Nature and animals give me a sense of peacefulness. I strive to create that peaceful fuzzy place every time I paint. My favorite material is acrylic because of its quick drying time. For most of my paintings I use warm colors. First I cover the whole canvas with Cadmium Red thinned with water. When this under painting has dried, I roughly sketch the composition with a mix of Alizarin Crimson and Thalo Green. By using multiple layers of warm colors (Cadmium Red or Yellow) with a flat brush, I build up texture. Cool colors like Ultramarine Blue or Alizarin are my favorite colors to add shadows and I use very intense dark color (mix of Burnt Umber and Thalo Green or Ultramarine Blue) for an extra dramatic effect. I was born 39 years ago on the Dutch Caribbean Island Curacao and grew up painting and riding Paso Fino horses. This art show allows me to express the closeness between a Paso Fino horse and its rider. The Paso Fino is a spirited horse and needs an equestrian who can appreciate its lively nature and unique gait and can ask her horse to perform a fast footfall with some times 120 hoof beats per minute, seeming to dance in place. The horse and rider walk on a special ‘catwalk’ so the jury can see, hear, and judge the performance. For this painting I used myself and Presumida, a graceful and loyal Paso Fino mare as the subjects. The equestrian wears an official Paso Fino show costume, a white straw hat, a white shirt, and cowhide show Chaparajos (chaps). Instead of painting a competition, I chose to portray the serenity after all the commotion and pressures.