Pet Portrait Golden by Josefien Stoppelenburg in Chicago

DUTCH PAINTER JOSEFIEN has garnered international praise and attention for her colorful and imaginative paintings. A keen admirer of Marc Chagall, Paul Gauguin and Odilon Redon, Josefien has been a lifelong student of art and art history. She has presented exhibitions in the Netherlands and the USA. Stoppelenburg's work was used as opera sets, as cd covers, as post cards, in magazines, and her personalized paintings are in many private homes. She has exhibited her work in galleries, hospitals and art fairs. She just sold out on her third series of Note Cards. She created artworks for the Green Lake festival of Music, the Boulder Bach Festival, the Peninsula Music Festival, the Arizona Bach Festival and was the Artist- in- Residence of the Evanston Art Center (Illinois).Her lectures on Art and Music were featured in the Chicago Artist Month in 2014. In 2014 Josefien painted a commission while being in the Netherlands, for Stephen Alltop, during his Lecture on Art and Music in Evanston for the Northwestern University Continuing Education Series, for an audience of 400 who watched the process live over Skype.Josefien’s work is inspired by nature, dreams and music. Her fascination with painting is deeply connected with her sense of musical expression. About the process: “ I usually start by putting colors on the canvas, start blending them and from this initial chaos, creatures, figures, plants and stories appear.” Acrylic is a quick drying medium, which forces the artist to be very concentrated in the moment, not unlike performing. Acrylic paint also provides the opportunity to build a painting with several thin layers of color. This glazing technique, the accumulative building of color, gives her paintings their radiance and deep glow. Also a professional singer, Josefien has been called ' an astonishing singer' by the Chicago Tribune and has both won the Chicago Oratorio Award 2013 as the 2nd Prize national in the American Prize Opera Competition 2013. She has performed in most Dutch concert halls, all over Europe, in Venezuela, The Arab Emirates, South Africa, on radio and television and several times for the Dutch Royal Family.