Hi! My name is Elzemieke, which is not as hard as it looks! Just say elzah-meekah or [ ˈelzʌ.miːkʌ ]. Thanks for visiting.

I'm the heart and hands of the shop. There's also a brain but it's very clever and quite self-involved. For now, it prefers to remain incognito.

I spent the start of my life in Holland, cycling across wide open fields and fighting with my five brothers. Yep, that's five. Five. Just imagine what our Summer holidays looked like.

At 18, I stretched out both arms and flew off to India. I became vegetarian and started practicing yoga. I'm still a veggie and a stretchy. It's great.

Whilst in India I caught a chronic case of the travel bug. Apparently there's no cure, it's one of those rare diseases nobody knows about.

A few years of compulsive travel followed. I went to countries like America, China, Poland, Laos, England, India, Denmark, Thailand and Ireland. At the moment I live in Germany.

I managed to procure some papers too, a 1st class BA of the Arts, a postgraduate in Art Therapy and two handfuls of certificates. It was fun, maybe I'll go for a doctorate some day.

During my studies I often felt pushed to commit to one single art form. I tried this and for some time I was 'just' a filmdirector, then I became 'just' a painter, and 'just' a writer, etc. etc.

It took some time to realize that this doesn't work for me. I'm a greedy cat and I want it all. Luckily I'm also a perfectionist and a worrier, so I try to make things as beautiful as they can be, producing as little waste as possible. This keeps me busy.

If I'm not painting, drawing, writing, cutting, sticking or emailing with you, I'm probably at an exhibition or an art fair. I really love meeting people face to face and connecting on a personal level. I hope to meet you there someday too.

I guess that's about as far as the present goes. Thank you for reading and drop me a line to let me know what you think of my shop.

By the way, do sign up to my newsletter if you're interested in keeping up to date with art, creativity and bite-size updates from yours truly.

Join the list here: www.elzemieke.com/newsletter

Lots of love,
Elzemieke.