Margreet tells us about herself with a simple Q&A
Q1 Who is Margreet?
My name is Margreet Mateboer, I was born on December 16, 1993 and I’m from the Netherlands. I studied photography, filming and desktop publishing and miraculously finished my studies.
My life pretty much fell apart when anxiety and depression took over in my early twenties. It’s only now that I’m able to slowly put myself together again.
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A few things have kept me going through the years: My love for movies (mostly old classics and film noir), my admiration for none other than Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren which allowed me to connect with so many amazing people through social media and drawing of course.
I started drawing using traditional media like graphite, charcoals and pastels and I've tried watercolors and oils but those aren't really my thing.
However, at some point my anxiety was so bad that even picking up a pencil was too much for me; “Do I want to draw in color or do I want to use graphite? What paper should I use? Where is my sharpener? Aarrrgh! I ran out of black pencils!”. Those thoughts went through my head whenever I wanted to draw and it really stressed me out; to the point where I was no longer enjoying it. That's the reason why I made the switch to drawing digitally about 3 months ago.
I now draw using the iPad Pro and the Apple pencil. I no longer have to stress about the materials I want to use and I'm having so much fun drawing again; it feels really good. Even though most of the work is done digitally, when I get a piece printed, things like the gold elements in some of my pieces are added by hand with real paint.
Q2 Where do you get your inspiration?
People inspire me. I’m an observer and as creepy as it sounds, I like to watch people. Put me in the middle of a busy city and I’ll sit down and watch people for hours.
I also get a lot of inspiration from books and movies. Sometimes I can really relate to a certain character and/or story or feel the emotions and that's what makes me want to draw. Everyone has a story and everyone has something going on. You don’t always know it and you can’t always see it but there’s always something there and that fascinates me. When people ask me to draw a portrait for them, there's always a reason behind it; a story.
Q3 Did you have any training?
No. I started drawing around age 16 and when I started my creative studies in school, fellow students who were already amazing at art motivated me to learn and practice more. I did have some drawing classes in school but those were never focused on portraits. After I finished my studies I started drawing even more and that’s how I learned; by practicing, looking at other people's techniques and developing my own.
Q4 How would you describe your art?
Since I’ve been drawing digitally for only 3 months or so, my style and the way I draw is still changing; I’m still learning, exploring and experimenting since there's an incredible amount of options.
Sometimes I make a random portrait of a character/actor I really like but the portraits I enjoy doing most are the ones that express emotions.
At the moment my color palette is very limited. I like to use brown tones; they match really well with the gold I've been adding lately and I think it gives the pieces an “aged” look.
Q5 What artists inspire you?
I’m a huge fan of the great masters like Rembrandt. I couldn’t use actual paints myself even if my life depended on it but I love Rembrandt’s use of light, for example. I also follow quite a few artists on social media and they inspire me on a daily basis.
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Q6 What does Sentiment mean to you?
Sentiment, to me, means being able to share one's story and connecting with others because of it. We're all different; we all live different lives and we all have different opinions on things but as long as we respect those differences, there's always something there that connects us in a way and I think that's beautiful.