Earlier this year, I received an unexpected email from Peter Meppelink, an artist and musician from the Netherlands. He was inquiring about licensing one of Kim’s sticker designs to use as the cover art for his upcoming album, Zonnekind (“Sun Child”).
My gut reaction?
This must be an elaborate phishing scheme designed to lure me into clicking on something malicious.
After a few moments of Googling, I realized that Peter is very real and very talented. According to his website, Zonnekind is his second album, described on Spotify as Dutch-language pop songs with a Latin feel and an occasional touch of jazz. I listened to a few tracks and was instantly a fan. His music is available on multiple platforms, including YouTube.
Kim connected deeply with the song “Alles Gebeurt Gewoon” from Peter’s previous album, which translates to “Everything just happens.” During her cancer treatment, Kim’s personal motto was “It is what it is,” and it was during that time that she created the Sunflower Mandala. Because of that shared feeling, Peter’s request to use the artwork felt deeply meaningful.
After exchanging a few emails, Peter shared that he had a specific piece in mind for the album artwork: Kim’s Sunflower Mandala sticker.
Peter felt that the mandala really resonated with the spirit of the album and wanted to license it for use in marketing and distribution. Needless to say Kim and I were both very excited to make this happen, and we quickly came to an agreement.
A few short months later, the album has officially been released. We invite you to visit Peter’s website and explore Zonnekind. It’s meaningful to see Kim’s art continuing to travel from Canada to New Zealand, Germany, and now the Netherlands.
It’s easy to see why Peter was so inspired. It’s an absolutely beautiful and compelling piece of art.
When Kim first announced the collab, I immediately went to YouTube to see what songs were there. I threw one on my Watch Later playlist as I wasn’t in a spot to listen at the time, and then completely forgot it until several weeks later, and at that point I had also forgotten the connection (because I’m old and brain dead). It was a really neat tune, buuut then I forgot about it again until seeing this post on FB and it all came rushing back. So now I’m gonna have to pay closer attention. I look forward to seeing Kim’s artwork on other neat things in the future!