“I am Earth”

“I am Earth”, that was the thought in my mind when I started to paint. 
I love this planet with all its life forms. I love the different soils with their different textures and colours. I eat what these soils give me and then it becomes me. It is transformed into my body. I am Earth. Just like our ancestors who disappeared mostly under the earth. 

So many living beings passed away. 
We walk over them, without realising it.
Sometimes they left hidden treasures. 
Different beings, different treasures, different inheritances.
Human ancestors with their different cultures excavated by archaeologists.
Animals, , plants, trees....
The fossils of little sea animals, left their traces in the stones. 
The  bones of dinosaurs, appear as unexpected treasures out of the permafrost.
Millions of beings transmuted into oil which we use to run our current society and heat our houses. I hope I will be able to adapt to the changes that it brings to this beautiful planet. 
I love this Earth. I hope to live long enough to see more of how the necessary changes will unfold. 

“I am Earth”, oil on canvas 70 x 100 cm. 

Coincidentally I met this Poem from Rutger Kopland. The original is written in Dutch. The poem is called : “Old Faces”. The last part reads like a comment on my painting. When I translate it , it is something like this....

​
“Old women....
​
But what returns in their faces is
passed by, old yellow gold light.

over that beautiful world which is still there
​but only because she was there. “