Dear art lover,

Where does the time go?

The last time I sent you a newsletter, icicles were hanging from the branches of my climbing rose! Now, the columbines and alliums are shining in a jungle of green textures. I am sorry for being quiet for so long, but it isn’t easy being a mother of four young children, an artist, and a board member of the Stadsgalerie.

I realize now that it was foolish to be optimistic about the time I would have for art-related matters. Carmen and Dimitra might be going to daycare, but I still don’t have many working hours. That’s why I’ve been less present online lately.

Things are going well here, overall. Finally, after 1 year and two months, my nights are usually no longer interrupted 8 to 10 times, but at most 4 to 5. I am still breastfeeding frequently, but Carmen and Dimitra can also go without it for long periods when I am working. The energy inside me is starting to flow a bit faster, giving me the opportunity to occasionally sneak out of bed on my tiptoes to go for a run in the morning air or roll out my yoga mat. These little things bring me joy and allow me to make big plans.

You see, doubts about being an artist as a primary source of income had gripped me once again. ‘Should I go back to university and do something completely different?’ I thought. ‘Or should I dust off that restaurant plan after all?’ But no.
It feels like giving up on a dream.
It feels like I am trying to run away from my destiny.

Time. A lack of time. But time that will come again. I am counting on it.

The fact that I thought about giving up being an artist yet again has really got me thinking. Something has to change.

In September, I am starting an entrepreneurship course for artists, and in the meantime, I am working on three different series, each with a specific theme. This is my way of trying to create unity in my work. After all, I’ve often been told that my oeuvre is “too varied.” Still lifes, portraits, landscapes, flowers, dreamscapes, watercolor illustrations… jumping from one thing to another keeps my work exciting, but apparently also fragmented.

One of the themes I want to work on is still “the imaginative child.” Almost all the paintings featuring Efisio, including my beloved Rocks in the Night (Rotsen in de Nacht), have been sold. Now it’s Artemisia’s turn to appear on the canvas (or panel). I have made a few color composition sketches that I am absolutely thrilled about and can’t wait to start working on. This series is full of imaginative elements.

A second theme is 'domestic coziness’. Even before Efisio was born, I wanted to make a few paintings about this, but the live inspiration was lacking. That’s why I shelved the plan. Now I am ready to pick it up again and shape it in a special way. To start with, I am going to paint from observation at a wonderfully cozy location.

Furthermore, I want to focus on portraiture. During my pregnancy with Carmen and Dimitra, I created the piece Attie at the Kitchen Table (Attie aan de keukentafel), which hung at the City Gallery for the past two months and received a lot of positive feedback. It is exciting and challenging to paint someone’s portrait live, and I learn a lot from it. I look forward to expanding my skillset in this area.

On RTV Noord!

Just as I had picked up painting again, RTV Noord (Dutch Television Channel) paid a visit to gather film footage. In their new segment De Kunstenoar (The Artist), a short portrait of me and my family was sketched out. Efisio wasn’t home, but luckily he was visible in a painting I made of the two of us, The Ghost Fountain (De Spookfontein). It turned out to be a beautiful, complete picture, which I would love to share with you below:

Opening of “Small but Sweet” at the Stadsgalerie

This coming Sunday, June 7th at 4 PM, is the opening of the exhibition Small but Sweet (Klein maar fijn) at the Stadsgalerie in Groningen. As a board member, I got to experience part of the setup, and I can let you in on a secret: the paintings by our 18 participating artists look stunning up there.

This exhibition is an ode to small-scale work, and I too have painted a few mini-pieces under immense time pressure. Although I felt a bit claustrophobic within the edges of my small panels, I am still very happy with the results. Of course, I prefer the free movements of the arm and wrist on a larger scale, but I can truly see the value of a cute, small framed piece. A narrow, empty strip of wall next to a large cabinet looks a lot nicer with a little painting on it.

Will you come and take a look this Sunday? Small but Sweet can be visited until August 30, 2026.

Agenda

In addition to my exhibitions at the City Gallery, there are a few other events I am participating in:

• September 12–13: Usquert Monumentaal

• October 1 – December 1: 150 Years of Hamming, de Doorrit, Garnwerd

• October 9 – December 6: Exhibition of The Dutch Portrait Prize (De Nederlandse Portretprijs)

I hope to welcome you at the Stadsgalerie or during one of the exhibitions mentioned above.

See you soon,

Anna Maria

Dear all,

It’s still January, so I can just about take the opportunity to wish you all an inspiring and creative 2026. Above is my very first two-metre-high painting, which I’ve never been able to take a good photo of. Although I made some technical mistakes while creating it, I have decided to show you this work because it represents the energy and atmosphere I felt last month.

The past year was probably the most impactful of my life, as I became a mother to not two, but four children. All my time went to my children and the household, and there was practically no time left to take care of myself, let alone pick up my paintbrushes.

My hands are itching to get back to work, but I don’t dare to put any new year resolutions on paper or make plans, as I always like to do in this first month of the year. My only goal is to live in the present.

I have learned a lot about myself and the children in recent months, and I am very grateful that I am able to spend so much time with them, whereas other mothers have to go back to work quickly. I am convinced that babies should spend a lot of time with their mothers, but Carmen and Dimitra are almost out of the baby stage and are starting to want MORE. Playing with the same old toys in the living room is getting a bit boring, so it’s time for daycare. Just one more month to wait, and then the twins will go to the kindergarten together with their big sister Artemisia.

Board member of the Stadsgalerie

Although I don’t dare set any goals, there are of course a few things on the agenda. The most important news is that I have become a board member of the Stadsgalerie in Groningen. This is a small gallery run by artists, and I am looking forward to working with my new colleagues and breaking through the loneliness that sometimes accompanies artist life.

Starting this week, I will be at the gallery from time to time.

