mixed paint, and small clumps of oil pastel.
Tot rust gekomen
Whenever I’m having a creative block collaging always gets me out of it. That’s the reason why I keep all the scraps from earlier projects in a drawer in my studio at all times. But in 2025, when I made “Tot rust gekomen” I decided to use up ALL ink scraps from 2020 up until that moment. Because it felt like something had finally settled down and I needed to use up all the things that came before it, because all those parts mattered.
Botaniska
De “Botaniska” collages (42 x 60 cm) zijn werken waarin veel te zien en te genieten valt. Opgebouwd uit meerdere lagen in verschillende kleuren paars stralen ze een gevoel van overvloed en weldaad uit. Paars spreekt tot je intuïtie, een innerlijk weten. Samen met de vormen en de titels die verwijzen naar thema’s binnen de muziek, geven deze collages een lichtvoetige maar doorleefde levensvreugde aan de ruimte. Als je de muziek hoort kan het leven elke dag een feest zijn.
2024
Nachttuin
Dahlias brought me back to life after losing my mum in the spring of 2024. But at first I didn’t want anything to do with colours. So within a few weeks a Night Garden emerged from the shadows of loss…
2023
Botanical Spawn
Playful experiments featuring very old drawings (2018) and very new backgrounds. The backgrounds eventually found their way as part of the Botanical Family series. I’m not sure what happened with the scraps…
Enchanted Forest
After visiting The Enchanted Forest at Halloween 2023 in Pitlochry I wanted to capture the botanical shapes and shadows in a Halloween colour palette.
Shapes of Spring
Capturing the shapes and bright colours of spring, after visiting the flowering rhododendrons at Belmonte Arboretum in early spring 2023.
2022
Fiery Red
Second ton-sur-ton experiment: reds, pinks and browns.
Wild Blue
First ton-sur-ton collage experiment.
2021
Glimpses of Ink
One of my earliest botanical drawings in acrylics on top of and mixed together with more recent ink drawings.
Winter Season
This series is a combination of the most divers pieces of art I had collected over the years: liquid coloured ink drawings, ink drawings, oil paintings, acrylics drawings and even some added pieces for these collages specifically.
New Beginnings
2021 felt like a new beginning in so many ways: moved to a new home in a new town and found a new art studio. I felt optimistic but my energy was all over the place as well. These collages captured that happy chaos quite well.
2020
Lagoon
First A2 series of collages featuring liquid coloured ink and acrylics pieces on heavy paper. I remember my hand and arm needed some recovery after cutting all these pieces.
Happy Habits
Made directly after finishing New & Familiar, this series of collages represents 16 new habits I wanted to cultivate. The ‘old’ habits I wanted to replace have been incorporated within the collages – look for written bits here and there.
New & Familiar
The very first series of collages I made in the first month after I got my first art studio away from home. It was a large classroom and it invited me to work on larger series and on larger individual works.
This series felt new because of the collage aspect, and familiar because of the shapes. And it is supposed to be enjoyed as a whole, not one collage at a time.
Only 1 blog post left in this series about looking back at earlier art projects: my very first art project “Majorelle” that I started working on back in 2016. Little did I know about all the projects that would follow… 🙂