[1] Van Ellinckhuijzen was born to Dutch parents on 20 September 1942 in Pretoria, the then administrative capital of the Union of South Africa.
He pursued a military career but, after 11 years of service, became a game warden with the Department of Nature Conservation and Tourism in South-West Africa.
His personal preference were surreal and metaphysical topics as well as three-dimensional astrophysical panoramas that he called "Stereoptic" creations.
[1] Adelheid Lilienthal, in Art in Namibia, noted the scientific accuracy of his designs, their clean lines and his use of watercolor techniques.
[3][4][5] Of his sources of inspiration, van Ellinckhuijzen wrote that "M. C. Escher, René Magritte and Albert Einstein [...] all left their legacies in Koos' soul".