If you would like to come and have a chat and admire our works of art, please note that I will be present at Oude Boteringestraat 7 on 31 January, 14 and 21 February.
We are open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Brebella comes first

It sounds a bit sad to bring this up again, but the launch of the crowdfunding campaign for the publication of my picture book about Brebella the sheep is my number one priority from the end of March onwards. Carmen and Dimitra will then be going to kindergarten for three half-days a week, which means I will be back to the number of working hours I had before the birth.

I can’t give myself permission to develop other picture book ideas until the first book has been printed and distributed. ‘The heron who couldn’t sit still’ flies impatiently around in the back of my mind and I have secretly made some colour sketches. I am sharing them with you here, because I have nothing else visual to share. As I don’t have access to my computer with Photoshop, the quality of the photos is not that good, but you get an idea of the atmosphere and colours.

Be quick!

January started for me with two sales of flower paintings. Daffodils and roses found their place on a new wall. I mention this in this newsletter because it often happens that people consider buying something from me for a long time, even years, and then miss out. It happened three times last year, which is of course not pleasant for anyone.

If you are very curious about whether a specific work of mine would fit well in your living room or kitchen, please do not hesitate to contact me, because it is quite possible to have the painting on loan for a while.

The story of the pomegranates

Four of my medium-sized paintings are currently on display at the Stadsgalerie. The work Pomegranates from Sa Guardia has been moved from the window display back inside this week, and I would like to put it in the spotlight because it is a still life that I am very proud of. I don’t quite understand why it hasn’t found a new owner yet!

It all started in my childhood, of course, in Sardinia. Pomegranates grow in abundance there and they are still at the top of my list of favourite fruits. But apart from that, I also have a specific memory associated with this fruit.

My best friend Mara lived in a house that was built next to the “ruins” of her grandmother’s house. It was a ladiri house, the Sardinian version of building with clay. There were holes everywhere in the walls and roof, which made the house dangerous and therefore extra attractive for children to play in.

If you walked through the house, you came out into a clearing with a single pomegranate tree. In my memory, it was always beautifully lit from above, a magical patch of green among all that dusty rubble.

The pomegranates in the painting do not come from that tree, but they do come from the same village. In this work, I focused on maximising the colour experience of the pomegranates, while at the same time opting for a fairly monochrome representation.
As a result, the colours appear very similar from a distance, but when you stand right in front of the painting, you can see almost all the colours of the rainbow. To enhance the richness of the colours, I have toned down the tonal contrast that would otherwise arise in this lighting situation.

The pomegranates are modelled with thick brushstrokes, which makes them stand out. If you walk past the Stadsgalerie, do take a look!

See you soon,

Anna Maria

Go to the radio episode

I’ll see you in the next newsletter!

Kind regards,
Anna Maria

Hi! If you are subscribed to the English Newsletter you probably won’t be anywhere near Emmen, The Netherlands the coming month. But if you are, I invite you to come and join me at the opening of my huge SOLO exhibition in the Church of Emmen. I will be there to tell about my work and answer your art related questions!

Hope to see you there!

Kind regards,
Anna Maria

Hello everyone,

It's quiet in the house.
The bread dough is rising, the dishes are done. Outside, the laundry is fluttering on the line, and the next batch is spinning in the washing machine. Baskets of dry clothes and baby wipes are waiting for me.
"We want to be folded and tidied up!"
But I say, "No."
Because it's not often that Carmen and Dimitra are asleep while the other two troublemakers are away. A day trip to Borkum, a German island.

The perfect time to write a newsletter, since the previous was already two months ago. A lot has happened in that time. Yet, sometimes it feels like every day is a bit the same. Especially now that the twins are in their four-month sleep regression and taking lots of short naps both day and night. The days are filled with managing the children and the household.
Since the twins were born, I've only managed to draw in my sketchbook twice.
And with great difficulty, I've designed and ordered new business cards, brochures, and a huge poster for my exhibition in the Big Church in Emmen.
Yes, because a very large and special solo exhibition is coming up that you absolutely can't miss. Almost all of my remaining work will be on display in Emmen. A beautiful, bright, and spacious venue where I can present my paintings in a way that suits me. There will be landscapes, still life's, portraits, and... my giant paintings.

Before I became a mother, quite a while ago now, I made a series of six large paintings based on a children's book I wrote myself. No, not just a few sentences, but a long story. "In the Old Oak" is about Noor, a twelve-year-old girl who grew up too quickly, after the death of her younger sister. When she crawls through the hole in the trunk of the old oak tree in her backyard, she enters her own fantasy world, where she is reunited with her little sister Esther. They travel through an enchanted forest, where Noor learns to be a child again.

Inspired by the story, I also made many drawings and sketches for linocuts. I was able to experiment with different materials and thus learn many new skills. Painting on a large scale was quite a challenge, because I worked largely from observation with the help of live models, which brings with it a lot of doubts and time pressure. Fortunately, I also really enjoyed the process. Painting the enchanted orchard, in particular, was pure joy, because I could give free rein to my imagination. And painting my snail models sliming back and forth on my arm was also weird, but fun.

The largest painting in the series, "The Loss", received an Honorable Mention at the 2021 Dutch Portrait Prize Award Ceremony and was on display at Slot Zeist. The works were subsequently exhibited at Galerie Bonnard in Nuenen and were in storage there for years. I'm curious to see my own paintings again and incredibly proud to be able to show them to the public.

This series is, of course, special because of the large size of the artworks, but it also marks the beginning of my work from fantasy. The paintings have therefore been of great importance in my artistic development. As a child, I had the desire to learn to draw and paint everything that was inside my head. This project and all my recent artworks are bringing me ever closer to that dream.

