Katheleen Demeyer

Year of birth: 1977.
Where do you live: A small village in Belgium.
Education: Fine Arts Printmaking Academy of Antwerp.
Describe your art in three words: Mirror full of softness.
Your discipline: Digital art/Aquarel/Mixed media.
www.merritmentha.com | Instagram

Can you tell us more about your journey from studying at the Academy of Antwerp to founding Merritmentha in 2019? What were some of the key moments that shaped your artistic path?

The journey through my education actually began back in high school. This period has been just as formative for who I am now as the Fine Arts Printmaking program I pursued at the Academy in Higher Education. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to follow an arts track from day one of high school. For six years, I observed, read, and learned. That path exposed me to a wide variety of art forms. We studied photography, video art, life drawing, painting, printmaking, and worked with clay and stone. We learned to engage with conceptual art, visited museums—in short, we were allowed to play in a wonderful playground that inspired us to develop ourselves. It was there that I truly discovered the freedom of thought, the love for art, and the joy of philosophical exploration! It was a liberating journey, especially during that phase of life when you’re just beginning to discover yourself.

The Academy, and more specifically the Fine Arts Printmaking program, provided the perfect opportunity to zoom in on a specific craft, a trade. It was a chance to refine your knowledge and embrace the technicalities of your chosen art form. However, it also instilled in me a bit of a distaste for the seriousness with which “art with a capital A” is often “preached.” There was a lack of understanding for my love of color and the mixing of techniques. It wasn’t until years later that I regained the desire to share my creative work with the world.

The most significant turning point came when I was asked to create a series of illustrations for a book about the history of a large school group in the area. What joy! What pleasure in exploring a request and developing a project! Since then, I’ve alternated between creating personal work and commissioned pieces. More and more, I find myself exploring the intersection between illustration and art. What is a print, and what is art? Why does the title of “illustrator” give me such a sense of comfort? Is it the safety of not having to call myself an artist? Is there still that lingering feeling that art must be grand, and that my pursuit of beauty and love, color, and magic is too small for that big word? Or do I embrace the term I use to describe myself—illustration artist?

Kathleen Demeyer | Justbe

Your work is described as weaving softness and beauty into the small corners of life. Can you elaborate on how you achieve this in your illustrations?

I love beauty. I love color. The mission I’ve always set for myself is to make the world a little more beautiful. How? Through the channel that suits me best: my drawings. But beauty is just one aspect. Beyond the aesthetic, pleasing side of my work, I firmly believe that there can be a deeper layer in what you do as an illustrator, as an artist. In every drawing—and I mean every single drawing I create—I place an intention. A deeper, invisible layer where I embed a personal message for the viewer. A message of love, self-love, comfort, or understanding. A message of equality, of loyalty, of the strength that resides within a person. Every piece I create is made with such a thought or message in mind. Often, it’s meant for a specific individual or a particular character or personality type. The person behind my illustrations is always of crucial importance. Ultimately, people always play a significant role.

The drawing I made for a friend who needed to free her inner child a little more, the drawing for the friend who needed to show herself a bit more love, the couple who carries a burden but shares an infinite bond of love, and so on. That’s what lies behind those beautiful prints with warm colors. And the remarkable thing is that people often keenly sense this intention. The portrait of all that strength is visible.

Such an approach often requires complete silence and calm when I start working, but sometimes the right music can also help me immensely. I simply immerse myself in my own world and let all the emotions flow out.

Kathleen Demeyer | The journey

What inspires you most in your creative process, and how do you translate those inspirations into your artwork?

As I mentioned, it’s usually the people around me who inspire me. They shape the personalities, and their characters, quirks, and behaviors become the real figures I work with. But of course, the places I visit, the landscapes, and nature provide the backdrop to place these characters in. The journeys I take, but especially the daily walks, truly provide me with the right setting. All the small, everyday joys I encounter are the wishes I express for those other people. No matter how small, it’s these wishes that I embed in my illustrations. The hope that this small happiness can contribute to making the recipient’s day a bit brighter. The first sun after a rain shower, the butterfly that briefly lands on your arm, the rainbow—all these things around me, I try to capture and depict or connect to the intention I place in my artwork.

