Eef Sanders has been surrounded by arts her whole life. Her grandfather was a paint artist. Her very creative mother, who wrote her two self illustrated children’s books, took her to musea and nudemodel art classes at young age. Spending many years developing her style and experimenting with different forms of art, abstractionism finally found her about 5 years ago.

She makes purely abstract and minimalistic pieces, richly layered with various materials, in warm, natural and earthy tones. In her work, Eef embraces imperfection, inspired by the Japanese philosophy of Wabi Sabi. Intentionally letting different layers touch each other and blend together, she tries not to seek perfect lines. Shapes are not cut but torn from Chinese paper, which makes them more interesting and the edges more rough.

Sometimes she makes small paintings to get an idea for a bigger piece, experimenting on how to get the composition and colors right. Nevertheless she also likes painting purely intuitive, not knowing where it’s going to end.

Regardless of her process, Eef only works with high-quality materials like Chinese paper, fiber paste, various kinds of cement, and many layers of ‘Golden’ acrylic paint. Inspiration isn’t something she has to wait for, it comes to her while working.

‘I’m a very restless person by nature, except when I paint. Then I feel a sense of peace come over me. In my paintings I try to communicate that serenity, that attracts me so much but which I can’t seem to find outside my studio. It’s that feeling that drew me into creating art in the first place, and what continues to motivate me today. The minimalistic, organic forms I use in combination with my choice of colors, give my mind peace.’