Because the ArtEZ school building was closed, I could not work in the studio. Fortunately, my Mobile Workplace gives me the opportunity to explore nature and use the landscape as a studio. With my Mobile Workplace I explore various natural locations. On location I try to connect with the landscape.
To walk is an important way for me to do that, to allow myself to be amazed by the landscape and to really enter nature. The slow pace of walking allows me to take time to stop and look around. To fully absorb the environment. It’s about seeing, not just with your eyes, but with your whole body. Beams of light touching my skin, wind blowing my hair in front of my face, the smell of wet grass or sheep poo, the feeling of bark textures, the sound of swans wings clapping as they take off or the sound of caterpillars gnawing on the leaves from a tree.
When I have collected enough material (also literally, such as leaves) I can make visual work. I make prints. I document colors, textures, patterns, structures, shapes, lines, details… The leaves give me color in my botanical contact prints, the leaves give me shapes and textures in my monotype prints, the sun gives me prints and shapes of leaves and grasses during the cyanotype process. It is an intimate way of working with different natural materials, which I have a lot of respect for. Working outside is important to me. I really notice how the singing of the birds, the wind, the cold, the sunlight… affect me. I don’t have to stare out the window of my studio, I am already outside.
