Saskia van Drunen is a Dutch artist living in a quiet village in the south of the Netherlands. She lives there with her husband and two children.

Saskia’s work is full of colour and transparant layers and her style can be described as abstract realism.

She loves to play with colour and experiment with different media, markmaking and techniques. And the first layers of a painting are perfect to explore freely, they are expressive and perfect for her love of inks, spraypaint, acrylics, pigment powder, markers and more.

She combines the abstract with portraits and figures as they both excite her, and she also loves to add in graphic elements as a juxtaposition and as symbolism. It’s the authetic emotion and feelings that she want to express through her brushstrokes.

She hopes her art inspires people to follow their passion and empower them to feel free to being your true self.

Website ☆ Instagram ☆ Facebook ☆ Youtube

What does Art is Magic mean to you?

For me art is magic because art has the ability to touch someone’s heart and stir up emotions! Creating art is creating a beautiful piece out of nothing. It will carry the energy you put into it, which will always remain in the artwork, transform a room and captivate the viewer.

Why do you create art?

I have always been creating and painting. It is part of my life. There was a time, when I was at university, starting a new job, and getting married, that I didn’t do much creating. After my second child was born, I started to feel restless and emotions were stirring up that were difficult for me to deal with. I really felt the urge to start creating again. As soon as I started to paint, I felt the release of emotion, and that’s when I knew I had to keep on painting.

Now I’m a professional artist and I’m loving it. I create to express my voice, my soul. Painting is a way of self-discovery and exploration and becoming my truer self. And with my paintings I want to empower women to love themselves and to speak their voice.

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your creative journey?

Just like anybody else, any artist has their own unique combination of personality traits or temperament, and this is key to how you create and to your painting process. If you’re a quiet, soft and tranquil person, your painting style will reflect this. Even though you may love the expressive and fast-paced art pieces someone else makes, you’ll be happier if you paint in your own style and according to you own temperament.

And another thing, always choose themes and use the colours which make you happy. Stay true to your own painting style and don’t be influenced by what other people tell you to paint because they think it will be more sellable.

If you stay true to your authentic self, it will show in your work and you will find the people who will love your art.