As a child I loved books about nature and animals. I love watching and reading National Geographic programs and magazines. We owned a set of Encyclopedias called Children of the World which absolutely fascinated me. I learnt about different cultures and environments across the world.

I spent my days playing outside in nature, imitating birds with my recorder or analyzing nature’s finer details under my microscope. My imaginary horses and I chased butterflies and my imagination ran freely. I loved fantasy books and fairies were my friends.

The animated movie  Lord of the Rings was a great inspiration to me, and I dreamed of one day becoming an animator.

Children are wonderful and important and we need to embrace them with love, truth, beauty and inspiration. Children’s books play a huge role in this, and I enjoy being a part of this.

I love to explore and discover God’s character within me and in others. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Rom1:20) How inspiring to learn from the ultimate Creator!

Experimenting with different art materials is such an exciting fun experience. It stimulates one’s creativity. I work in various mediums such as pencil, pen, pastels, watercolours, acrylics, oils and airbrush. Over the past 12 years, my computer equipped with special painting software, tablet and digitizing pen has become a practical tool to me, adding to my efficiency and creativity. Understanding graphic design and printing has been truly beneficial in my relationship with publishers.

My website (www.bluenoteart.co.za) represents a selection of my portfolio which portrays various subject matter and media, styles and techniques that I’ve used in the past.

Marleen Visser - 2008