Tiki… about me

My name is Kathleen Van Driessche. I was born in 1964 in Belgium (Europe) and lived there most of my life. Knew and felt as a 5 year old already my soul belonged somewhere else.
But where…

I travelled with my parents & sister all over Europe on vacations. Later I travelled parts of Asia and Africa. But I felt it was not where I belonged. Since I was 12 I knew it was the USA, that BIG continent I wanted to visit and explore. I had to wait till September 1994, at the age of 30 years on my honeymoon, to travel over that big Ocean for the first time.
As I took my first step on this continent I knew and felt “I’m HOME!”
And when we visited Montana all fell in its place. I had arrived where I belonged, my soul could finally live and open up.
The Madison Valley views, Big Sky country, nature, wildflowers & wildlife but most of all the Montana friendliness touched my heart. I wanted to stay… but it took another 16 years before I could realize me & my husband’s dream: live in Ennis and overlooking the mountains…

Since May 2010 we have our own home in Ennis and are so happy to enjoy the magic of nature, wide wild scenery, always changing weather, the silence … all of that we have not in Belgium…  and we have made a lot of Montana friends already. A dream came true…

About me the artist … Tiki

I sign my paintings with “Tiki”, my name given to me in an important time in my life. I’m a self taught creator, my grandmother painted, she died in 1964 the year I was born but always felt a connection with her through her artwork. I’m sure I got all the talent from her. Thanks grandma !!!

It can be a flower or a Montana landscape, or just the sky, it speaks to me and my paintings are an emotional and visual response to all that beauty. Because my paintings are created within myself, connected to my feeling and imagination I can take liberties with my use of color.
There is a great deal of love and freedom in my brushes and paint.

My work seeks to convey the earth’s rhythms and energy flows. And to express a sense of the spirit of the place or scenery. Color for me is feeling, emotionally evocative. I am inspired by places that feed my dreams that create an image in my imagination.
My paintings are very personal responses often relating to a specific person, place or chain of events in my world and feelings.

My work has to be about what I feel, in that moment, first and foremost.

The most important things in life aren’t things…

I love what I do and even more if my work can touch another one… might it be through colors or the image or the energy … I feel blessed. I need to evocate what lives inside me… & I love to share it…

Kathleen Van Driessche

30s Bluebird Lane – 59729 EnnisMontana USA
Steenweg 91 -9810 Eke – Belgium