With my oil and acrylic paintings I attempt to portray the beauty, tranquility and peace of the environment that I see. 

For me, looking at art means standing still for a moment in the time, just like letting the environment where you are sink in and realizing how special it is that you are here, or anywhere on earth now. 

How special it is and how small were the chances that I am here at this moment and that I am part of an unfathomable and immeasurably large universe? 

I try to make this clear to myself by calculating the next probability. (Mathematically this is not correct, but with this example you can approximate a feeling of the incomprehensibly small chance that you exist at this moment and you are aware of it) 

Suppose you have four dice and you roll those four dice four sixes at once. That's a very small chance, right? Repeat this roll 14,000,000,000 (fourteen billion) times, rolling four sixes without exception. Is this correct? As said, no. The actual chance is much smaller. But it can help you realize how small the chance was and therefore how special it is that you are here, at this moment. Therefore, let every moment be special, for you and the people around you. Think about it, sometimes literally pause and look around you, be amazed and enjoy it. This is what art can also do for you. 

Jaap Hofstra