BIOGRAPHY

I was born in Melbourne (Australia) on 24-09-1957. Before I established myself as a professional painter, I had already pursued many different activities and professions. My career began as a navigator on large merchant ships with Shell Tankers. I then spent ten years running a fitness center, while also working as a naturopath, regression therapist, and performance/sports coach. Yet despite these diverse activities, my love for the Earth and its inhabitants remained a common thread running through my life. My ongoing sense of wonder at creation and the essence that makes it all possible led me to yearn to experience life without the safety of my conditioning. I decided to sell all my possessions and travel the world. It became a Land Rover journey right across the African continent. 35,000 km through unspoiled regions where the so-called “civilized white people” have not yet had a chance to bend that world to their will. Areas where life, without being restrained, flows in all its fullness through and around you. Where people are part of life in complete peace, and not, as we do in our civilization, forcing life to conform to mere personal gain at the expense of life itself. I realized that respect is the foundation of peoples who live in harmony with nature. The realization that one cannot exist without the other. It is not a matter of heads or tails, but a perfect integration of both sides of the coin. Nature demonstrates this in all its beauty. It is my wish to give shape to this realization and to convey it. The images that flow from my brush are timeless in essence, but in terms of their visual representation, they may soon be a thing of the past. That is why all the paintings fall under the overarching theme: “World Heritage Collection.” It is the story of our heritage. I express the hope that all may be inspired to love the spontaneous nature of life and to cherish its pure expression. My compulsory education consisted mainly of: MAVO followed by Higher Vocational Education; the Nautical College in Den Helder. I never felt the need to further develop what comes so naturally (creative talents) or to let it be guided by compulsory education. It has blossomed in a playful way. I was, however, inspired by people I met along the way. And I gratefully absorbed all their knowledge, skill, and vision in the field of painting. In addition to drawing and painting, inspiring others has always been a common thread in my life. Whether it was sports, something else, or—as it is now—painting, my love for that form of expression is bound to inspire others. Being inspired or “moved” is, in itself, the source of inspiration. That’s why I’m “teaching” again now. I hope that the students allow themselves to be freely inspired and do not view me as a rigid teaching method. More than once, people familiar with my work assume that behind the immense level of detail in my art there must lie a strictly disciplined personality. It is not a drive to achieve, but the love or passion for every detail, that naturally gives me the patience to do what I do. As I’ve already mentioned, after my trip through Africa (1996), I decided to take on the professional status of an artist. My parents turned out to be willing to once again provide temporary shelter to the newly impoverished artist. Back with Mom and Dad at the age of forty. A period began in which I came to understand all my deep feelings and impressions from my travels and was able to express them through painting an drawings . In 1998, the production team of Rik Felderhof’s television show contacted me. They asked me to “appear” on the TV program *Felderhof Meets*. They had heard that I, a former “bodybuilding” gym owner, had “transformed” into a meditating artist. The program aired on December 25, 1998. Rik Felderhof gave me the opportunity to show my paintings to the general public. It turned out to be a turning point in my still-short career as an artist. To date, all of my artworks have been sold. As a result, there have been hardly any exhibitions. For several years now, I have also been working as a tattoo artist. At the moment, I don’t yet have a suitable workspace in Storåbranna to do tattoos.

Recently, beautiful art prints by Paul Jaarsma have become available for purchase in a limited edition and with a special printing technique.