"In 2014 I left my familiar life in The Netherlands behind and moved to Australia to reconnect with my creative side. From there, I travelled to Lombok, Indonesia to make one of my dreams come true; learning to surf. On this island everything aligned - so in 2015 I packed my life up once again. A tiny fishing village became my home, surfing a new passion, I met the love of my life and found a job.

For three unforgettable years, I lived ‘the simple life’. In a little cabin on the hill surrounded by lush jungle, overlooking the bay where I surfed almost every day. It wasn’t all picture perfect; the pothole-filled 'road' in the village turned into a mud bath during monsoon season, it often rained in my bed, I had cockroaches, snakes, rats and monkeys as unwanted pets, dealt with long power cuts and the first year and a half there was no internet, to name a few examples...

Higher highs and lower lows. I felt alive.
 

I remember a night where I lay awake. I was daydreaming about making resin art for the thousandth time and worried about how much money I'd have to spend. Being on local wages had made life challenging at times and art materials were a luxury. I had been working for Lombok’s first surfboard shaper for 1.5 years and had become obsessed with resin through learning glassing. I was seeing the ocean's textures in everything around me, and had a strong urge to recreate them. That night I just decided to do it. I didn't sleep at all, I was so excited. For some reason there was this raging adrenaline in my gut that told me to go for it. I spent my year's salary to invest in materials. Half of it then got ruined due to the humid climate and Indonesian Customs. I was broke and had to borrow money to pay for my health insurance at 26 years old...

At the time I was the only one on the island trying this type of art; there was nobody to ask for advice, no art stores, not even a factory that sold the wood that I needed to make painting panels. The closest city was a three hour drive and had very limited options. I had confused locals laugh at me on a daily basis when I tried to explain my plan. So in the end I had to import everything from overseas, and it took nine months to arrive because the unpaved 'road' I lived on didn't have a street name. I accidentally covered my bedroom floor in resin and almost set my wooden house on fire. I drove around for 5 hours once to find wood so I could build my own panels and I wasted hundreds of pounds experimenting with this medium to find the techniques and textures that I wanted to achieve. 

But I just could not stop.

Besides resin, another big love of mine is turning surfboards and skateboards into "Rideable Art". Working for Banyu Surfboards in Lombok gave me the perfect platform to express myself by making custom designs on their customers surfboards. I can spend hours getting lost in little details, blending colours and painting florals.

Resin art on the other hand, teaches me to let go of control and perfectionism, because usually the unplanned sections turn out to be my favourite. Resin is a crystal clear and free-flowing liquid, creating depth in solid form. Layering textures and colours and observing the chemical reactions that occur during the process, make the time and my surroundings disappear.

In 2018, my partner and I moved to Australia to set ourselves up for the future. I was deported after six months, which led us back to The Netherlands for a few weeks before making a new base in Cornwall, United Kingdom. I have been a full-time artist ever since and my work has found homes in 22 different counties worldwide."