The exhibition will be on view for two months.
The grand opening, which you are very welcome to attend, will be on September 14, 2025.
The solo exhibition will run until November 22, and the church will be open Wed/Thu/Sat from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

I'll be sharing some fun pictures and information about the book project on Instagram regularly in the coming weeks. I invite you to take a look there too!

See you soon, Anna Maria

It's been two months now, but I didn't get around to opening my laptop and telling you the big news:

Carmen and Dimitra were born on March 27!

The day my contractions started was one of the first really sunny spring days of the year and it felt like a party. Right after breakfast I had blown out eggs, because I wanted to paint them with the kids in the afternoon. It was really hard work. Maybe that job was what got my labor started!
In the morning I cycled to the Warffumer woods with Efisio and Artemisia to pick wild garlic and go for a walk. On the way back I picked forsythia and brought spring into the house with it.

Nothing was wrong then, or at least that's how it seemed.

But after lunch I got a bit of a cramp in my lower abdomen. Was it a contraction? I wasn't sure. I convinced the kids to go to bed as I wanted to sleep. Artemisia fell asleep quickly, but Efisio crawled into my bed, because he wasn't tired. Then I felt it again, and this time it was the familiar 'wave'. I called Meindert, with the message that 'something' was going on, but still no regular contractions. Not even fifteen minutes later the contractions came a lot more often and I asked him to come home from work. In the afternoon I was still able to talk through everything and because I was busy with the children, the contractions probably couldn't reach their intensity properly.

After dinner I suddenly became very tired and I lay down on the couch. Then my waters broke and unfortunately one baby had pooped in the amniotic fluid. I called the midwife. The contractions stopped, but it turned out that I was already five centimeters dilated. In the car on the way to the hospital the contractions suddenly became much stronger, strangely enough, and of course all the traffic lights were red.

An ultrasound was done at the hospital to see if the babies had changed position compared to the ultrasounds in the weeks before the birth. Carmen had descended first and was in breech position, and the combination with Dimitra in head position posed a risk of interlocked heads. Something that almost never happens, but can still be life-threatening. Unfortunately, that was still the case when I arrived at the UMCG with contractions. While I was catching the now pushing contractions, they informed me about how it works when you get a caesarean section. Just before I was rolled into the operating room, I was at 10 centimeters. A caesarean section was really the worst-case scenario for me, but when the moment came, I accepted it. Because the epidural did not work quickly enough for me, they had to put me to sleep. Fortunately, I was only ‘out’ for 45 minutes and then I immediately had the babies on my breast. Carmen weighed 3395 grams and Dimitra 3705. I slept with my girls on my chest the entire first night.

Anyone who has had to stay in the hospital for more than one night after giving birth probably knows that you can’t wait to go home. But because of the caesarean section, that was not possible. And I had lost a liter and a half of blood, so I could only sit up without feeling sick the afternoon before the second night. But after that second night I was done with it and luckily I was in the car back home quite quickly. I got a salted herring at the Sontplein, because that is what I always crave for during my pregnancies.
The maternity week was not so romantic with the recovery from the caesarean section. At the beginning I thought: ‘This is really a complete disaster, how can I take care of my children if I am disabled?’ The babies did not grow as fast as Efisio and Artemisia had done and breastfeeding was incredibly painful. Luckily, just like with Artemisia, we had the help of our fantastic maternity nurse Bianca, who I still miss a little bit now and then. Efisio and Artemisia still talk about her.

Carmen and Dimitra have really grown a lot in the meantime and I really enjoy their smiles, their cheeks against my chest in the baby carrier, their crazy cross-eyed looks and even the way they poop very theatrically.
But it is intense.
Unlike Efisio and Artemisia, the twins had cramps and are very quickly overstimulated, which means they could hardly be put down during the day. Meindert and I walked around all the time with a baby in our arms or in the baby carrier. It it getting better though, now that the cramps are almost over. And getting them to sleep is also easier now. Fortunately, Meindert is still free for two weeks, but it will be hard work when he is no longer there to help me during the day!

Of course, there will be no drawing or painting at all for a while. I actually expected that I would have no time to doing anything artistic all year. When there is something new to report, I will of course inform you.

Until then!

Anna Maria

These are special days here in North Groningen. The sun and clear blue sky, the almost bursting buds in the upper branches of the trees and, in the grass, the first aconites and crocuses… it is clearly almost spring.
But at the same time, I feel the frozen ground crunching under my feet and, here and there, there is still snow on the branches. Winter is not over yet. That is how it feels here at home.
Not that I want to compare my pregnancy with a winter, but with a season that is almost over. On the one hand, I am still in the middle of it, on the other hand, I now realize that it really won't be long before we are a family of six. That is why we have finally arranged transportation (mama bike and bike trailer), installed the playpen in the room and also given the changing table a place on the ground floor.

Although this pregnancy is actually quite comparable to the previous two, the physical and mental strain is a lot greater. With a school-going son who no longer takes a nap, a toddler daughter who needs to sleep (just like me) and has separation anxiety, waves of viruses from chicken pox to the flu, which keep us all ending up in the sick bay... the past month has not been easy. It does me good to be outside for a while and notice the first signs of spring. I can't wait to start pruning the roses.

Artistically, I'm in a desert at the moment. Every now and then I've been able to draw something in my sketchbook, but that's it. Although it frustrates me every now and then (ahum… often), I know that my productive period will come again and after a period of apparent standstill, a kind of winter, there are always days of inspiration and new opportunities.

During these last months of pregnancy, I had the ambitious plan to publish my picture book about sheep Brebella via a crowdfunding campaign. Unfortunately, due to the wave of illness and other exceptions, I did not get around to it and I also think it is better to do it after the maternity period, when I can put enough energy and attention into the project. However, I will have the sample copy of Brebella printed soon.

