Artist in Focus - Joëlle Wehkamp
Joëlle Wehkamp is a Dutch creative designer and artist. She graduated from the art academy in Maastricht with a degree in textile design followed by a Fashion Master at Artez in Arnhem.
Joëlle loves to create, print, illustrate & paint, but above all to celebrate life to the fullest with her family and friends. When she’s not working or painting she can be found playing with her children, eating cakes with friends, travelling around the world or enjoying the seasons somewhere...
Her sparkling designs and handmade patterns for her international clients can be found around the globe. Joëlle’s work is fresh, creative, colourful and always with a sunny side up feeling. She is most recognised for her fun and colourful style. Her work brings a smile on many faces.
How would you describe your art?
My art is colourful, light, joyous and a mix between figurative and abstract shapes. Mostly made with acrylic paint on wooden panels. My creativity has no boundries, so sometimes I like to explore different kinds of techniques like collage art, water colour painting and ceramic.
What Inspires you?
Lots of things actually. I’m always inspired by colours, nature (flowers, butterflies and landscapes), culture, textile prints and fashion. The stories of Roald Dahl and photos of Tim Walker bring me to new worlds... My kids. They absolutely give my creativity a wonderful boost. I love to visit big cities and beautiful shops, when I travel I always get so many new ideas! Visiting museums and exhibitions where I can find positive and colourful art inspires me too. Museum Voorlinden is my favourite museum in the Netherlands at the moment, it makes me smile.
Do you have a favourite piece of your own?
I really like to make the girls with cool outfits. It is great fun to create. But I also really like to paint on traditional English fabric at the moment. So personally I have quite a few of these art pieces on my walls at home.
Do you have a favourite colour to use at the moment?
At the moment I like to work with warm colours. Pink, Brique, Red, Brown tones combined with gold details. Mostly inspired by the things I wear myself.
How do you feel when you work?
Happy. When I paint I totally forget time and feel very relaxed and creative. I love it so much! Some people do meditations. I guess this is my kind of meditation. I only think about what I want to make, the colours I want to use and I am very focused on mixing the paint until I have the right colour I want to use in my painting.
With regard to the current COVID-19 crisis and the lockdown, how are you feeling?
First of all, I find it so unreal what is happening, and I am thinking a lot about all the people and companies who are affected by this horrible virus. That being said… personally I am doing very well. I try not to worry and live day by day. Everybody is healthy and to be honest I have actually enjoyed this time a lot. I’m a mother of three kids (6,3 and 8 months) and it felt so cosy and special to have them so close to me for such a long time. Sometimes it was challenging, but we mostly made the best of it. Creativity was all over the place! I bought a huge amount of materials to create. We did lot’s of painting, drawing, paper cutting, baking, gardening and we created whole new worlds. My kids and I loved it.
Below is a special curation of Joëlle's work, please click here to see the full collection.