Meet the Artist: Liesbeth Kok

I discovered Liesbeth Kok and her artwork on Instagram.

Her paintings on jute reminded me of woven bauhaus-tapestries.
I wanted to find out more about Liesbeth and the how´s and why´s of her artistic work.

What followed was a beautiful correspondance.

Here´s what Liesbeth says:

„After years of working with oil painting the egg tempera came into my life, together with a new studio. Coincidentally I came across a roll of jute, the material turned out to be right for me.

I make my own paint, with pigments and egg, egg tempera.
Usually I work with several layers on top of each other, I always dive in the Big Nothingness.
In the moment of here and now, searching and finding…

A  `vision quest’ sometimes, only when I let go everything and I am in harmony the magic happens.
Image language from the universal unconsciousness appears, visual language from my youth, the 60s and 70s.
I travel from pop art to tribal art…

And the result is always a surprise to me.

The mobiles give me air, I play and enjoy myself, fun!“

FACTS

Born in Groningen 1964 and I still live nearby, to my surprise sometimes but the inner journeys are the most important!

The Spark: To be honest I’m still amazed that I became a painter;  I read a lot as a child (and still am reading) and thought I might become a writer!
I knew also that it would not be the average life with a steady job and some children.
But I was sensitive to beauty, music and nature and loved to draw.
As a teenager I read Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, that was my Spark: I wanted to live free and inspired, just like Simone.

Fun:  Reading (of course) , walking in nature, meditating, visiting exhibitions  and cities, listening to music, talking and making jokes with my husband
And 1000 things more…
I’m very inquisitive

Based in: Haren, a very nice and green village near Groningen. 
I share my studio with more than 100 other artists in a former biological center of the university, called „The Biotoop“.  

No fun :  The cutbacks on art in the Netherlands.
The way people deal with nature….

Icons:  Jimi Hendrix, Herman Pieter de Boer, Roald Dahl, Hilma Aft Klimt, Carl Gustaf Jung… and many others

Best advice: Be kind to yourself, support yourself. Especially if you are an artist in this world!

I’m an artist because: It gives me the opportunity to escape the banality of life, gives me joy, gratitude and all shades of feelings.

Basis: My books, my cats and my husband, my best friend.

„When I  worked with oil paint I used to stretch my own canvas: hammering and clamping like a carpenter, which also resulted in a kind of pressure to make “ a good painting”.
Now that I work with egg tempera on jute , that pressure is much less and I feel more free, and I like working with pigments. The colours are more intense and vivid.
For the viewer it may not always be felt or seen, but my work has a spiritual meaning for me.
I strive to convey a certain harmony and I can only do that if I myself am in a meditative and harmonious state when I’m working on a painting.
Sometimes (this becomes) a long process, and sometimes a flowing naturalness.
Like Matisse (another icon) I strive for balance rather than worry, and I work from within, from my intuition.“

PS: Don´t you just love these colours…?

Find out more about Liesbeth on her Website: Liesbeth Kok