I am not a guide. I am not a herder, a musher, or a captain. I am a Belgian illustrator who first came to the North and has never really fully returned.

For six winters, I lived and worked in a boutique hotel in Finnish Lapland, where the rhythm of life was dictated by the husky teams, the reindeer, and the shifting light. Those years formed the basis for my “Lapland 8 Seasons” collection. It consists of eight portraits, one for each Sámi season.

But the Arctic doesn’t end at the Finnish border. Traveling through Northern Norway, the jagged peaks of the Lofoten Islands, the vast skies above Tromsø and Alta, the coast beyond… all of these drew me back there time and time again. The fjords were so different from the Finnish forests; the whales were wild in a different way than the reindeer were.

These six adventures stem from those years when I traveled through the North in various ways.

No bucket-list activities, but ways to experience The North in a different light ... through the eyes of an artist.

In Lapland, winter days are short and precious. The light dawns slowly and fades just as gently, bathing the sky and snow in colors that shift from hour to hour. A single day on a husky sled is a journey through those shifting hues: from the first pink glow before sunrise to the green dance of the Northern Lights at night.

The husky team is already on the move long before the sun rises. Breath rises in little clouds. All you can hear is the soft patter of paws and the sled cutting through the snow. Then the light changes, and the day changes with it: gold at sunrise, deep blue at dusk, green at night.

I’ve captured this adventure in 4 illustrations that depict a single winter day: 'Pink Sky', 'Sunrise', 'Blue Moment', and 'Northern Lights'. Together, they portray the daily life of a husky musher.

View the collection in the shop

In Lapland, the snowmobile is more than just a machine. It’s the key that unlocks the vast, silent landscape and takes riders to places where the roads end and the wilderness begins. Across frozen lakes, through pine forests, across the open tundra: in a single day, you can travel farther than you ever thought possible.

The experience is different from a husky safari. You hear the sound of the engine, but there are also moments of complete silence when you stop on a frozen lake, far from civilization. The sense of distance is what stays with you; you also fully realize just how vast the North really is when you can move through it at this pace.

I’ve captured this adventure in 4 illustrations that follow a winter day through the open wilderness: 'Pink Sky', 'Sunset', and two scenes featuring the Northern Lights (one wild, one serene) as night falls.

View the collection in the shop

In Lapland, the reindeer is more than just an animal. For thousands of years, it has been at the heart of life in the North. The Sámi have been herding them across the tundra for generations. Even today, they are a familiar sight along the roads, near homes, and through the forests of modern Lapland. Reindeer are both wild and semi-domesticated, and just as inextricably linked to the land as the snow and the trees.

An encounter with a reindeer is unlike any other encounter in the Arctic. They aren’t chased down on a sled, nor glimpsed fleetingly from a boat. You stand still. They draw closer. Sometimes one takes a piece of lichen from your hand. That is the whole moment.

I’ve captured this adventure in 3 illustrations that depict different ways of encountering them: up close with a 'Baby Reindeer', alone at dawn with 'Pink Frosty Morning' and in 'The Magical Darkness at Santa Claus’s House'.

The Northern Lights are never the same twice. They appear over open water in early fall, before the snow has fallen. They dance across frozen rivers in the heart of winter. They rise softly and green beside the warmth of a campfire on a quiet spring night. Their colors shift from emerald green to violet, their shapes from soft veils to wildly dancing flames. Chasing after her means discovering that no two encounters are the same.

This collection stands out somewhat from the others. It is not a new series; rather, it consists of three illustrations from my “Lapland 8 Seasons” collection, chosen because together they show just how varied Lady Aurora truly is. A bridge between “Arctic Adventures” and the deeper seasonal narrative of the Sámi.

I painted Lady Aurora in 3 illustrations spanning three seasons: 'Green Reflection' in early fall, 'Sub-Zero Winter' in the depths of winter, and Arctic Campfire under the Northern Lightson a quiet spring night.

The waters off the coast of Northern Norway are teeming with life. Orcas hunt in family groups along the fjords. Humpback whales surface in large, open bays to breathe. Sometimes a tail fin or a dorsal fin breaks the surface; sometimes an entire body shoots into the air. Every encounter is brief and unforgettable, and no two are alike.

A whale-watching safari is the opposite of a quiet day in Lapland. You scan the horizon for hours, while the boat hums beneath you, and then, in a single second, there she is. And then she’s gone again. The painting comes to life because I hold onto that second in my memory longer than it actually lasted.

I’ve captured this adventure in three illustrations that depict three very different ways a whale appears at the surface: 'Arctic Twilight' (a wild, splashing encounter), 'Calm Spring' (a peaceful moment), and 'Midnight Sun' (a humpback whale beneath the endless summer light).

.

View the collection in the shop

In the far north of Norway, the sea is rarely rough. The fjords stretch deep into the land, the islands block the wind, and the water lies open and still for hours on end. Paddling here means making your way through a landscape that feels both vast and intimate. You paddle close enough to touch the rocks, yet far enough to lose yourself in the light reflecting off the water’s surface.

The Norwegian summer is what makes this adventure what it is. The sun lingers on the horizon for hours. The water turns into liquid gold. There’s no rush to return. You paddle for the sake of paddling, and the evening stretches on without ever truly turning into night.

I’ve captured this adventure in 2 illustrations of long Norwegian summer evenings on the water: 'Sunset' on the Fjord and 'Golden Sun'.

.

View the collection in the shop