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The story behind my paintings and drawings
In January I started something new: telling the story behind my work. When my paintings and drawings are exhibited, people only see a framed end result and I think that is a shame. So much has preceded it. I have been inspired, have set goals, have encountered difficulties and have made certain choices for a reason. That is why I occasionally post my story on Instagram, three or four days in a row. Because I am aware that not everyone uses this platform, I also want to share what I have written with you here.

For every painting and every drawing I have a memory and therefore a story to tell. It might seem like they are all just pretty pictures, but for me it’s experiences. Feelings.
This time I want to put one particular painting in the spotlight and tell you about it in bits:

Lime trees at Ewsum, oils on MDF, 30 x 60 cm

Every year we visit at least once the small estate of Ewsum, which is pretty easy to do, since it is nearby our home. There is a historical vegetable garden which is a treat to the eye in almost every season of the year, but especially in summer, when the flowers that stand between the crops bloom and invite butterflies and their buzzing friends to come and collect nectar. One of my favourite details of this garden is the old wall where the espalier pears grow. I might get back there one day and try to capture the beauty of those.
But in the winter and early spring the absolute stunners at Ewsum are the pollard lime trees. The first time I went to study these trees was already three years ago and it was probably one of my first plein air sessions since I became a mother. My husband and I brought our son to his grandmother and then went drawing together, enjoying the fact that we could focus on our craft without any distractions. If you want to get a feel of what the place looks like and some shots of my work in progress, I invite you to watch my video 'Plein air painting - Making announcements!'
which is on my YouTube channel. I talk extensively about my plein air gear.

Lime trees at Ewsum is a special oil painting, because it is probably the only one that was preceded by a drawing, a finished one I mean. I always start with a composition sketch, so drawing is the first step, but this time I made a larger and more detailed artwork in pencil. The drawing has been exhibited only once, during my solo at Galerie Nakaï past summer, but it was hidden in my sketchbook for quite a few years. Drawing trees has been an obsession of mine, some time ago.
I’m a bit jealous of people and artists especially, who live in countries like England, where there are many whimsical old trees. Here there are some beauties too, but in general you have to do your best to find those fairytale-like ones.

When I made this drawing, what captured my attention were the heavy, horizontal and wavy shapes of the main branches and their contrast with the multitude of finer branches in an upright direction. It was a nice tension. Also, because of the general darkness of the scene, you get this melancholy mood, which I think really suits old trees. They have this gravity about them, so light and airy lines would not be appropriate.

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You’ll understand why my inspiration for this painting was different than what attracted me when I made the drawing: the second time, the trees were pruned! So I couldn’t have fallen for the contrast of heavy and light, thin shapes.
What usually inspires me when I make a painting, of anything really, is the colour harmony. I used to fall for strong complementary contrasts, the ones who jump at you. But lately I’ve been appreciating the more monochrome scenes, not only because to me they are more of a challenge to get right, but also because I think they are more poetic.

Here in the North of the Netherlands I don’t really like the colours of summer, except for the flowers of course. But in the winter and early spring, there is a beautiful atmosphere. The landscape is full of intense greens, rusty hues of weathered leaves, purple wet branches and plants with a silvery dew on them. You feel the cold, the wetness of it all, you wonder when the stillness will start transforming into an abundance of colours and life. It is the colours of that season that I tried to capture in this artwork.

Something really exciting is the moment in which you get to see your framed artwork. I’m always rather specific about the frames I choose, because I want the color of the frame to connect with the ones in the painting. Also, I’d like a timeless look, not too classical, not too modern, not too ornamental, not too clean. That’s why lately I tend to fall always for the same series, which comes in a large variety of colors. A good frame makes the painting stronger.

The drawing is now sold, but if you’re interested in buying the painting, please send me an e-mail.

If buying an original is above your budget, you’ll be glad too see that I have an art print of this painting available on my shop. Printed on the finest paper, Hahnemüle Pearl, using lightfast ink, this reproduction allows you to enjoy the best colors and brushwork definition.

My shop

Naarden The Art Fair
At the end of the summer I started working on two new paintings from imagination, which the Bonnard gallery would exhibit during The Art Fair in Naarden. It was a great success and, a very personal painting on which you can see my son and his friend, was sold. This painting fits within the series of works that I make inspired by motherhood. In this series I want to emphasize one important aspect of being a mother, namely that you get to see the world through the eyes of your child. With these special imaginative glasses on, everything around us gets a completely different atmosphere, a completely different appearance. It's like magic.

To paint Sint Maarten I used a blurred, very bad photo. From my imagination I tried to capture the magical atmosphere that children can feel when going from door to door, in the dark, with their self made lanterns, especially when it is one of the first times they get to do it. I’m honoured that this large painting is now hanging in someone else's home.

The other work that I made especially for this exhibition is The Ghost Fountain. I painted this because my son Efisio always sees monsters and ghosts in the water of fountains. I tried to create a surreal atmosphere with a specific use of tonal values ​​and colour and paid a lot of attention to texture. Because I painted on linen for the first time since a while, I had to adapt my usual approach, with consists of applying thick brushstrokes. When you see the painting in real life, at Galerie Bonnard, you will see a certain layering.

I don't know if I'll be able to write a newsletter before giving birth and certainly not during the postpartum period. I'm now at 34 weeks, so it could be just 3 weeks before the twins are here, but my intuition tells me that I’ll reach the 40 weeks. Everything is going well and it feels like the ladies are still very happy in the womb.

Until next time!

Dear all,

Salt dough and cardboard cookies, paper stars and painted Christmas balls hang in the tree in the corner of the room. It's not a real one this time, but luckily it still smells like Christmas, because of the pomanders hanging from the lamp above the dining table. I'm typing underneath, since it's really time for the December newsletter!

If you follow me on Instagram and YouTube, you might wonder if I'm still working. I shared hardly any new paintings. In the past year, or actually the past two years, I've made so many paintings that I'm a bit fed up with it now. Always working towards a 'finished' and 'frameable' result gets boring after a while and there's no room for experimentation. And therefore also little room to learn.

