Emerald d.

My name is Emerald de Leeuw, I'm 19 years old and I live in the Netherlands.

When I was very young my grandfather, who is a painter, taught me how to paint with oils on canvas. I used to visit my grandparents in Ireland every summer and I learned more from him every year. When I was back at home in Holland I used to paint, draw even make sculptures whenever I got the chance.

In high school I found another passion that would soon become one of the main themes of my artwork, Greek and Roman mythology. I took Latin and ancient Greek and found that the stories I was translating were far more interesting than the languages. I took different art subjects, including classical art history which taught me a lot about different styles. That's where I got all the inspiration I needed to create works that capture my feelings and interests. For the Gods and Goddesses in Greek and Roman mythology were divine, but had very human traits, love, hate and sorrow are the most common in the famous stories.

At home I would often surf the internet and found that I wanted to build my own website. I started to learn more about webdesign by reading articles online and by books. That introduced me to all the forms of digital art that were possible. When I was 14 I built my first website with my first pieces of digital art on it.

I browsed different art sites and found that you could manipulate and paint on photos to make magnificent pieces of art. Then I knew that that was what I had to learn. I started manipulating photos and they kept getting more and more advanced. Changing the photo completely by painting over the face and clothing, adding background elements and so on. In the end I found that I could go no further with photographs.

For my 18th birthday my boyfriend gave me a Wacom graphics tablet and I can tell you it was the best gift I ever received. I've been digitally painting ever since. Practising every day and studying by reading tons of books and tutorials.

When I'm not in front of my pc I like to dance and work out (fitness, bodycombat, body attack etc). I have been doing streetdance/showballet for 12 years now. I enjoy being on stage and expressing myself with movement. So I'm not a TOTAL geek ;)

I have a lot to learn but I've been getting a lot of support from my family, friends and even total strangers which encourages me to keep improving. Please keep checking back for new pieces and new stories!