I paint for the sake of painting – mainly with acrylics on canvas.
In my art studio, I can create and experiment, try things out with curiosity, explore, make a mess… play however I like: applying paint with brushes, sponges, palette knives, and rags; using my bare hands and fingers to apply paint, then scrape it off, smudge it, wash it away, and apply it again—painting over old layers, either partially or completely, and letting something new emerge—layer by layer. These intense moments, when my mind seems to be off work, are precious and nourish me.
I paint when I feel a certain mood, a longing, or a gut feeling inside me that takes shape as a rough sketch on paper, a story, or sometimes just a word or a title.
Sometimes I’m extravagantly generous and use the canvas like a sketchpad—I just start painting with gusto and without hesitation. Other times, I make preliminary sketches, pulling out photos, rummaging through newspaper and magazine clippings I’ve collected over the years, or searching the internet for suitable material. All of this material sometimes becomes a source of inspiration in its own right.
And then, on the canvas—with the colors—it often turns out quite differently and takes on a life of its own. This process—engaging with the image as it takes shape, with the figure on the canvas—is that intense state that I find enjoyable, that I can savor.
Biography
I am a self-taught painter.
In the 1990s, I studied geography and environmental psychology in Kiel.
I have been living in Hamburg since 2015. In the neighbourhood where I live, I am involved in community-supported agriculture and, together with others, create what are known as ‘third places’.
My guiding principles in life are sustainability, human rights, philosophy, attitudes and changes in attitude, thinking in terms of systems and cycles, long walks, free dancing & painting.