Artist's Statement
“What does it mean that the earth is so beautiful? And what shall I do about it?”
- Mary Oliver
I paint to honour my connection to nature. I believe that the current crises in our society stem from a disconnection with our natural world. Our souls are no longer nourished by the smells of damp forest air, or the feeling of the wind on our skin. When nature disappears from our hearts and minds, we become impoverished, uprooted, isolated. We often don’t realise how we long for this connection until we find it again. I experienced this when I left the Netherlands for a small farm at the edge of the Culbin Forest in 2015. Here, I learned to look after the land and came to know it deeply. I spent a lot of time in the forest and had one tree that I visited almost every day for two years. The change this brought inside me was profound. I had found something that I didn’t even know was missing. I remembered things I didn’t know I had forgotten. I paint to give expression to the richness, the magic of the natural world all around us. I want people to realise that the fulfillment we are seeking is right here - in the morning fog lingering in the fields, in the crackle of thunder or in the haunting call of the Tawny Owl. I want to reveal the everyday magic of the world that surrounds us and I want us to become enchanted once more.
