Exhibition in the smallest church of the Netherlands, Kerkje De Rietstap, by Ciska Wynia.

In 1975 Ciska and her husband Jaap came to live in the Achterhoek. She was born and raised in Utrecht, but is was for a long time that she lived in Sinderen, where the couple bought a small farm in 1976 with a lot of land. Jaap worked as a veterinarian and Ciska as a physiotherapist. About 30 years ago she started her own practice in their village.

In addition to the family and these activities, there was enough time for their hobbies. For her, this mainly meant equestrian sports, and for them together care of their garden and their animals: horses, sheep, goats, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. Ciska also remained active in the creative field. She has drawn and painted since her childhood. But pottery and photography have also stolen her heart.

In 1988 Ciska came into contact with Gerrit Jansen. He gave drawing and painting lessons to a group of ladies in Varsseveld. When Gerrit quit, the group was taken over by Ineke Wisselink. Ineke could (and still can) paint incredibly well and was willing to share her art and knowledge with her students. Ciska learned everything from her, both watercolor painting and fine oil painting. The lessons ended a long time ago, but Ciska is and will remain eternally grateful to Ineke!

Ciska still paints. She mainly gets her inspiration from the nature in which she lives: flowers, plants, landscapes, animals. But she also likes to create paintings with a story. So she made a large painting with elephants for her son in Australia and birthday paintings for all her five grandchildren. Due to her husband Jaap’s illness and his death, Ciska now lives in Dinxperlo and hopes to be able continue her hobby still for a long time.