I'm sitting here at the computer listening to some cool tunes and really wondering what I can possibly write that you might find the slightest bit interesting.

I guess the first thing that comes to mind is how much I love art... all kinds of art, especially music. It has been my escape since forever and is with me in everything I do. I love the harmonies, textures, layers, rythms, poetry, beats... I love how it makes me smile, I love how it makes me stop to enjoy it, I love how it makes me feel!

For me, painting is an ode to music, to how music makes me feel. I see no distinction between painting and smiling and am very grateful to have such a wonderful outlet for my passion.

Funny thing, when you follow your passion you never know exactly where you will end up. Every journey is an adventure, everybody is fascinating and every day is Friday.

Before starting University (don't worry I'm going somewhere with this) I spent a year in Switzerland (my dad's homeland) and I was most definitely not following any sort of passion... there was no adventure, people weren't that fascinating and every day was like Monday. Don't get me wrong, I had great friends and was living in paradise but it somehow was all lost on me... until one fateful rainy day when I discovered a piece of cardboard.

This particular piece of cardboard was called "Ein Blatt aus dem Stadtbuch" and it changed my life forever...

The Who just shuffled through my B&Os. Love that song! Any way back on the farm...

I had just met Paul Klee and little did I know how it would define me (eventually) for the rest of my life. Pretty soon all those rainy days I spent painting and drawing since I was three would come crashing through the placid little veneer I called my life...

La vie d'artiste. Artist? Really?! On the road to self-discovery I had found my first clue. Now I needed a style, a unique voice... heck, I needed a name (you see, the Dutch last name I inherited from my dad, had inherent pronunciation problems). High scores on Pac Man would give me a phonetic solution to my problem. So I was an "artist", I had a name... hmm, that's not really enough...

Growing up, the only art I was exposed to were the paintings and sculptures my dad made. I never made it to a museum or a gallery, as a matter fact, now that I think about it, that day I walked into the Kunstmuseum in Basel was probably the first time.

Fast forward a few years and I was living in Vancouver and not liking it very much, except for the fact that I spent a lot of time in art galleries and would rollerblade around Stanley Park. I was getting more and more inspired to swap my vacation for my vocation. So I moved back home.

With the bucolic splendor of the Eastern Townships as my background, I dipped my brush into some black ink and started in on the abstract of my living biography... in an abstract way.

Pow! Bang! Zap! Pure color, pure emotion under the ever present and guiding rule of the black line. The paintings weren't necessarily great, but they showed great promise, and most importantly demonstrated a style...

I think the second painting I ever made was of a tulip (called Schoon). I loved it. It was an hommage to my Dutch roots, to Herr Klee and to my Grandpa Piet! It was an indominable spirit that grew through a brick wall and burst forth to worship the sun.

A theme also sprung forth from those early oeuvres... the marriage, juxtposition and dance of the straight line versus the curved... or as those living centuries ago would opine, the manmade versus the divine.

Well the music has stopped and the house lights have been tripped... but there will be an encore.

There are so many things I would love to go on about, but it is about time to go paint again. I am not sure what, I rarely am. God I love the creative process! Let me end with this...

There is an art to everything. You know I heard art is short for artificial, meaning anything not made by the hand of God... I love his work, but there is something to be said for his band of mortal souls! So if you're going to do something, do it with passion and then share it with the world!!

'Til we meet again! JP