Iris van Dommele

Hi there! I'm Iris, an artist, illustrator, and aspiring tattoo artist based in Groningen, the Netherlands.

 

I like to draw and paint landscapes, plants, people, or funny frogs and silly faces. In recent years I have made many gouache paintings, but I have also been experimenting with oil, colored pencils, and graphic techniques such as lino and woodcut.

 

One thing that you'll see in a lot of my work are bright and vivid colors. Colors are so powerful in expressing atmosphere, emotion, and it's what I notice when I look at all the gorgeousness in the world: pink sunset clouds, bright green grass fields, a bouquet of fiery colors in autumn. 

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I also like to incorporate humor into my work. A frog with a butt crack or a cowboy on a beetle. Something a little bit silly, not taking itself too seriously. Making art is supposed to be fun, after all. 

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For as long as I can remember, I have always loved drawing, painting, and creating things. It was pretty much my favorite pastime as a child and always my number one hobby. I considered going to art school, but chose my love for language instead, because language has always interested me and I've always had a fondness for English. 

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While I never completely stopped drawing and painting, it did disappear to the background a bit and there were long periods of time during which I wouldn't create anything. It took a global pandemic to make me realize that I wanted to do more with my creativity than I had until that point. I started painting again, perhaps even more than I had ever done before, discovered new subjects (landscapes) and a new medium which I now love (gouache). And I realized that I love being creative for 'work'.

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I currently work as a parttime Academic English teacher and I spend the rest of my time working as an illustrator, artist and learning how to tattoo. I'm happy to say that I am finally following my passions and realizing my dream life.