It's never too late to try something new

Born and raised in the Netherlands, I met my husband — who grew up in India — while we were both working at a summer camp in Massachusetts. We later had our son and daughter in the UK. My education and career were in HR and Management Development, and I always volunteered with young people on the side. There was no art in my life... at all.

We settled in Montclair, NJ. In 2002, when the kids went to school full-time, I was looking for something to enrich my life. People had told me "I had drawing skills" based on sketches I made during home-improvement projects... so a drawing class at Nandi School of Art it was.

I soon became an oil painter of realistic portraits, still-lives, and landscapes. Slowly I started to get looser, began pushing my colors, and attempts to "compose with color" turned into more abstract landscapes and imaginary figures. Covid led me to a phase of using painting to process the world around me.

My latest art adventures include illustrating a children's chapter book and developing a fun and challenging new painting process. It surely is never too late to start something new…

A resume of sorts

I've taken classes at the New School, the International Center for Photography, the Art Students League, and the Montclair Art Museum, and joined painting retreats in Italy. Through it all, my favorite teacher and mentor has been Andrey Tamarchenko, who first got me hooked on oil painting back in my third drawing class — I still look forward to the occasional workshop he hosts.

Beyond a handful of local student shows, I haven't set out to build a public art career — the work has mostly found its way onto the walls of family and friends, and into a few commissions along the way, which has always felt like the best kind of validation. Like most artists, I also keep plenty of "unfinished works" quietly in progress across my two studios, in Montclair and New Paltz, NY.

Recently, the Montclair Art Museum — where I volunteer as a docent — held a show featuring one piece from each staff member and volunteer, and chose my painting, Aries (2026), for the show announcement itself.