My name is Barbara Poelvoorde.  I'm a Belgian artist. I studied painting on and off in schools throughout my youth, never quite grasping what it was about.  But also, never quite wanting to pack up my dream of becoming an artist.  With the dawn of the internet, I found new ways to pursue that dream, I could finally plunge into this subject to my heart's content.  Finding all sorts of resources through recommendations from online teachers and painters all over the globe, as well as from artists of times past.  I read all the letters Van Gogh wrote to his brother, to understand how his tenacity and serious nature made him the painter he was, as well as studying his resources, such as Charles Bargue's Drawing Course.  A course that was later on used by Picasso, and was considered the drawing bible for late 19th century and early 20th century aspiring artists.  I was inspired by and fascinated by the Bay Area artists, such as Richard Diebenkorn, David Park.  And I loved their themes and colours.  They spoke of leisure and pleasure, the California sky, the Pacific Ocean. Themes I enjoy very much. I love studying the human figure, in all its relaxed and satisfying states, as well as the interaction between two figures especially, such as romance, or people playing together, etc.