Category: articles

5 min read I’m not so much preoccupied with (finished) paintings as I am with (the process of) painting. Pieter Stoop As I was browsing the website of Het Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch, as I do from time to time, this quote reeled me in. I had never heard of Pieter Stoop before. Apparently,…

10 min read This summer, I was blessed to spend a whole month in Western Canada. There was nothing normal about this trip. And even though, I’ve been to Canada several times before, in a way it felt like it was the first time. Doing things differently, allowed for me to see things differently. Basically,…

5 min read I know I have said this before. And it seems like I keep saying this to myself. But what if I would let go? What if I stopped trying? What if I just did what lights me up? What is the worst thing that could happen? I’m going to share with you…

5 min read I am beginning to understand how my trauma responses are mind-body patterns that get activated when triggered. It’s like pushing a time-machine button. All of a sudden, I feel all that I was feeling at the moment the wound was created. Becoming aware of all these mind-body patterns helps me to recognize…

5 min read Self-love is hot. If you have to believe social media self-love is treating yourself to pedicures and spas. It is about physical health and beauty. With some mental health and compassion scattered about. And while all of these can be acts of self-love, they are not self-love. Self-love simply is loving all…

6 min read It appears balance for me is very different than what I believed it to be. I always compared balance to walking a tight rope. I only now realize that was a projection. I described with precision a deeply rooted belief I held about life. I was not allowed to do anything wrong.…

5 min read It’s been four months since my life got turned upside down. (If you did not read that blog, you can read it here. This blog will make more sense if you do.) Four months in which I have been processing. And I still am. I’ve been quiet, because I had no words.…

6 min read I have an agreement with Life. I don’t know how it came to be. But it is one of the things I am sure of in my life. I share my journey in words. I don’t know how or why, but that’s how it works. I write about the mountains of coal…

10 min read Doing The Artist’s Way is a process you will not love all the time. That’s a given. Writing your morning pages every morning will bring up shit you had not anticipated, or better you have not been able or willing to face for a long time. That is upsetting, to say the…

In order to be creative, we need to feel safe. It is only when we feel safe and accepted that our creativity blooms. I figured that much. And it explains a lot. I don’t feel safe. I don’t know what it is to feel safe. I did not get the gift of emotional security. I…