My art

Belonging and connection

My art is about belonging, connection, and emotional intimacy. This comes to expression in images of daily life, such as houses, gardens and nature. I often depict a connection between (natural) phenomena, such as for example a flower and the moon, a house and its garden. As a young child, when being alone, and especially outside and at night in the dark, I strongly felt the interconnectedness of all animate and inanimate beings/things. In my art, rich natural materials - such as oils, beeswax and gold leaf - support this deep interconnectedness. Thank you all who have purchased my work from me over the past few years! This has enabled me to sustain and develop my creative practice.

About me

My name is Yolba Smit

I am a contemporary artist inspired by nature. Both wild nature, as well as by gardens. I live in a small village close to where the Rhine river crosses into the Netherlands from Germany. The landscape here is sculpted by this impressive river, as well as by glaciers that reached up to this area in the last Ice Age. From my attic I can see Germany, where I lived for 10 years. Other countries I lived in are Chile, Indonesia, Surinam, Eritrea and Bhutan. At the moment I only travel in my head, and on the canvas of course. I am trained as a medical doctor and still work as a scientist. To protect our living environment I do not paint with plastic (acrylic) paint, but with natural materials such as oil, egg tempera and beeswax. I make my own ecological paint.