Last week I took my last two oil paintings to the framer. These works painted largely from imagination were quite a challenge to make, but I'm happy with the mood I managed to capture and everything I learned during the making process. The paintings will be on display during the Art Fair in Naarden, the Netherlands, 23-26 January 2025.

Because standing behind the easel for a long time is no longer pleasant due to my rapidly growing belly, I am working on things that have been lying around for quite some time. Yes, you guessed it right: Brebella. It has been four years since I went for a long walk with my son, then still a baby, and a whole storyboard suddenly popped into my head. When I got home, I recorded it in my sketchbook. All the pictures for the secretly autobiographical book about sheep Brebella have been finished for a year now, but I have not been able to find a publisher who wants to work on it. That is why I have recently been informing myself about the world of self-publishing, but I was not very enthusiastic about that either. It is quite a puzzle. Picture books are a category of their own. Do I choose a cluster publisher or not? Can I take care of the marketing myself? If not, who should I involve and what would I be left with?

After many hours of orientation, I have come to the conclusion that crowdfunding is the best option. Because the book is in Dutch and the pictures of the typical ‘Wadden’ landscape will mainly appeal to the Dutch, I will choose the platform Voordekunst.nl, but anyone from any country can support me and make a donation. In the meantime, I am preparing the campaign and I will soon share everything about it. I am excited that my book will finally become reality and that this chapter can be closed. The pictures of Brebella are still hanging on the wall in my studio, but will soon make way for new ideas.

Last week I started with preparatory work for another picture book that I have had in my head for ages: The heron who could not sit still. Thanks to a course by illustrator Ema Malyauka, I was inspired to get off to a good start and not make the same mistakes as with Brebella. Last time it was quite a search for unity of color and style, because I only started thinking about it halfway through making the pictures. I am now doing that in advance. Looking for references, trying out material combinations and creating a colour palette were nice steps to take. And all that in my self-bound and very shabby sketchbook, on my favourite paper Hahnemüle Copperplate.

When I write it down like this, it seems like I have a lot of working hours behind me, but that is not true. In my latest video on YouTube I am honest about what the life of an artist and mother of little children looks like. I think that there are too little mothers online who give a realistic image of being an artist in combination with running a household and taking care of the children. I am lucky if I can work 10 hours a week. I am not saying this to complain, because I think motherhood is the best thing that happened to me. Since I have children, I am always inspired and more productive than ever. But building and working on an art career is not possible right now. In a few years that will be different, I know that, so I try not to listen to my restless artist inside and enjoy everything that life gives me at the moment.

Finally, in case you missed it: the group exhibition at Galerie Année in Haarlem is still running until December 29, 2024! The finissage is on Saturday December 28 at 4:00 PM and I will be there. So, if you want to talk to me, you can!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and an inspiring and creative 2025!

Warm greetings,
Anna Maria

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Dear all,

In the October newsletter I shared with you the fantastic news of my twin pregnancy, but also the concerns that come with it. I just couldn't accept that the guidance during this wonderful period was so far from what I felt comfortable with and a birth in the hospital, without my own midwife, seemed like a nightmare to me. I came up with all kinds of scenarios in my head, but none fully matched my wishes. There was no room left for thinking about fun, artistic projects and I kept feeling tired and dissatisfied.

Fortunately, I have now found a healthcare provider whom I trust and it really feels like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders. For the first time since the summer I am making plans for new videos, paintings and exhibitions. I have also resumed my good habits in the morning and I can finally enjoy my pregnancy that has been very smooth so far. Except for a few painful ligaments, because yes, the belly grows quite quickly.

This week is all about the final preparations for the group exhibition at Galerie Année in Haarlem. The exhibition runs from November 23 to December 29 and in addition to finishing the edges of a few canvases, varnish also needs to be applied. In Haarlem I will exhibit smaller works painted during the festival in Noordwijk, but also a number of paintings made in and around Warffum.

The atmosphere of this season is very inspiring and helps me enormously to paint the magical paintings for Naarden The Art Fair. The process is slow, because tonal values, colors and composition are not there to observe. Unlike working from life, almost everything on the canvas has to come from my own imagination and that is quite a challenge. What do I add and what not? To what extent should the painting be close to nature in terms of light and color? Where is the boundary with the ornamental? And most importantly… why did I do this to myself? In the YouTube video above I talk about the work process and you can see what the current state of affairs is.

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The fact that a slower work process is not necessarily associated with painting from imagination I can prove with the creation of the portrait here below. I worked on this live for a total of four mornings, but after the first session there seemed to be little progress. The difficulty of painting a live portrait is of course the changing light, when working with daylight, but also the mobility of the model and my inability to shut up and chat. When you're having a good time together, capturing the mouth and eyes in particular is quite difficult, I can tell you. Not to mention losing concentration and flow.

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Although I wasn't able to capture the expression I was looking for, I am happy with the composition and colour harmony in the end result. These parts tell just as much a story as the face of Attie, whose house I spent a lot of time in as a child. The memory of all the blue and red in the kitchen encouraged me to make this painting of her. I consciously chose to leave out certain pigments, such as burnt sienna and cadmium yellow deep. These are colours that I usually use liberally, but provide a certain warmth that I didn't think suited the space. I was able to solve the lack of pigments in all kinds of new ways and I will definitely work with a limited palette more often.

If you are enthusiastic after seeing this portrait and you would like to commission one or discuss the possibilities of painting a portrait from life, please contact me. I will be working less in the near future, but I can carefully pick up some new projects again in the summer. See you soon!

Anna Maria

Dear all,
Last month I sent you an email with an update about the unproductive summer and since then very little has happened in my artistic life. You may remember that I wrote about not feeling well over the holidays and now seems like a good time to share what's going on as it will have a major impact on my productivity in the coming year.

