Sandra Bartels

Edition 4 Feature
Words by: Sandra Bartels
Location: Apeldoorn, the Netherlands 
Photo Credit: ©Sandra Bartels 

I am Sandra Bartels from the Netherlands, where I live in the small town of Apeldoorn. After secondary school, I studied design and desktop publishing at the Graphic Lyceum Utrecht. Soon after completing my degree in 1997, I started to work in advertising and, in my free time would travel to various places with my husband. 

Although I have always loved animals, this love was steadily growing at that time, so my husband and I chose to travel to places where you can see wildlife in its natural habitat. It was wonderful to watch how animals behave and see how they hunt. We went to South Africa, Botswana and Zambia as well as Norway, Sweden, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. For the last few years, we have been returning to the island of Bonaire, which is surrounded by an amazing underwater world. Nature is always the main focus of our trips and I take my camera with me whenever we travel. I love using my photography skills to capture nature in all its beauty and perhaps inspire my next drawing. 

Meanwhile, after a long period of not touching any art supplies, I started to paint and draw again in 2016. At first, I used a fairly loose style, but very soon I discovered that realism was what I loved to do. After a while, I received my first commission for a pet portrait, and I still do them with great joy today. Besides pet portraiture, I also enjoy drawing wildlife and nature. 

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