There’s a thin veil of black dust over my table.
My hands are grey around the edges again.
Charcoal in my hands, fully in the sketch phase.
ON PAPER
No large canvases, no layered colour for now. Just paper, line, and energy that sometimes rushes through me and sometimes moves with quiet focus. It feels like returning to a basic form of safety: just me, the sheet of paper, and a small piece of charcoal that weighs almost nothing and yet can touch everything.
SOFT AS POWDER AND CRACKLINGLY HARD
Charcoal is soft as powder dust and cracklingly hard.
I can wipe it away, overlap it, bring it back. A line is allowed to fail, because with one gesture it becomes a shadow. That gives me space to search, instead of having to know.
LIGHT AND DARK – Dialogue
I rarely start with a fixed plan. A feeling comes first: comfort, embrace, a kind of inner shelter. From there I draw the first lines, often a female figure, sometimes a strong small house in a wide landscape. Light and dark become a direct dialogue. No colour to hide behind, only presence or shadow.
In this in-between time nothing has to hang on a wall yet. Nothing needs a title. Nothing has to prove itself.
Charcoal helps me stay close to my own energy and flow. Raw and soft at the same time.
#charcoaldrawing #artcollecting #artforsale
Photography by @brandnew.photography
Hares, deer, houses, female figures, they surface while I paint, soft beside raw, familiar beside “other.”
They form their own language of symbols that comes and goes, and every new layer of paint brings another story.
How beautiful it is when someone recognizes their own story in it.
During Kunstschouw Zeeland (www.kunstschouw.nl) and the exhibition at Galerie De Pomp, buyers shared their personal stories with me.
#availableart #collectingart #artforsale
Charcoal sketch.
A studie about a winter vibe. Where botanical habitat is embrassing a womans feeling.
Authentic and original drawing. Sketchbook original.
A filled sketchbook is not enough.
This week, I created several sketches each day, often one after another. The subject has not yet revealed all its possibilities.
#originalart #artforsale #womanartist
Nieuw werk in wording, nog vers op de ezel. Echt een werk uit mijn hart.
Laag over laag zoek ik naar het moment waarop het lichaam bijna "oplost" in kleur, beweging en verf.
Nu eerst laten rusten, kijken, voelen. Later komt er een volgende huid van olieverf overheen.
New piece in progress, still wet on the easel. And truly a piece straight from my heart.
Layer by layer, I’m searching for the moment when the body almost "dissolves" into colour, movement and paint.
For now it needs to rest, to be looked at and felt. Later a new skin of oil paint will be added.
#art #availableart
artforsale
Three sunny, intense days in Paris are behind me.
Not as a tourist, but as an artist moving between embassies, art schools and workshops, listening to how other makers shape their worlds. I was able to speak with many young French makers. The conversations with fellow artists like Lennard and Jose also made the metro miles and steps through the city fly by.
On invitation of the Dutch Embassy in Paris, I joined a *petit comité* from the Creative Vocational Schools network. The official goal was educational collaboration, but for me it felt mostly like an extended studio visit: Parisian streets as corridors between pockets of craft, design and artistic mind. We really put in the miles, from Haussmann façades to full classrooms, workshop floors and meeting rooms filled with croissants and pains au chocolat. And yes, I often lingered at the Christmas shop windows, diving into the vivid compositions of light and colour. I was literally in awe of the artistic staging.
At the Embassy we spoke with diplomats (Education and Science) about our shared ambitions: long-term collaboration around craftsmanship and art & design, and creating space for people to learn, work and create across borders. For me as an artist, this international exchange is not an abstract concept, but a living context: it influences how I look, what I paint and with whom I want to build future projects. Building a network is part of that, too.
We visited Le Campus Mode, Métiers d’Art & Design, Lycée Maximilien Vox (design, print and fine arts) and Lycée Léonard de Vinci (woodwork and scenography). Different places, same drive: hands, materials, imagination. The trip ended at the Manufacture des Gobelins, with conversations about artistic matchmaking, guest lectures, joint exhibitions and new forms of collaboration between France and the Netherlands.
The next step is already on my list: arranging a meeting at Atelier Néerlandais, as a bridge between my own practice, Dutch creative communities and the Paris art and design scene. A place where education, exhibitions and artistic research can overlap, and where new projects can begin.
#paris #parisart
This close-up belongs to a piece from my Paradise collection, a mini series in which I used an intuitive process. The search for balance between strength and the sweet and soft is something I repeat. It is a rhythm that requires absolute freedom. In the past, that meant disappearing for days in my studio.
Now, I have several workspaces where I can work from freedom and at the same time with a sense of safety. An uninterrupted process where attention and focus are essential. That sense of safety and freedom go hand in hand with my creative process. It can be a studio, an attic room, a garden, or a work shed—as long as it is far from outside interference. In that sense, I can be quite a “squirrel.”😃 I go outside: look, feel, and experience, then dive back inside to execute.
"Painting inner realities, where force meets tenderness. In a feminine way.”
Be welcome to explore my art process, inspirations and studio stories. Are you collecting art? Be welcome to book a studio visit.
#ContemporaryArt
#dutchfemaleartist #FemineArt #artcollecting #affortebleart
A close-up of one of my "Paradise" oil paintings. A collection on paper where I represent freedom and longing. A repetitive process, just as I have done with several other collections. It is a part of my working method.
Symbolism and intuition.
This miniature series arose purely from feeling and expression—a contemporary response to what is happening in the world. It is a mix of emotions present during that period in my life and for me. Rhythm and contrasts were necessary. For me, it is often essential to repeat a subject, to make the theme and feeling my own. I also mastered this method at art school, as if the repetition has a healing effect, allowing me to shape my narrative. To "forge" into image the words I cannot find, again and again, reusing my symbols, letting them live and relive.
Oil on paper –
30 x 40 cm – 2025
#SymbolsInArt #fineartseries
#artwithmeaning #artforsale #artcollecting #MagicalRealism
Symbolism and intuition.
This miniature series arose purely from feeling and expression. It is a contemporary response to what is happening in the world. It reflects a mix of emotions present during this period of my work. Rhythm and contrasts were essential for me. I often need to repeat a subject to make the theme or feeling my own. I also mastered this method at art academy. The repetition has a healing effect, allowing me to build my narrative. It is my way of “forging” images for words I cannot find, again and again, where I reuse my symbols, letting them live and revive.
"The “Paradise” collection by LACE Ruig consists of three expressive, intuitive oil paintings. Each work is connected by rhythm, contrast, and symbolic energy, reflecting myth, freedom, and longing. Through intuitive painting, Paradise becomes a contemporary exploration of desire and vitality, a series where nature and inner worlds come together in layered expression." – Gallery De Pomp-2025
Explore at studio visit.
OIL PAINTING ON PAPER | PARADISE | 2025
30 x 40 CM (unframed)
Framed in Italian wood and art glass.
#symbolicart #ContemporaryDutchArt #FemaleArtist #artcollecting #artwithmeaning #artseries
Fragments of Now
This page shows an ongoing flow of images, fleeting moments, gestures, works-in-progress, and traces of what I do and how I move through the world.
What you see here is not always polished or explained. It lives in between projects, performances, and states of being.
My Instagram feed functions as a digital sketchbook, a space for raw expression and immediate presence.
Scroll, pause, or come back later,the work continues to shift.
Studio visit
The studio is where things start, fall apart, and sometimes come together.
If you’d like to witness that process, or simply spend time with the work, let me know.
→ Contact me via this link to schedule a visit.