Dutch artist visits Flathead

Last Saturday, all along the shore of Sacajawea Park, people gathered to sit in the sun and some, in the shade.

If you looked closely enough in the late afternoon, you might have seen an interesting and unusual sight – an artist, with supplies and paintbrushes, painting the landscape that lay before him.

Perhaps it’s not unusual for an artist to be painting Flathead Lake and its gorgeous views from Sacajawea Park, with peaks and bluffs across the water, but in this case it was Dutch artist and teacher Atelier Henk Dekker visiting from Holland.

He goes by Henk. His son Rainier accompanied him, who helped translate the reporter’s English into the artist’s Dutch.

Propped up on the slight hill, he nevertheless was using paint to express his idea and impression of the view.

“It’s very nice,” he said. “Beautiful.”

Dekker has been on vacation in Montana and Lake County. He and his son are in their second of three weeks of time off.

What brings Dekker all the way out to our little corner of the country to paint?

The beauty of the mountains, Dekker said.

“In Holland, it’s very flat,” he said. “No mountains or a lake.”

Dekker’s son Rainier is a hay importer from Canada, where they originally came from before finding a place to stay around Finley Point.

Rainier doesn’t usually do business down here, but the drought in Lake County this year has made business and the exporting of much-needed hay a side effect.

As for Dekker, his father, he’s been enjoying himself here in Montana.

“In daily life,” Dekker writes on his website, “I am a teacher of art and design.”

He studied at the University of Windesheim and the School of the Arts in Arnhem.

He painted with quick strokes and soft touches on the canvas, which portrayed a realistic translation of the Flathead Lake landscape. Dekker paints in a variety of styles and subjects such as landscapes and architecture.

You can add the Flathead Lake, mountains, and Montana to the list of his works.

Visit his website at www.atelierhenkdekker.nl