About

Waterland - Portraits by Annelies Depoorter

Waterland - Portraits by Annelies Depoorter

This is me in a nutshell: a mom juggling a million things, language teacher and watercolor nerd with a very special love for portraits.

Drawing and painting people has been my passion and pleasure since I could hold a crayon. My family has been my personal modeling crew for as long as I can remember. My fascination for faces is real. If you ever catch me staring at you, it's not weird, I promise, I'm just studying how the light hits your eyes or how the color of your sweater makes your skin glow... Not creepy at all!

I am a self-taught artist but that feels unfair to say as I have learned and am still learning from so many different masters through books, musea, YouTube, Patreon, Domestika... Big shoutout to my most inspiring guides: Carlos Rodriguez Casado, Proko, Ale Casanova, Ana Santos, Will Freeborn, Paul Cadden, Jane French, Ali Cavanaugh, Marcos Beccari and so many more!

Watercolors found me when my children were little. I was looking for some art supplies that were light, compact, easy to clean... Let's just say that I didn't exactly anticipate the mess I was about to dive into! My art space would soon permanently look like a paintball battle field!

But somehow, in the middle of all the splatters, I manage to create a clean, fresh and pure portrait, full of life and uncanny in resemblance. When I paint, I forget space and time around me and all my love and attention go into that person on my easel. I feel like I really connect with them, even if I have never met them.

I usually work from photographs. Watercolor painting is a slow process and I have not met many people who can sit still for that long. The layering can take 20+ hours for a small painting and up to 200 hours for a big one.

I use high-quality, light fast watercolors and acrylics.In 2020 I switched from painting on paper to wood panels. This has been a total game changer! The panels are coated with a special ground that allows me to build up an infinite amount of transparent layers, bringing much more life and depth in my work. 

The final product is vibrant and durable. You can frame it or just put it on the wall as is.

Feel free to contact me for more information.
You can also find me on Facebook , Instagram and YouTube.