The Poster Club Anouk van Cleef - Blue Flowers & Red Wine

The artist Anouk van Cleef endeavours in quirky designs, mixing illustration techniques and graphic design together to attain her characteristic expression. She grew up on a flower farm in the southern part of the Netherlands and is still based in the Netherlands today: “I remember always getting out in the fields with my notebook to draw and write. Just me and a blank sheet full of possibilities.”

After primary school, however, Anouk just stopped drawing and started to pursue a career in graphic design. She tells that she didn’t know where to start and didn’t believe drawing could develop into a practical path for her. But after a few years, she took up drawing again as a creative outlet: “I wanted to add more feeling to the often more superficial aspect of graphic design — it needed more flavour.”

Today, Anouk mixes her talents and knowledge from the graphic design field, turning it into her own creative expression. “And I love it! They enhance each other beautifully.”

In general, Anouk’s artwork is all about embracing everyday life: Realising that the small things in life really are what it is all about and that beauty is to be found anywhere. “It’s a reminder to myself, too,” she says. “I want to make people feel like they want to crawl into my illustrations and to give them a warm feeling when they look at it.”