My official names are Hendrika Johanna Poffers, named after both of my grandparents from my mother's side (Hendrik Jan van Aartsen and Hendrika van Aartsen-Boeve) and also my grandmother from my father's side (Johanna Hendrika Zwenneken Poffers-Mengerink). 

The funny thing is that in the Netherlands a lot of people have a so called 'roepnaam'. This means that in my case my parents have decided to call me Rieke, named after my grandmother Riek van Aartsen-Boeve. 

My background is in law, but now I am a self-taught intuitive artist. Four years ago I had to make a radical change when I got my second burn-out. Back then I still lived in the Netherlands, where I was born. It was the perfect timing to find out how my life would develop in another country.

At this moment I live in the south of the Alentejo region in Portugal. There are lots of things that I like about Portugal, but I guess what attracts me the most is the laid-back lifestyle. 

Back in 2014 my long journey of discovering who I am at my core started. About five years later I rediscovered art as a helpful tool to find my way in life.

The first year I explored with making daily energetic paintings, lately I like to create with Encaustic wax. Encaustic wax is a historical painting technique where the wax is heated up and painted with.