You guessed it: I'm pregnant! And not just like that, no, this
time it's twins.

All summer long I had a feeling that this was not an ordinary pregnancy, because with Efisio and Artemisia I was not nauseous and I didn’t feel bad in any way at all. When we were told during the first ultrasound that there were two children in my belly, I was not surprised. It is of course very nice news, but a twin pregnancy is accompanied by many more checks and also a bit more fatigue than usual. Since nine weeks I have been feeling very well, but mentally I am far away from my artistic projects and mainly focused on my mission to have a worry-free and pleasant pregnancy and delivery, despite the fact that I am under medical supervision.

I am only 15 weeks along, but the urge to nest has already set in and rearranging the rooms on the top floor, purchasing new baby supplies, but also preserving apples and quinces for jam or clearing out the attic seems suddenly much more attractive than standing in front of my easel for a few hours. Yet I still have to persevere, because in January Galerie Bonnard will take me to the Art Fair in Naarden. For this purpose I am painting two medium-sized works from imagination, inspired by Rocks in the Night. In the most recent video on YouTube you see me standing in front of an unfinished painting that is also going to Naarden.

No other obligations, other than taking some rest and giving in to my urge for domestic activities. I had to cancel some things for next spring. This included an artist in residence place in Cornwall, which I was really looking forward to.

Fall is a very special season for me. The grape leaves and rose hips color beautifully in the garden and all the trees suddenly become potential painting subjects. The apples, pears and quinces being sold along the road, in wheelbarrows or cupboards, make me very greedy and I now look with pleasure at the first homemade jam in the sideboard. I still have a crate of Seedling apples to process, but a large part of them will also go into the cake. Because this week is a party week for us. Artemisia and I have our birthdays on October 17 and 18 and an autumn party is exactly what I'm looking forward to. Where strawberry and red currant cakes were on the festive menu in the summer, I can now indulge in pumpkin, apple, walnut and pear pie. Efisio and Artemisia enjoy drawing and crafting together at the table now that it is getting colder and rainier and we have already made a lantern from paper mâche with autumn leaves on it. The Spiderman version has yet to come, because that is of course much cooler than autumn leaves.

From November 23 to December 29 you can see many of my recent plein air paintings at Galerie Année in Haarlem. I am participating in the plein air group exhibition, just like last year. Please come and have a look!

Brebella

If you are wondering when the picture book about sheep Brebella will be published, here is the honest answer: so far I have not been able to find a publisher who dares to do it and so we are almost a year further. I may try to approach two smaller publishers, but I dread waiting for a response and am considering publishing the book myself. This is of course a lot more work and as long as I still have urgent painting projects to complete, I can't delve into it. But hopefully from January I will have time to learn more about it. To be continued.
Oh and if anyone has experience with self-publishing books, I'd love to hear about it!

See you soon,

Anna Maria

Dear all,

it has been a long time since I last sent a newsletter. Last time I wrote that it was time for some rest, but I was not planning to have such a long 'vacation'. The children were home for the summer holidays and it was therefore difficult for me to get any work done. But the main reason I'm writing to you only now is that I haven't been feeling well and haven't had much energy to do anything. Fortunately, I am doing better now and I can focus on new projects. Because I worked a lot from live observation in the first half of this year, I feel the urge again to make paintings based on fantasy. The fact that I can choose my source of inspiration is what makes being an artist so much fun.

During the summer holidays, the four of us went to the south of France. We stayed in a small house along the Le Bès stream, half an hour from Digne-Les-Bains. It was an incredibly beautiful place, all rocks and winding trees, exactly what I like. Unfortunately it was so hot that we decided to return home after a week and a half. From ten o'clock in the morning the sun was so bright that it made you completely lethargic and only from about 7 pm was it pleasant enough to go for a walk again. Fortunately, at the end of the afternoon we were able to cool off at the stream, which the children did not get tired of. A thousand pebbles were thrown into the water! It was also a beautiful painting subject, with all those changing colors and flowing lines. Very difficult, yes. I think every subject has its challenges, but water... that was almost impossible to capture in a short time! As the sun turns, the hues of the reflections in the water change, not only in color, but also in value. In the end I managed to make two small works that in a way capture the atmosphere of Le Bès, but not of the spectacular rocky mountains that surround the stream.

Once home, the sunny weather continued and we enjoyed dinner with friends and family. You now know that cooking is a great passion of mine, but when it is so hot, I prefer not to spend too long in the kitchen and I like to put something fresh and colorful on the table. I am often asked to share recipes in my newsletter, so here are two popular dishes at our home, which are also suitable for a beautiful Indian summer!

My Gazpacho for 2-3 persons
500g ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 large cucumber, partially peeled and diced
1 bell pepper (or pointed pepper), seeded and chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
6-8 tablespoons of good extra virgin olive oil
2 -3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
2 slices of white bread (I sometimes do it with my half whole wheat sourdough bread)
salt and black pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend into a smooth soup. If you use coarser bread or your food processor does not have as much power, very small pieces may remain in the soup, but that is not a problem at all. If you don't have a food processor, you can also get the job done with a hand blender. Don't forget to wait until the bread has softened. Taste, season and pour the soup into a bowl. Place in the refrigerator until it is time to eat.

