Tapas of Tales
Life, love and adventures


'Delicious', bite-sized stories of love and adventures in Spain. Renate van Nijen is a Dutch born, international artist and writer living in southern Spain. These light-hearted true stories will give you an insight into her reasons to come to Spain in the first place, to then make a big change in her life. Her observational style of writing will give you a clear idea about some of the typical cultural particularities that you will come across when living in Spain as an expat.
nternationally exhibited artist turned published writer, Dutch born Renate van Nijen settled in Andaluc a, Spain in 2004, where she continues to paint, teach art classes, and embraces her passion for writing. Before coming to Spain Renate lived in various countries, amongst which Israel, New Zealand, Italy and of course her home country, The Netherlands. Having lived in different cultures has turned her into a compassionate, open minded artist and writer. Her art ranges from colourful women and spirit animals to Buddha impressions, flamenco dancers and mandalas. Her books cover many different subjects. From 'Cheers' about alcoholism and its effects on those close to the alcoholic, to her book 'Secret Thoughts', a collection of very short sensual, quirky stories; She also wrote 'Reflections from La Herradura' an anthology of artists of all fields in the village of La Herradura, and 'Memories of World War II' an intriguing account of her father's experience as a teenager in occupied Holland during the Second World War, She continues to write her books with humour, passion and love for the 'human-kind' Renate's art and books are all communicating her message. Her paintings tell a story and her books paint a picture of situations that others can recognise.