Exploring Wildlife in Acrylic with Miranda Sentjes

Miranda Sentjes is an acrylic artist based in The Netherlands. She has always had a passion to create and leave a lasting impression on people through her work. When we saw Miranda’s artistic work on social media, we knew we wanted to learn more about the artist behind these pieces, and she was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions for Atizay.

What is your background as an artist?

In high school I took art history classes and some drawing classes as well. I have always had the instinct to want to make art, be creative, but I was never serious about it. Last summer, I painted our roof top deck, and that sparked my artistic flame. Last November I bought an art easel and started painting on a regular (daily) basis. In parallel, I contacted an art coach and took an oil painting course. Beginning of 2019, I got to know someone with whom I could display my art and go to an art fair. And I want to grow my reach from there. I am drawn to painting animals, and abstracts at the same time. I expect these to genres to morph into one over time. I have no idea where this art journey will take me.

Your art is captivating and colorful. What do you hope to transmit through such vibrant artwork?

I have always been drawn to color, in my clothes, in my home. I think it is an unconscious push of color against all the pain and suffering in the world, especially that of animals. In the animal world they wear their camouflage to be able to not be seen. I think they MUST be seen since they need all the help they can get to survive. Hence, my colors blue, green, pink, gold draw the attention of the audience to the beauty of our animals and wildlife. I am grateful that I can depict animals on my canvas in their most beautiful form.

Animals are very present in your artwork. Why is their protection so important to you and when did it start?

I have always been an animal lover. We have the best little feline companion. He is called ‘Mats’ and is a Ragamuffin cat. A few years ago, we went to South Africa to see the Big Five (and we did; yay!). In that month of traveling, we saw so much wildlife; it was just amazing. I fell in love (even more) with animals/wildlife during that holiday. The hard part of it is that during our game drives through Kruger Park (and other parks), I also started to realize that these animals are in real danger; their numbers have been minimized. We live in such a cruel world, a world in which we kill all those precious and gorgeous animals just to have meat on our plates, or a trophy on our walls. It is unbelievable the horrible things we do against wildlife, nature and our planet in general (eg. the plastic soup in our oceans). And I, therefore, give them a podium to show their beauty and grace. We need to safe our animals and our planet.

What does your creative process look like?

These last months I have been painting a lot. And I have not yet discovered one distinctive delivery process to success ;-) It is always a rollercoaster of things I do that sometimes are brilliant, and sometimes are rubbish. Then I just paint my canvas white again and start all over. It is kind of liberating that this is possible; there is no right or wrong activity. I always find a way to reach my end result. Next to that I have a few different series I work on simultaneously; 1) a series with wildlife images (mostly in blue tones) which has a lot of texture, 2) a series with colorful geometric fishlike creatures, and 3) a series of colorful textured abstracts. It is great to do those rather different styles and subjects next to each other since for the abstracts I can paint wild and uncontrolled, and for the geo fishes I need to be focused and concentrated.

We know animals are of particular interest to you, but where else do you draw inspiration from?

Indeed, wildlife is a great inspiration regarding subjects to paint. However, I draw even more inspiration from other artists regarding usage of color or texture. I love going to the museum to look at works of others up close. I look at their brushstrokes and layering. I am in awe of what some artists can do with color, shadow/lights, paints, or perspective. Some time ago we went to the photo exhibition of Erwin Olaf in the Gemeente Museum, here in The Hague. What a fantastic collection he has made thru the years. Last week, we were at the Escher Museum and Museum Voorlinden in The Hague (The Netherlands). I saw pieces of Escher and Kusama for example, very nice, very educational, very inspiring. I live near the Gemeente Museum and therefore I can go and see the works of Mondriaan on a very regular base. He is brilliant; the way he transforms rhythm/cadence and audio into color and form. I go to different museums a lot, also when I am on my holidays abroad.

I live in the neighborhood of sea, dunes and bush. Going for a walk and seeing the colors change because of the sun setting, the mirroring of the sun in the sea, or the wind playing with the leaves in the trees. I learn every minute from nature how to play with lights and darks, highlights and shadows. This can be seen in my work.

Is there any of your artworks that you are most proud of? Why?

I think I am proud of all the things I paint. And I therefore hope that people that look at my work see the energy and patience and love I put into it. I have had a great time creating these pieces, thus I hope they enjoy it as well in (at least) the same amount. I love working on large pieces, and I think large paintings depict better what I try to capture in them. But it is kind of more intense to work on a large work. Step back, look at it, get closer, add a layer, change it; it is a kind of dancing. Next to that, I have learned that my way of working and my subjects are evolving over time. Which is natural since I evolve as a person as well. The best feeling is when someone buys your work. Because that is my reward; they like the piece as much as I do and want to look at it again and again. I love seeing my paintings in the homes of my art buyers.

You can see more of Miranda’s amazing work on her website and follow her on social media.

Atizay ShopOctober 3, 2020female artists