A peek behind the scenes with… This week, a look inside the creative world of Dee.
Hi, I’m Dee, aka Desirée, 38 years old, and I’ve been together with René for almost 21 years, since 2004. I’m the proud mom of Indy (10) and Manu (8). I’m a true bon vivant, a color lover, a little bit rebellious, and I can’t sit still. A genuine “Remunjse” (from Roermond), but I should have been born by the sea.
I prefer walking around barefoot. I enjoy high life at home and slow life on vacation. I eat cold pizza in the morning AND love long dinners with family & friends, enjoying life on and around the water. I am an ultimate daydreamer.
I paint colorful tile artworks combined with quirky frames. Inspired by fantastic Portuguese and Spanish tiles, but given a completely funky twist. I’ve been painting for as long as I can remember.
With my art, I want to bring more color into life, both literally and figuratively. On one hand by creating colorful art, and on the other by conveying a sense of celebrating life—with art that is accessible to everyone.
Therefore: Celebrate life in color.
When did you start painting?
I’ve been painting for as long as I could walk. And I really do paint everything: walls, window frames and furniture, but also canvases, plates, little tiles, and so on.
If I decide today that the whole toilet needs to be pink, it’s painted by tomorrow. Does it have to be green the day after? Then we’ll do that. Luckily, I’ve built up enough credit with my husband by now that he gives me carte blanche.
Anyway. Especially during busier periods, I often turned to painting to bring more calm to my mind. Just therapy with a paintbrush.
Where do you get your materials?
All over the place. Mainly the hardware store, or online for the tiles, paint, hooks and sealant.
But I also work with an interior carpenter who makes some of my frames. The rest of the frames, the ones that need to be a bit sturdier, are made by my husband.
And last but not least: I absolutely love scouring second-hand shops for the most fun and original bowls and plates of good quality.
What are your favorite materials to work with?
Framed tiles or single tiles, or plates and bowls. Those are my favorites. And there’s also a difference between the large tile artworks, which I paint with special paint and bake to set, while I simply paint the single tiles with regular paint and finish them with a thick coat of lacquer for maximum shine. What I love is that the two require completely different painting techniques. One needs a long drying time, with waiting time between layers, whereas the other has to be applied very quickly and as dry as possible. That variety is great.
One of your trademarks is painting on tiles. How did you come up with that idea?
At my sister-in-law’s bachelorette party, we were at a Spanish restaurant called La Boca, which has tiles on the wall. When my sister-in-law said, “that’s so cool,” I knew I had to do something with it. So I painted a complete tile panel in a slightly Spanish style, but with a twist.
And I loved doing it so much! In the end, that was the beginning of the tile panels. It wasn’t until later, in October 2023, that the idea for the big, funky frames came along. I mean, who wouldn’t want that? By the way, I have more than 100 ideas for frames and themes saved on my phone. But anyway, first things first.
What are your favorite colors and/or style?
Phew! Think free and loose, above all. I throw a lot of the techniques you’re taught overboard, or mix them all up, and do it my own way, whatever feels right. I do think my style is also playful and a bit rougher. I mean, you shouldn’t come to me for a highly realistic, detailed painting. Of course there’s a difference between the tile artworks and the single tiles, because they call for different techniques. The tile artworks have lots of layers, which gives them more depth and detail. The single tiles are much looser.
I don’t have favorite colors. I use every color, but in the deeper shades. Not pastels, at least not quickly. I also only paint with about 10 fixed colors, and I mix endlessly from those. I think my style is really a mix and match, and can be mixed and matched, if you know what I mean. What’s nice is that people often tell me they now really recognize my style, quite apart from the big funky frames, which are of course very distinctive.
I also never throw anything away. I just leave it for a while and look at it again later, then keep painting and give it a twist.
How do you balance free painting and commissioned work?
At the moment I do a lot of commissioned work: tile artworks and single tiles. The plan is to set aside a bit more time for free painting, though, because that’s where the newest ideas always come from. Ideally it should be 50-50. Commissions are often based on a tile artwork or tile that people have already seen somewhere. Fortunately, sometimes they aren’t, which gives me food for new ideas. So it’s a good interplay.
How do you take your photos?
In lots of different ways, haha. I mean, my phone is obviously handy for quick things. For example, when you’re in a moment with a nice setting for taking photos. Or just for stories.
I also have a DSLR camera, which I used to take the tile artwork photos you see on my website myself. Recently, though, I asked a former colleague, who is also a photographer, to take photos of the art and of me too. I have a certain idea of what I want to convey, so I had already put together several “sets,” and combined with his creativity, that led to some really awesome photos. Very diverse, in other words.
What collaborations do you think are cool, or what do you still envision?
Besides hoping that I’ll soon have my original artworks hanging in several places in the Netherlands, I have so many ideas.
Something else I think would be incredibly cool is having my tile artworks hang in the places where people come together to dine, have drinks, or simply celebrate life. Think trendy restaurants, hotels, cooking studios, and so on. All as an extension of the dining room or kitchen at people’s homes. For example, I don’t want to hang in a gallery. I find that too inaccessible, and it doesn’t fit my vision.
Collaborating with interior stylists to design tile artworks or entire walls with different kinds of artworks sounds absolutely amazing to me. The first proposal is already on the table, by the way!
Actually, I would love to collaborate with a big interior brand and launch something together with wild prints on fabric, posters, mugs, tableware, and so on. Or, for example, make crazy cool cooler boxes. And also a range for picnicking, with a super fun parasol, beach chair and picnic blanket series. A bit of the good life.
Of course, it would also be great to take my tile artworks all over the world.
But well, I’ve only just started and am focusing on my tile artworks first. Dream big, start small, right?
Is one of your marketing channels Instagram, with 2K followers?
Yes, that’s right. I get a lot of inquiries through Instagram. I try to grow through collaborations, but also through ads. I also have Facebook, but that’s not really where my target audience is.
I still see some potential in LinkedIn for reaching a business audience. That said, I see LinkedIn more as a personal showcase of everything I do, for whoever is interested, including in my role as a communications advisor. I do see it as a great place to share personal milestones and struggles. Ideal for sharing my journey with art by Dee. In the end, it brings attention to your business from a completely different perspective.
What would you still like to learn?
So much. Spanish is still on my list. And French too. Oh, and sewing lessons, because I think it would be really cool to be able to make everything yourself with fabric. Luckily, my daughter is already taking them, so maybe she can teach me soon.
Where can people find you?
Definitely on
Instagram: @kunst_van_dee
Facebook: @kunstvandee
Website: www.kunstvandee.nl
I don’t have a studio address yet where you can view the artworks in person, but I’m working on it.
My goal is to have a few places across the Netherlands where you can see at least one artwork (preferably several) in real life, because that gives you so much more of a feeling than a picture does.
For now, you can find a few artworks in person at the Foodies in Heels stores in Eindhoven and Maastricht. Soon also at Keizer Culinair in the Jordaan in Amsterdam. I’m also in talks with a larger interior retailer with multiple branches across the Netherlands, but that is really, truly just in its infancy. So maybe I’m celebrating too early, haha. But anyway, we’ll see where we end up. In the meantime, I mostly do what gives me lots of energy and feels good. Then it should work out on its own, right?
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