resisted,sinceshetransportsher
paintingsbybicycle.Determined
tosolvethisdilemma,shebegan
toexperimentwithvarnishes,
enablinghertoframepaintings
aslargeas59x59-incheswithout
glass.“Mymethodissecret,”she
says,buttheartistdidconfessthat
herfirsteightattemptsresultedin
ruinedpaintings,whichendedup
inthegarbage.Shesaystheprocess
goessomethinglikethis:Firstshe
preparesa woodencradleforthe
painting,intowhichsheinsertsa
plywoodpanel.Thensheapplies
manycoatsofgessoandpastel
primer,whichshesmoothswitha
rotarysander.She’scarefultokeep
herpaintingslightinvalue,sothat
thefixativeandvarnishsheapplies
whenthepaintingsarecompleted
won’tdarkenthecolorstoomuch.
WhenBotmanusesHahnemüle
paperorSennelierLaCarte,sheuses
commercialframesandglass.When
shepaintsonlargepanelsshehas
madeherself,shemakesherown
frames,andframesherpaintings
varnished,withoutglass.
Galleriesaren’ttheonlyones
demandingmorefromBotman.A
friendcreateda picturebookofthe
artist’sanimalpaintingsforher
grandchildandlikedtheresultso
muchthatsheshowedit toa pub-
lisher,wholikedit too.Now,Botman
haspublisheda numberofchildren’s
booksinbothDutchandEnglish.
In2018,shepublisheda volumein
DutchandEnglishforadultscalled
StillLives.
WhenBotmanchoosesananimal
subject,shepaintsfromlife,talk-
ingtotheanimals.“Iaskthemto
sitinsilencesoI candrawthem,”
sheconfides.Shealsopossessesan
extraordinaryvisualmemory.“Almost
allofmyanimalpaintingsarememo-
riesfromchildhood.”Theartistis
willingtousephotosforreference,but
onlywhenshetakesoncommissioned
work,asshesaysthere’slessfreedom
tobehadinthecreationofthose
paintings.Sheoftenvisitsthecollec-
tor’shomeandobservesthecolorsin
whichtheyliketolive.“AsI paint,I’mBotman doesn’t own
a car which can make
transporting artwork
tricky. In a quintes-
sentially Dutch move,
she develops clever
systems for carrying
her paintings (of all
sizes) on her bike.
Sleep Tight, Dream
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