My approach to the archetypes

I give the archetypes my own twist; I believe an artist should be free to do that.

When I create a painting of an archetype, I first delve into what's info is out there…

A lot has been written about it from psychology, writing, and business - linked to brand names… and I sometimes find good videos on YouTube.

Then I say to myself, "Now I'm taking on the consciousness of… for example, the trickster," and that energy comes to the forefront within me. I let it sink in. Sometimes I can work with it right away, sometimes the energy needs a few days to settle. Then I read the info-texts, and I collect what I find resonates, and then I create my own story from that. In the meantime or afterwards I make the painting.

My approach is the healing aspect of integration, like the trickster, who is sometimes portrayed very negatively in many articles, which I don't think is accurate... I then look for the positive qualities of this energy, its usefulness. And then I describe the very negative as the shadow of this energy, meaning when it's suppressed. But I refuse to paint only a negative picture... My archetypes can therefore differ from what others say about them.

Carl Jung has twelve main archetypes, which I find a good number because I can connect them to the zodiac signs and the runes, which are also linked to the twelve  months. So those are things I love, how everything is interwoven.

But that's why I sometimes have to guess a bit to see if something feels correct. I also sometimes encounter archetypes that don't appear in my twelve, and then I try to figure out what it might be a sub-archetype of. So sometimes I work very intuitively, which is my preference.

Jolanda Klopper