Dutch artist and pattern designer Robin Pieterse’s lovely paintings provide a welcome respite from the busyness and stresses of modern life. Inspired by nature, the changing of the seasons and childhood nostalgia, her depictions of people spending time together — whether indoors or out — are calming and restorative.

Based in Zutphen in the Netherlands, Robin (b. 1999) comes from a “wildly creative family,” where “everyone was always working on something beautiful.” She can’t remember a time when she wasn’t drawing and loving it. Her mother is a landscape painter and art teacher; Robin says it is scary “how much of a copy of her I am.”

Robin earned a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and continues to develop her artistic voice. She worked briefly as a digital illustrator before returning to gouache on paper, favoring a muted, earth-toned palette and finely drawn details. She has participated in shows across the Netherlands and has exhibited internationally via MAPA Fine Art.

I would describe my style as a whimsical take on old-world charm and the nostalgic memories of childhood and foregone times. I love traditional and decorative arts, and expressing a modern take on these aesthetics.

Robin was able to indulge her penchant for the decorative arts recently by designing wallpapers for Hygge & West. Shortly before the pandemic in 2019, she and her family moved away from the big city. She considers this one of the best things she could have done not only for her family but for her creativity. Living a simple life closer to nature gave her a fresh perspective and renewed inspiration.

She grew to cherish the small moments she shared with her children, and this is reflected in many of her paintings, whether they are walking in the woods, cycling, baking, reading together, or enjoying quiet time in front of the fire. She enjoys seeing the world through their eyes.

Shortly before graduating from college, she was asked to describe her dream studio:

The first country that pops up in my mind is Norway. I went there a few years ago and found myself standing somewhere looking at some rocks, and finding it so beautiful I cried. The air was so clean, the water super clear. There’s a dark, cloudy sky. I felt at home.
The cosiness, the warmth you have to look for. So if I could, I’d have that studio in the middle of nowhere. Near a lake, near the mountains. I’d light a candle. Might be too impractical. I’d also love to just do a residency in Scotland or Norway, to have that environmental experience.

No doubt it’s a pleasure to spend time in Robin’s dreamy world. There is something so peaceful and soothing about seeing smoke rising from a chimney, fresh laundry blowing in the breeze, and children picking strawberries or apples.

Visit her website shop to purchase giclée prints and art cards, and don’t miss her Instagram — where she provides interesting little backstories to her paintings.

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