Natascha Schot (1988) was born in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. As a little girl on pre-school she already loved to draw. When she came home and had to explain to her mom what kind of candy she got, she drew it instead of explaining it in words. Her inspiration came from cartoons, for example for the wedding of her parents’ friends she made a painting of Donald Duck and Daisy Duck who of course represented the couple. At the age of 8 she found a challenge in drawing her own hand and she became more interested in drawing and painting of living creatures.
Natascha’s luck was that her mother and grandmother were artists as well, both with their own studio. When Natascha and her sister Anoeska still were on elementary school they went on craft days at their grandmother’s studio and worked with all kinds of techniques. They made mostly 3-dimensional objects. But at her mom’s studio she developed a love for oil painting. In her puberty she mostly worked with oil paint and her inspiration came from the music artists she listened to and from fantasy art.
Her parents stimulated the interest in art by making beautiful family trips to cultural cities like Florence, Rome and Paris. She was amazed by the portrait artists on the streets of Place du Tertre in Paris. She always wanted to stay and watch how they made portraits and ask questions about materials to try these at home. With her family she also visited many international museums. In the museums, the paintings with people in them interested Natascha the most. The way they were represented, the kind of brushstroke and what colours were used, fascinated her. Natascha strongly believes that you can see the soul in a person’s eyes. That’s why the eyes have an important role in her work. To capture the character of a person in her artworks is her goal.
Natascha knew her whole life she wanted to go to art school. When she had the chance she went to the academy of art in Tilburg (the Netherlands). After that, she went to Nijmegen to study art history at the Radboud University. During her education she developed a broader view in making art and in art history. In making art, for example, she has experimented with even more different techniques. And in art history she learned more about the different styles and art movements. Especially the Renaissance, with artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and Surrealism with artists like Dali and Magritte, had a huge impact on her and inspired her. She also loved it when something is left to someone’s own imagination, or is partially finished and partial left a bit robust, like Rodin.
She went through a difficult period of physical health trouble that impairs her ability to draw, paint and make art to a large extend. Now she is finding her way by looking at the things she still can do, and with renewed energy she is experimenting with many different techniques to find out which one fits her best. But as much as she loves to experiment with the different techniques, the objects in her work - portraits and people - remain central.
She works with a warm brushstroke and with the warmth of her heart. She loves to make people happy with her art. It’s great to make something out of nothing that arouses positive feelings in other people. It makes Natascha happy to do so and she hopes to have that effect on you too, as a spectator of her artwork.