While drawing or painting, I truly try to relive how that specific moment of happiness felt, or how the wind on that hill caressed my cheek. You might not be able to literally translate that feeling, but you can emphasize it through color or effect. I also love working with watercolors, for example, because the accidental effects can bring an extra playfulness and depth that I can later highlight with a sharp pencil line in the next layer.

Kathleen Demeyer | My daughter

How do you approach illustrating a book compared to creating a single artwork like a greeting card or a print?

In both my personal work and when illustrating a book or commission, I always start from a story. Whether it’s a big or small story, filled with many words or just a single desire or feeling, I tell that story through my illustrations. When illustrating a book, I’m telling someone else’s story; in my personal work, it becomes more about my own interpretation of the world around me. When working for someone else, you work within the framework they create, in a world you share. With personal work, you create your own world. Both are equally fascinating and equally challenging.

I’m fortunate enough to be able to move freely within the world of another and to gradually make that world my own. In my personal work, I draw within the boundaries of the intention I set.

The day I realized that what I do is “illustrating a feeling or story” and not creating grand art was incredibly liberating. I know I often come back to this point. It might seem as though I dislike art that is unsettling, frayed, or harsh, but that’s not the case. I can deeply appreciate works intended to shock, offend, or convey rawness. However, it was essential for me to show that art can also be light, full of color and love, and can tell a story that helps and gently holds up a mirror.

Your artwork has a unique softness and ethereal quality. What techniques do you use to achieve this effect?

Thank you for the compliment! I believe the layering in my work adds the right depth and unique softness. An illustration can sometimes consist of 12 to 20 layers that I carefully build on top of each other. I usually start with a pencil sketch that depicts the character, which I then digitize (a big word for scanning or photographing) to further incorporate it into a setting or landscape. After that, I either print it out again or continue working with my digital toolkit, often using watercolor or pastel, and I keep layering until I achieve the right “depth” in my work.

The digital process has given me a lot of freedom! For instance, I can quickly mix different materials. In the physical world, there’s drying time, and sometimes a pastel layer can become too dense, but digitally, there are far fewer limitations. Additionally, you can quickly erase or adjust mistakes without ruining your entire drawing, and you can (just like in printmaking) add an extra layer for more color and effect. The space required is also much smaller. I don’t have a large studio (oh, what a dream that would be!), but with digital work, a table provides enough room! I really see digital work as a big magic box, where I can endlessly dig—wonderful and unlimited.

Kathleen Demeyer | Stories under the moon

What does a typical day look like for you as an artist? How do you balance your creative work with other aspects of your life?

I am an illustration artist, and this work is taking up an increasingly large part of my life.

But beyond that, I also have a regular career.

Fortunately, it’s a career where I can pour in a lot of passion and conviction—I give advice in a company that focuses on bio-ecological building and living.

I haven’t been working full-time for a while now, and it’s such a pleasure that my weeks are no longer solely filled with that career—wonderful!

I usually draw at every free moment that presents itself, but of course, the life of an illustrator/artist isn’t just about drawing or creating prints. There are sales points to visit, shops to supply, exhibitions to organize, and, like in any other freelance job, connections to maintain. Fortunately, I enjoy all of that just as much, but the day I can dedicate even more time to my art—oh, what a dream that would be!

My absolute favorite days involve getting up early, taking a brisk walk, and drawing until I forget everything else!

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring artists, what would it be?

My most important advice would be: be gentle with yourself. The world around us is already harsh and sometimes angry enough. Believe in yourself, not with arrogance, but with the unconditional trust you would give to a good friend. Whatever you want to do—whether it’s creating art that’s edgy and raw or art that’s soft and gentle—it’s all okay. But take the time to explore what you want to achieve and to master the craft.