Handmade paper waves drawn with ink and painted with watercolour

Inspiration from the Sea

The objects it leaves behind & the creatures that inhabit it

Handcrafted with traditional techniques

and repurposed materials

A stop motion character sails in a baobab seed shell boat towards an iceberg with an message in a bottle
Octopus made from green clay with one tentacle out of the water
Illustration in ink with watercolour paint of waves and freighter on Indian Ocean
Seahorse couple characters blue body blue green and yellow fins
Acrylic painting of Lake Huron waves with clouds and sun above the horizon
Character made with Dutch crab claw porait
Whale character made out of green clay, wire and beads
Leafy seadragon stop motion character black body green fins that look like leaves
Grumpy Crab character made from green clay, wire, beads and clothespin claw
Different colours of waves drawn in ink and painted in watercolour on paper

Bodies of water and the way their shifting tides can reveal tiny glimpses into hidden worlds has always intrigued me. As a child I would wait with bated breath, wondering what treasures would be left to collect after the soft shroud of waves and foam receded. I learned quickly what is left behind one day may not be there the day after. Changing from tide to tide, and from shore to shore, these fleeting opportunities created a sense of urgency and excitement about the sea which intensified my fascination with natural bodies of water.

The mysterious qualities of the sea and the secrets it holds still interests me as an adult and strongly informs my work. I search for natures’ gems along the shore: bits of shell, driftwood, and seeds. It’s these found objects that inspire and become part of my characters, illustrations and imaginary worlds.

My artwork includes a variety of media and yet these different approaches all share a common thread, the sea. Weather it is the sea itself, the objects it leaves behind or the creatures that inhabit it, the origin of inspiration always remains the same.

Living in The Netherlands has given me access to new inspirations brought by the North Sea. Including a Dutch crab claw that I recently incorporated into one of my stop motion characters (shown above).