Hanneke Barentsen was born and raised in a small village in the south of the Netherlands.  It was a great place to grow up.  However, school was never one of Hanneke’s favourite places, unless it had something to do with art or craft.  She left school at fifteen.

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She met her future husband when she was 17 years old, they married a few years later and had two daughters.  After immigrating to Australia, they had another daughter to complete the family. Unfortunately, Hanneke’s love of art at that time had to take second place to caring for the growing family. 

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Later, Hanneke was fortunate enough to find a talented art teacher that taught her to paint with oils, and to this day she still enjoys oil painting.

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Hanneke loves to work with other mediums, such as modelling paste, macrame rope, driftwood and anything else that she finds on the beach.  Her coastal studies are an inspiration in finding objects at the water’s edge to create beautiful works of art.