It didn’t start with a clear intention to become an artist.

It started in a practical way — with layout, with making things.
But something kept pulling underneath.
A way of looking at art that never really left.
A quiet longing.

 

It was also a moment in between.
A space where something had ended, but something else had not yet begun.
Without a clear framework, I had to find my own way of holding what was there. Painting emerged in that space.

 

I kept searching, mostly on my own, without a clear direction.
Trying things out, exploring techniques, without knowing where it would lead.

For a long time, I hesitated to enter an art academy.
I was afraid of losing myself in someone else’s story,
of moving away from something I couldn’t yet fully name, but knew was mine.

The bridge came unexpectedly.
Through my neighbour — a painter — who encouraged me to take that step.

Once inside, I encountered both guidance and contradiction.
Different voices, different expectations.
At times it created doubt, at times resistance.

But something else became clear.

I felt the need to work bigger.
To move beyond the small, controlled surface.
Large canvases opened something — a way into my emotions, into letting go.

It wasn’t about making something “better”.
It was about allowing something to happen.

Through all the contradictions, I began to realise something essential:

I had never really lost myself.
Even when I thought I did.
Even when I tried to;

 

That realisation stayed.

And from there, I made a very practical choice —
to continue working from home, on larger canvases, in my own way.

Not as a retreat,
but as a way to stay close to what needed to emerge.

More recently, another movement has appeared.

A desire to connect more directly with others.
To move beyond the studio, into the lives of others.

 

This brought me back to working smaller.
Partly from a practical consideration —
but also as a new exploration.

 

In these smaller works, I find a different kind of attention.
A way of refining, of distilling, of staying with what is essential.

It is not a step away from what came before,
but another way of staying close to it.

 

This shift is also part of my path as an abstract and mixed media artist based in Belgium, where abstract painting becomes a way to explore emotion, stillness and meaning.