My red cabbage salad for 4 people
1/2 red cabbage, outer leaves removed and cut into as thin strips as possible
2-3 carrots, peeled and grated
2-3 spring onions, cut into small rings
a bunch of parsley, finely chopped
a fresh red pepper, seeded, cut into small pieces (optional)
good extra virgin olive oil
red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
juice of 1/2 or 1 lemon
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons black nigella seeds
salt and black pepper

Start the night before. Place the chopped cabbage in a bowl or sealable container and sprinkle generously with salt and vinegar. I always do this by eye, but I think it takes about 4-5 tablespoons of vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is more intense than red wine vinegar. Stir well and place the bowl or container covered in the refrigerator. The salt and vinegar make the red cabbage soft and easy to digest overnight. Stir again in the morning. When you are almost ready to serve, place the cabbage in a nice bowl and add the grated carrot, spring onions, parsley and red pepper. A generous dash of olive oil and lemon juice to taste. I like something sour in the summer, so I often use a whole lemon. Stir, taste and add more salt and black pepper if necessary. Heat the sesame and nigella seeds in a frying pan until the kitchen fills with a delicious smell and the sesame seeds start to change color. Sprinkle the seed mix over the red cabbage salad and stir gently. Serve cold.

On show until September 6th 2024

Okay, back to art. On the way back from our holiday we took a look at Galerie Nakaï in Tournus, where my paintings can be viewed until September 6. I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful design of the room, full of antique furniture and stylish ceramic dishes. Tournus is also a very idyllic village that is definitely worth a visit. If you are in the area, go and visit!

Alla prima demonstration with live model - Warffum

On September 14, the municipality of Het Hogeland will celebrate its first anniversary in the Kunstkerk in Warffum. It is also open monument day. The official opening is at 10 am and afterwards there is plenty to see and do in the church. From sculpting to drumming and from Mexican dance to felting. Together with other artists in the dance hall, I will give a demonstration of alla prima painting from a live model, from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm. So come and have a look! I will also exhibit recent plein air works in the KunstKerk together with other Warffum artists.

What to expect

In the near future I will have to pick up the work rhythm again, but because my son is getting used to primary school, my working days will be shorter these weeks than before the holidays. Nevertheless, it is my aim to post a video on YouTube every other week and to provide an update every month in the form of the newsletter. I am not teaching for the time being, but if you are already making plans for next summer, you can already write July 14 to 18, 2025 in your diary. Then I teach together with Paul Boswijk and Maarten Dalstra at the Summer Academy of the Classical Academy in Groningen. We are going to work using colorful setup with a live model.

You can always contact me for ideas for workshops, collaborations or assignments.

See you soon,
Anna Maria

Dear readers,

Tomorrow the summer holidays start. The children will be home every day and I therefore have to temporarily put the brushes aside. Actually, I already started my painting break a week ago because of reading Julia Cameron's world-famous self-help book for creatives: The Artist Way. I realized that from early in the morning until late in the evening (and sometimes also at night) I am busy with things that MUST be done, whether they are related to my artist business or to the housekeeping. I never do nothing, never read (except now) or knit.
In the past, during my teenage years, I would sometimes go for a bike ride and lie on the dike in the tall grass and stare at the sky. Or go to town for some shopping, just for fun.

I never do that nowadays.

But of course I should, because I need that rest to be able to make new paintings, drawings or illustrations. That's why I'm going to pamper myself a little more in the near future and treat myself to relaxation. I’m sure I earned that, because the past year and a half has been the most productive time of my life in terms of the quantity of paintings I made. And that with two children! I'm actually quite proud.
I talk about this subject in my most recent YouTube video, in which I also show the set up of two new portraits.

SELECTED!

I am very proud to announce that my very personal work Rocks the Night has been selected for the Summer Exhibition at The Gallery at Green and Stone in London. You may have seen this work in real life before at Galerie Bonnard, where it was exhibited in September 2023. I had to sit in suspense for a while, but I am now very happy that my little Efisio, who I painted in this artwork, gets a stage in such a special place. You can order an art print of Rocks in the Night on my website.

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Painting festival in Noordwijk

For the first time in a long time, I painted en plein air for days in a row. That was during the painting festival in Noordwijk, which I participated to for the first time this year. Meindert and the children came along and enjoyed themselves in the dunes and on the beach, while I went out every morning and sometimes in the afternoon with my bicycle and bicycle trailer, fully loaded with paint, easel, brushes and canvas. It was a very special experience to be in such an inspiring environment and also have the opportunity to capture much of that beauty. I previously thought that the Netherlands was boring in terms of landscape, compared to Sardinia. But the coast at Noordwijk actually reminded me a bit of the island of my youth, with the high dunes and the winding pine trees. It was of course a mission impossible to paint everything the way I wanted, but I am happy that on the last two days I got into a kind of flow, in which I dared to take more risks on the canvas. The fact that I was one of the three nominees for the prize and stood next to two originally Russian painters (Anastasia Dukhanina and Natalia Andreeva) whose work I really admire was another nice bonus. My paintings from the festival, with the exception of the canvas purchased by the foundation, are distributed in this newsletter.

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Exhibition in France

The garden has now passed its peak. That happened quite quickly in those rainy and windy days of the past few weeks. Fortunately, I managed to make a painting of the roses when they were still beautiful. Of course I hope for a beautiful second bloom, ideally after our holiday in the South of France, so that I can paint them.
Speaking of France: if you live there or are on holiday in the middle east of the country in the near future, I invite you to take a look at Galerie Nakaï in Tournus. Tonight my solo exhibition opens with still lifes and landscapes from Corsica and Sardinia. I will be present at the opening via a computer screen this evening and I can't wait to take a look at the idyllic town in person.

No concrete news yet about other exhibitions and events where you can view my work. Hopefully in the next newsletter! I wish you all a nice summer with lots of rest, relaxation and nice weather!

Dear reader,

In early spring my garden is full of dry branches with brown, wilted leaves. Here and there you can see the green tops of bulbs gently emerging, but there is nothing more. When I look out the window, I think: 'What a tiny shitty garden we have.'

