Let me start with explaining why my website is called riekebaptista. My official names are Hendrika Johanna Poffers, named after both of my grandparents from my mother's side (Hendrik Jan van Aartsen and Hendrika van Aartsen-Boeve) and also my grandmother from my father's side (Johanna Hendrika Zwenneken Poffers-Mengerink). 

The funny thing is that in the Netherlands a lot of people have a so called 'roepnaam'. This means that in my case my parents have decided to call me Rieke, named after my grandmother Riek van Aartsen-Boeve. 

I like all my given names. After my marriage in 2019 with a Portuguese man, I got myself another name: Baptista.

My background is in law, but now I am a self-taught intuitive artist. Four years ago I had to make a radical change when I got my second burn-out. Back then I still lived in the Netherlands, where I was born. It was the perfect timing to find out how my life would develop in another country.

At this moment we live in the south of the Alentejo region in Portugal. There are lots of things that I like about Portugal, but I guess what attracts me the most is the laid-back lifestyle. 

Back in 2014 my long journey of discovering who I am at my core started. About five years later I rediscovered art as a helpful tool to find my way in life.

The first year I explored with making daily energetic paintings, lately I like to create using the so called 'Encaustic art' concept.

You can read more about this on 'the creation process' page.

An 'about' page ought to be simple and short, that is why I decided to write my first blog to give some more background information.

So if you are interested, you can read more on the 'blog' page.

I am open to all kinds of custom and commissioned work. You can use the form to contact me.

Life will only change when you become more committed to your dreams than to your comfort zone.