During the last few years I have pursued a number of different themes dealing with farmers and boys, landscapes, flowers, boats and shorelines, farmhouses, cityscapes, and animals. Some series are closely related. They deal with similar kinds of experiences. Other series present more opportunity for experimentation and developing my own style.

One series of paintings presents different images of boys and older persons. From different times and situations, these images touch on universal themes: feelings of loss, loneliness, homesickness, abandonment, despair, fear, bewilderment, sadness, grief, resignation, but also feelings of joy, love, exuberance, freedom, security, competence, peacefulness, and surrender. And though each painting has a particular title, they allow of many interpretations. They represent pasts and experiences that we all carry and can identify with.

The series of boats and harbours closely parallels the images of boys and older men, expressing similar feelings. Our recent visit to the Netherlands was the inspiration for this series as well as the paintings of tulips and windmills.

The landscape paintings express a sense of place and belonging. Even in its wildest or most violent forms nature can provide a sense of at – oneness. Again and again we are drawn back to certain colours, forms, intensity, balance, movement, liveliness, or the play of light, as well as the actual images, whether abstract or representational. These dimensions resonate and appeal to our inner experience and can evoke strong emotions, depending on our particular aspects. To put it simply, art needs to reveal something about life to be meaningful.

The series of still life forms and flower paintings provide an opportunity to explore new directions and experiment with form and colour. In all of the paintings, whether more impressionistic or experimental, I am searching for a style that is uniquely my own and that can express the feelings and the depth of life that I experience. I believe that a painting is like a good metaphor. It can reveal and highlight unexpected sides of reality and deepen our awareness. In that way one picture can convey more than a thousand words.

Besides painting and gardening, I have a strong interest in education – how to help children develop a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world. My wife, Rira Reitsma, who is a full time psychotherapist as well, shares my love of nature and gardening. Counseling gives us both a way to share a life enhancing vision in the midst of struggles and brokenness. Art can give expression both to the depth of the human condition and our sense of life and hope.