At first Fiep lived with her Aunt Pieta in Lekkerkerk. It was through this connection that she was commissioned by the Lekkerkerk town council in 1939 to make a wall painting for the newly decorated Council Chamber in the Town Hall.
The subject Fiep chose was the cormorant colony, which was locally both famous and notorious. The picture she painted in oils on a wooden panel was later moved to the new Town Hall, where it can still be seen in the Council Chamber.









