How long have you been drawing? I haven't kept it up continually. After my second child was born, I stopped. I was studying biology at the time, helping my husband in his practice for small house pets and I wanted to take care of my children. We had four young children, so I became too busy to draw. Seven years later, when my youngest daughter was three years old, I painted a famous comic strip figure on the windowpane of the school. After that I slowly, but gradually began to draw again, although the children and my husband's practice still took a lot of my time. Last year my husband sold his business. And nearly all of the children are now in secondary school. So I now have more time. When did you realize that you wanted to become an illustrator? Many members of my family on my father's side have painted. My grandfather restored icons, my aunt fired pots, and my uncle was a calligrapher. But drawing was something you had to do in your free time. If you were clever, you enrolled in a study programme. In secondary school I thought that illustrating books could be combined with having a family. But in those days building one's career around a family was considered a daft idea. Besides, I didn't know at the time whether I would even have a family. There was, therefore, enough reason for me to have some doubts about it. Have you studied formally? What? I loved biology and mathematics. But because I was really eager to draw I enrolled in the architecture programme. Architecture students are also given drawing lessons. But at the last moment I withdrew my enrolment, I am happy to say. My school referred me to a teacher-training programme at the Rietveld Academy. I ended up there even though I didn't want to be a teacher. On finishing that programme, I began to study biology. Had I known that the programme required so much drawing, I would have entered it straight out of secondary school. By taking a couple of extra courses in my free time, I learned how to draw. I was particularly interested in the technique of drawing. I was not very open to the other changes that an academy can introduce to one's life. Who are your clients and how did they find you? I make portraits for people who live here in the neighbourhood. My subjects are mostly children. Sometimes the portrait is of someone who has just died. Occasionally I sell non-commissioned work. I have made illustrations for publishers, advertising agencies, shops and associations.		How do you start a job and where do you seek inspiration? First, I look at photographs and drawings made by other people. Then I do some ironing, vacuum the house, do the shopping or cook. During these activities, I look around me and think about the subject. I often go to the library or look for examples on the Internet. I find inspiration from everything I see. But it's a pity you can't use everything. Sometimes it is a lot of fun to use a famous figure in a different context. But this is only permitted if it is clear that the figure is being satirised. And what exactly a satire is, well, that is not always entirely clear. The poster of the Catholic church, with the cruciform section in the work of Barnett Newman was clearly a satire in my view, but it still wasn't allowed. In what media do you prefer to work? Paint, pencil, pastels, Adobe Illustrator. As long as it has colour. When is a drawing finished? I prefer to start with an outline and let it lie for a day. The next day I look at it again to see if something is not right. If so, I solve it. The same thing happens at the end. I have to walk away two or three times and come back to look at it again to see if it is what I want it to be. If I then see it a year later, it is usually still a big surprise. What work have you been most satisfied with? The portraits I have made of my children. What kind of project would you still like to tackle? An enormous wall painting, somewhere in the middle of a city. Here in the neighbourhood there is a church with a very large empty wall. It's just asking for a picture of the Ascension of Jesus Christ.
		sources of inspiration: 1] Johannes Vermeer. Woman writing, in yellow, detail 2] Aubrey Beardsley: Ali Baba. 3] Oskar Kokoschka: Schlafende, Illustration for his poem: Die Träumenden Knaben. 4] Piet Mondriaan: composition A portrait: Peter Smith translation: Ellen van Boggelen-Heutink