My name is Sophia Anastasia; I earn my income as a painter and illustrator.
During art academy in Arnhem, Holland, 1980-1984, I started traveling and cycled from Gouda to Damascus.
In 1984 I hitchhiked to Nepal, cycled from Bangkok to Singapore, then lived for one year in Singapore and eventually settled in Bali.
I surfed, painted, printed t-shirts, regularly travelled to Australia, made friends and had a relationship with film maker Lorne Blair.
with whom I built a house, co-produced a film and had a daughter. Sadly Lorne passed away shortly after our daughter's second birthday.
In Bali was confronted with numerous difficulties regarding single parenthood and finances although life was relatively and I had many friends. In 2000 I decided to go back to Holland.
I moved to my hometown Utrecht with my boyfriend, was left pregnant and had a son.
Two kids as a single mother and a new life to build in Holland was not always easy, especially since I was determined to remain an artist.
My daughter was homesick for Bali.
We lived modestly and my children insisted I'd find a 'normal job'.
I showed my paintings to many galleries but they were not interested.
At some point my income got so low that I had to live on welfare.
I explored ways to sell my work other than the traditional ones so I started to become active on the social media and learned about building websites.
In 2009 I did an interior-design course for selling property.
At the Red Cross I did volunteer work in a thrift-store.
Painting the Dom Tower at the city of Utrecht proved the way out of social security.
I started painting other cityscapes and was granted a solo exhibition at the town hall. I thought now my career started but the artworld never took interest.
Nevertheless I was able to fully live from the income of my paintings. More so my free work than cityscapes.
By now my children are 22 and 30 years old and I can fully dedicate my time to art.
During Corona I started building a greenhouse at my garden. Not yet finished but made 100percent of found materials. Please do look for it on my website.
