I am living in Belgium, more specific in Grimbergen, an old historical community above Brussels. I never went to any artist-school. In our world, in the sixties, it was something "far away", but I did like to draw. At fifteen I started working to earn money and I went to follow evening-lessons advertising design during seven years, as far as I could get. In those years computer was unknown, we had to draw by hand, everything with pencil, pen and colour "better than the print version" like the teachers sead, who all worked as professionals in advertising-agencies during the day. Lucky me, after my military service I got a job as "designer". I never worked in agencies, but as individual in different factories, so everything that had to be illustrated came my way: all kinds of publicity, advertising, illustration, shop-design, trade fairs plus the follow-up. Apart from ten years, I did this job for thirty-five years. Since the end of the eighties I started to work with the first generation of designer-programs on computer, but I missed my pencils and brushes. hat's why, in my free time, I started to draw and made watercolors for fun, I only sell when I am asked for it. Of course, for the jobs I did, you need some artistic feelings but if I see what "art" means since several years I don't like to be compared with those "artists".
Since the end of my career as a publicity designer, I have thrown myself into everything that I find beautiful, that I think about, that intrigues me or just what interests me to depict in watercolor paintings. This ranges from country and village views, animals, vehicles, boats, railways and especially steam locomotives of which I can already put quite a few on my list of achievements. The signature "idee" stands phonetically for my initials: Ivo Depauw (from Belgium)
