PETRA VERLOOY, who was born at the 15th of January 1955 in Hengelo, has been drawing and painting animals since her childhood; not only “wildlife” but also pets such as cats and horses. They appear both physical as well as symbolically in her work. „Their movement, attitude, fur, colour and the expression on their faces do fascinate me. The nature forms an inexhaustible source of inspiration and it is the origin from which we live. Its just an unavoidable fact that human beings as well as animals not only originate from nature but also return to it.”

The artist, who is a teacher in art at a secondary school in Breda, received her training at the Koninklijke Acadamie van Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague and at the Academie van Beeldende Vorming in Tilburg. She uses various techniques and oil paint on canvas. „With the help of the underlying texture, shadows and the colour combination, I am trying to render the characteristics of an animal in a impressionistic and mysterious way. In one way or another human beings recognise their own features in the painting of the animal; the cheekiness of a pig, the spying look of a predator, the curiosity of a cow, the wilfulness of a cat.”

Petra Verlooy, who regularly makes sketches and photographs of animals, does not only want to contribute to the „attention for the animal inside yourself” in particular, but also for animals in this world in general. „More and more species are getting into a tight corner due to obtrusive human beings and as a result their very existence becomes endangered.”
The artist uses multiple opportunities to display her work and she exposes regularly in companies, institutions and galleries.