Marjolein Petersen

"Colors and shapes bring me into contact with the source of my life force that has been tested many times in my life.

I discovered this in 1996, when I was 42 years old. I had studied anthropology, had been a costume designer for theater, journalist, policy officer at the municipality; it didn't really suit me. During a crisis in my life I decided to start painting and that is where my real strength lies.

To learn the trade, I took lessons with artists who fit my way of working, such as watercolor painting virtuoso Jan Paul Hofman and Michiel Dhont, founder of a special method for intuitive painting.

My painting process manifests itself from silence. This means that I don't start from an idea but wait until an image comes to mind about color or line. I am guided by my hands. As they move across the canvas I come into contact with the deeper layers within myself. I am working and at the same time I am the spectator. From what appears on the canvas I see whether I paint from freedom or from thinking. If the latter is the case, something comes out that has no life in it. The vital force only comes out when I let everything go free, moving with the flow in an intimate dance with my deepest sense of existence. Sometimes this happens in one flowing movement, but often it is a continuous exercise in letting go, getting stuck in thinking and letting go again.

A painting is finished when it resonates with my origin. I hope that everyone who looks at my paintings remembers their own life force. Lots of fun!"