Roermeester was a decorative painter before he finally chose the painting profession at the age of 30. After that, the flat South Holland landscape of ditches and lakes was a constant source of inspiration for him. He regularly spent a few months in the spring and autumn in Noorden, where he recorded the houses on the water, boats, canals and puddles with pencil or brush. For a year he shared a studio with Willem Maris in The Hague.