Marlien van Heerden, a South African artist, considers herself fortunate to live out her passion for people in her art. Marlien was born 1969 youngest of five. She grew up on the High fields of Transvaal and studied Domestic marketing at University of Pretoria. She started painting fulltime in 1997. Marlien lives in Pretoria with her husband and four children. She started with exhibitions in parks and shopping malls, where agents saw her work and she was moved into galleries. Today her work is exhibited by selected galleries and she does consignments for corporate and private clients .She organizes a ‘plein’ air artist group, which gathers once a month to do outdoor painting or painting from a model. Marlien prefers oil paint, for its patience with her way of live, she can put large amount of paint on her pallet without concern of using it all in one day. There is always something new to discover on her work. Close-up a welter of brushstrokes – just to just to make sense when you move away. You don’t need a long description of her work to appreciate and enjoy it. Her work creates a corner where you can escape, a place to dream. A handful of humanity trapped in a moment and shared on canvas. A message whispered on canvas, left to carry its own message further.