Every summer I am amazed at how beautiful the garden looks when the roses start to bloom. In June there are so many smells, colors and textures behind our house! There is so much depth that our little garden almost seems big. The wild-looking rambler that climbs against the shelter treats me to a wonderful smell every morning, especially when the sun is shining. Further from the house, clouds of spur flowers and stork's beaks surround the more solid forms of the English roses and phlomis. This year I also have a Shakespeare rose for the first time and I can't wait to try to capture that beautiful deep color in oil paint. I know many of the readers love an abundant flower garden. If everything is blooming beautifully at your place too, I would encourage you to dive into the garden with your painting supplies.

Just like the garden, the art business also has less beautiful periods and just when you think it is no longer worth it, you suddenly see the light again. You grab your brushes, unfold your easel among the flowers and let go of your negative thoughts. In my recent YouTube video I talk about the less pleasant sides of the artist profession. Administration, marketing and the constant search for ways to get my work seen by more people are things that take up a lot of time and energy. When I have little or no time to paint, I wonder if I wouldn't be better off doing something else. Putting an end to being an artist.

I need a fall to climb up and to grow.

If you also have a creative mind, you might recognize that pattern of ups and downs. Of fully creating and then slumbering for a while.

This month I discovered why I have often been dissatisfied lately. It's because painting has become a must for me. Every time I pick up my panel or even my sketchbook, it's with the idea that it has to be something sellable. That puts enormous pressure on my creative process and is bad for my self-confidence. Because when I only think about potential buyers, I forget about myself and what makes me happy: experimenting and studying.

That's what I miss! I miss the days when I could just mess around and no one would notice. Fortunately, I have given myself permission to do that again. This is partly due to the discovery of the inspiring work of Melanie Chadwick from Cornwall. In her newsletter and on her YouTube channel she gives her followers a glimpse into her sketchbooks, which she fills with drawings of the beautiful Cornish landscape.
My own sketchbooks are full of musings, drafts of my newsletters and sketches in preparation for a larger work. Few sketches for the sake of sketching. No visual diary.

In the Explore and Draw podcast, Melanie takes you on her walk in search of a place to sketch en plein air. You hear the wind, the seagulls, she tells you what she sees and what she thinks. It's very simple and it's over after half an hour, but I really enjoy it.
By sharing what she does, Melanie encourages me to just do it too. Without too many preparations and expectations. Simply capturing what I see.

Last year, 2023, was all about fantasy for me. I then made a whole series of oil paintings and watercolors that were partly or completely created by my imagination. It gave me great satisfaction to create my own world and at the beginning of this year I made new sketches for new paintings with a magical atmosphere. But somehow it feels forced. Reality is suddenly my source of inspiration again and trying to capture the beauty around me makes me very happy. With the emphasis on trying. Daring to make mistakes in the search for the right colors, textures and movement in the garden and landscape. Fortunately, I will have enough time to practice that in a week, because then the Painting Festival in Noordwijk starts.

Do you always start a project with the idea that it should become a work of art? Then I invite you to enjoy the process more, just like me!

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Because let's be honest: painting is just a lot of fun.
I hope to have conveyed this to my students at the Classical Academy in Groningen, where I had my last day of classes on Thursday. The course was 15 lessons long and was about learning to look abstractly and the effect of color. We worked from live model most of the time and my hands were itching to join the painting. Fortunately, I was able to give a number of demos, but I am not yet satiated. Hopefully I will be able to paint more portraits from life in the near future.

No more lessons for the time being, but if you have an idea or proposal for a course or workshop, please let me know.

Art prints

I already mentioned it on my YouTube channel and in a previous newsletter: there is a small selection of art prints on my website and there is more to come! Today I want to put the art prints of The butterfly hunt and White Rabbits in the Moonlight in the spotlight. When I received the proofs, I was very impressed by the quality of these watercolor reproductions. I personally paint the originals on Hahnemühle Copperplate paper and the paper I chose for the reproductions is Hahnemühle German Etching, which is very similar. This makes the art prints almost indistinguishable from the originals, which are not for sale.

Another work of which you can also order an art print is Rocks in the moonlight. This is a special painting for me, because in it I try to portray my son's imagination. When painting the rocks and the child I used a photo I took on a sunny day on holiday in Corsica. Since it had to be a night scene, I was guided by my sense of color when composing and developing it. I have done this search for a certain dreamy atmosphere before in my watercolors, but it was the first time that I worked in such a free way in oil paint.

I am therefore very proud that Rocks in the Moonlight has been published in the second round of the summer exhibition at Green and Stone in London. Maybe it won't work out, we'll see.

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I show fragments of my own childhood fantasy in the form of drawings from my childhood in one of my latest YouTube videos. In this trip down memory lane I also discuss my first sources of inspiration and heroes from the time when I started drawing from observation, as a teenager.

Exposities en evenementen

We are almost halfway June and that means that after Noordwijk it is time for the exhibition in Tournus, France. My paintings and drawings have been staying there since May and will be exhibited from July 4 at Galerie Nakaï. A 'Meet and Greet the Artist' will also take place on a yet unknown date in August. The painting shown are a selection of Mediterranean landscapes and recent still lifes. Do you want to know how these came about? Then take a look at my YouTube channel.

Mijn YouTube kanaal

That's the update for now and I hope to have all kinds of exciting news again in July. Did you find this newsletter interesting to read and do you want more? Then it would be nice if you subscribed to my monthly content. Don't forget to tip your friends!

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Since it has been difficult for me to find enough time to paint lately, I'm looking into what parts of running my business I can save time on.

As you may have already seen, this email looks different than what you are used to. I always paid a lot of attention to the layout of my newsletters, but combined with translating them into English, that was a lot of work.

I therefore started looking for a platform where the layout is simple but stylish and pleasant to read. The choice fell on Substack, because here I also have the choice to offer more types of content.

The next 'real newsletter' will soon arrive in your mailbox and I hope you will continue to follow me on this new platform.

Sincerely,

Anna Maria

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