Gleeful Elephant, Nijmegen, 2011

With this elephant painted in the town, where I was born, at the studio of my dear teacher, Elly Kuipers (www.ellykuipers.nl), I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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Halo Rockshelter, Texas 2011

This watercolor I started in August. In fact, I painted the flowers the day my uncle was buried. I hadn't known he was ill and the news came as a shock. A Native American story tells how butterflies comfort us when we lose dear ones, these wildflowers seen a few springs ago, when wildflower season didn't want to come to an end, did comfort me. I finished the painting recently with images from Halo Shelter. My uncle was my mother's brother and they didn't communicate for most of their lives, they got back in touch towards the end of her life, but never saw each other again. That is why my brother and I saw our uncle for the first time at my mother's funeral. He was a wonderful person and we grew very fond of him and his family. He seemed a person valuing the here and now, a good meal, a meeting, a conversation as well as being very knowledgeable in history, for ex. He gave me pictures of my mother and even bought one of my paintings!
My mother was wonderful as well, she lived for music, books, myths, archeology and the here and now seemed to always be disappointing to her. She encouraged me in my art as much as Abbie Cotrell and my husband, Robert. I showed her pictures of the Lower Pecos Rockart and she was very interested. The 2 interpretations (shamans and stories/ constellations) would both have pleased her.
Robert, looking at this watercolor told me to make two paintings of it, it just didn't want to be one unit. I thought he was right, but ever since I had seen the flowers I had wanted to make a rockart-wildflower painting. My last try was to put mountains between the two. My mother and her brother spent the war together in their home country, the Dutch Indies, now Indonesia.

Enjoying Lost Maples, Texas, 2011

The vacation was over and I came back to Texas just in time for the fall splendor of Lost Maples State Park. I went with 2 dear friends, Irena and Tamara, and we spend the day admiring the trees.

Facing Niaux Cave, France 2011

This is the view on the road just before you reach the modern entrance. I added the animals, of course. Niaux is in the Pyrenees not far from Foix. Our trip underground was made harder, because there is no walkway. Stalagmites have been sold to tourists a long time ago (yes, I found that very sad), but new stalagmites are being created and walking on one is dangerously slippery. The only electricity is in the "salon noir", where each panel of paintings (featuring bison, horses and "bouquetin" Spanish Ibex) is lit up for a short time during your visit, the ceiling is 50 m high and the acoustics are phenomenal. It is such a wonderful place and I was glad to see how many young children were taken there on school field trips.

Niaux Cave Entrance, France 2011

People believe, this is the entrance by which the prehistoric Magdalenians entered the cave. I took the vegetation out and added the paintings which can all be found in the "salon noir"(black room or gallery). Niaux is part of a very big complex of connecting caves, Niaux itself has been visited for centuries,there are all kind of names and dates on the walls and it made me think of Tom Sawyer. We were so excited to see the animals for ourselves, but first we had to walk well over a kilometer in the dark with our individual flashlights.