Artist’s Biography

I grew up in the Netherlands where I trained as a school teacher.  I moved to New Zealand with my husband in 1987.  We had 4 children and I was mostly a stay-at-home mum until my children were teenagers. My husband and I now live in Kirup on a farm and have 6 grandchildren.

In 2011 I gave up my day job as a Library Assistant, all of our children had previously left home and I felt I was at a crossroads in my life. After being at home for a while, my artist husband gave me some of his paints and canvas to play with. I resisted at first as I didn’t think I had any artistic talent,.but after joining a local art society I discovered abstract art and was hooked.

We moved to Australia in 2013 where I kept experimenting with different abstract styles and lots of bright colours. In 2016 I was an Artist in Residence at the CASM Gallery in Mandurah.  This space gave me the opportunity to work on new ideas and experiment with different techniques and loosen my style.  A successful Solo Exhibition at CASM in September 2017 was the result.

I joined the Mandurah Plein Air Artists and this influenced my studio work immensely.  I started out as a purely abstract artist with random colours and patterns, but now I love abstracting the landscape with colour and texture.  I switched from acrylic to oil paints and love the fact that I can keep working wet in wet. I paint with a palette knife which I can clean with a paper towel so I don’t have to use turps.  I love putting the paint on thick and then scraping back and letting the magic happen.

My strongest influence and inspiration for my art is my husband Jos Coufreur. His passion and drive to paint is extraordinary!  Another inspiration is German painter Gerhard Richter. The way he applied the paint with a giant squeegee started me on my abstract journey.

Hilly Coufreur