I'm a self-taught artist. My creative journey has never followed the rules — and I like it that way. I left school at 14 and lived in squats before moving to the volcanic heart of France, where my partner and I built our home by hand. It's here, surrounded by raw nature, that my art took shape. I began working with wood, stone, metal — whatever materials spoke to me. Over time, this hands-on curiosity evolved into a deeper artistic practice. Eventually I trained as a decorative painter, learning classical techniques: fresco, trompe l'oeil, faux marble, gilding, mural work. I've painted in Dutch canal houses and castles — but always with my own energy behind the brush. My main subject has always been light. I move between realism and the impressionistic, drawn to the moment when a scene stops being accurate and starts being felt. In 2020, I won a Dutch televised painting competition with a portrait of the Chairwoman of the House of Representatives. A year later, I presented Heroes of Our Time at the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva — portraits of courageous women fighting for human rights. My most recent series, Ancient Light, brings together crackled fresco textures and emotional storytelling. These oval canvases explore presence, memory, and the persistence of light — in architecture, in nature, in the moments humans have always tried to hold onto. The works submitted here are part of this series. My work is raw, spiritual, and tactile.

https://www.vanessajongebloet.com/