Kitty is a wonderful artist (and wonderful person, too) from the Netherlands. I was lucky to meet her "in Person" last summer during a Meet-up from a few members of
ATCsforAll. You can check out her art at her
etsy-shop and her new
website, where she also will be offering workshops. She kindly agreed to answer a few questions.
1. How did you become interested in art? Have you had any formal art
training?
It just happened... my mother has always been very creative and I
think it is in my genes. I never went to any formal art training, I actually
studied economics :-). About 10 years ago I decided to work 4 days instead of 5
and at that moment I also decided that I needed to do something useful at my day
off. I enrolled in a sculpture class, working with stone. I did this a year or
2, and really liked it. Then moved on to painting and took classes in oil
painting. Learned a lot and moved from oil painting to portraits, to pastels, to
collage and mixed media. Every year I am going on a painting holiday for at
least a week and I love taking workshops. I am not in a regular painting class
at the moment, as I travel regurlarly for my work.
2. Where do you live?
Do you have a family of pets? Tell us a little about yourself (if you want
to).
I live in the Netherlands, in a small village close to Utrecht. I
live in a lovely house all by myself. I have never been married and have no
kids. And no pets by the way. I am a freelance project manager and work for
(international) companies on projects between Finance and IT. For example
implementations of new financial systems, but also restructuring and
streamlining work processes. I do this 4 days a week.
3. How did
you discover ATCs and Mail Art? Why does Mail Art appeal to you?
I was on
WetCanvas for a few years and sometimes participated in their projects, sending
one postcard to each participant. They called it ATC sometimes, but I had no
idea how big it was! And when I was in between projects I had a lot of time to
surf the internet. I found some videos on Youtube from Milliande and enrolled to
her site. And discovered ATCs and ATC swaps! And after a while discover ATCs for
all. And now I am hooked. I love making ATCs, inchies, twinchies as well (but
they don't trade well) and now chunkies!
4. What formats do you like and
make?
I love making ATCs, inchies, twinchies and chunkies, but I also work
on bigger size paper and canvasses. Currently I am working on canvasses in the
size of 10x10 cms (4"x4") and 20x20cms (8"x8")
5. Which art themes do
you like?
I love everthing well made, collage and mixed media especially.
Themes that I like are birds, butterflies, nature inspired cards, steampunk,
zetti, black and white, vintage, etc.
6
. Do you have any favorite
techniques?
At the moment I love collaging and mixed media. But I love
learning new techniques and using the ones I already know.
7. Is there
anything else you would like to tell us?
Yes! I have started a new company at
the beginning of this year. It is called Kitty's art & crafts. I am working
at my website at the moment
www.kittysartencrafts.nl. This
year will be used mainly for research. I want to focus on organizing workshops
for mixed media, art journalling, atcs, new techniques, etc. I am very
excited about this and very excited where it will bring me. To be
continued!
