Artlife in July

This month I decided to start an art diary to document my personal journey with art and creativity in my little life bubble. I am curious how I will see myself from a perspective in the future and also remember what I create. I also decided that I want to write in english, although my english is not the best, I feel that I have many english speaking friends and connections, so english would be the best solution. And even if the trend goes to vlogging on YouTube and Reels on Instagram, I feel that my place at the moment is here on my Blog, where I have enough time and space to reflect on life with images and words. Maybe YouTube will follow, I will see and let it happen naturally.

The last month was one of the most creative months for me this year. Actually I cannot believe how many precious moments I had and how productive I have been with drawing and painting, and I even sold two paintings, which is totally over the moon for me.

As some of you know, I live in a very special place, surrounded by lush forests and beautiful nature, in a wooden house that reminds some people of Hobbit houses from Lord of the Rings. This house was built by the artist Kurt Gminder, who lives on the lowest floor and rents the other two floors to people. We live on the top two floors and have a garden on the roof and around the house too. It is a nature paradise and it feels like living in a fairytale.

In July I worked on a commission for a collector, who wanted a painting in his office to support the atmosphere and energy. Thanks to the artistic freedom and trust of the client, I was free to choose the motif and composition intuitively. The lion guards the gold of the soul, which goes deeper than any external wealth. I painted on it during the closing event of an exhibition I had with my art association in Göppingen. It was a warm summer evening and there were many friends who said hi and having many lovely conversations. I realized that these kind of events were one of the main reasons why I love artmaking so much. The connection I get with people and the bridges it builds are so full of magic and unexpected moving moments, experienced together. Walking with interested visitors through the exhibition, standing in front of my own paintings and sharing moving inner processes were extremely delightful moments this year. I can still feel the joy during this evening, being with all the lovely people and watching them enjoy – just priceless.

It took me another three weeks to finish the painting and send it to its new owner. At the very end of the process I suddenly had the idea to work with Gold leaf to support the effect of the shining Gold, because the golden acrylic color just didn´t do the job like I imagined. It was my first time working with it and that was a very exciting adventurous moment. At the end I was really happy how the whole painting turned out and I feel I grew a lot during the process.

The Technique I use for my oilpaintings is called the Mischtechnique, which I discovered during the many hours on the Vision Train when Covid hit the Planet. I feel a strong resonance with this way of painting. Thin layers in translucent shades of color exploring depth and inner realms. After over ten years of painting I still feel totally at the beginning of my journey. Because I had so many personal challenges, that didn´t allow me to fully immerse myself into artmaking, I feel like I have to start over and over again. But I came to a point where I am okay with that and it is all a big learning and growing process which brings me to my core. Art is truly a journey into the mysterious realms of inner landscapes, and being an artist means to connect that process to the rest of the world, trying to bring clarity and connection to the shared existence.

July was also a month where I started to intensively practice human anatomy. There is a site where you can draw from photographs and set time per image and how many images you want to practice. That really helps me to improve my understanding for anatomy and human figure, even if it showed me that I have still an endlessly long way to go. Step by step is fine for me, the older I get :)

The site is called: Line of Action and you can practice all kinds of motifs there. From human figure, to landscapes and architecture, and it´s for free. Feel free to share your sources that you think are nice to practice with in the comments.

I also experimented with drawing from imagination mixed with copying from life, which also has been so much joy to explore.

Another aspect of my life here is to connect to the nature around me and to get to know the land and surroundings. I walk a lot in the forests barefoot and I take care of the garden around the house. I feel a deep connection to plants and their spirits and whenever I detect a new plant, I immediately observe it in detail, make photos of it and try to get to know everything about it. Plants have such a wonderful way of communication through their ethereal soul surrounding them. I feel so much inspiration and aliveness around them and it is the greatest blessing in my life that I am here at this place in this moment of my life. It´s the realization that I am living a dream that I have been dreaming before. Although there are many challenges and unwanted outcomes in different areas of my life, I feel this gratitude very deep right now. Living close to mother earth has been a strong desire and longing and now I feel very much at home.

It is the first of August and I have some paintings on my easel, that I haven´t touched for a long time or that are almost finished, where I just need the courage to make the final strokes. ;) There is this painting for example that is very dear to my heart and has something very special about it that is hard for me to put into words but that can maybe be felt by looking at it deeply. I am about to create an article about the process and will hopefully share it soon with you, if anybody is interested in it. Let me know in the comments if you would like to read more about the process and story of my paintings.

The summary of the month July is that I feel more settled than ever and my art practice has evolved and grown into a regular and joyful practice. I cannot wait till September comes where I will travel to Torri in Italy to attend a legendary painting seminar, organized by the academy of visionary art.

A big dream is coming true for me here. 3 weeks of painting with other artists at a magical beautiful medieval place. If you are free in September I highly recommend to join us on this journey on a deep dive into art in community.

Thank you so much for reading my art diary, see you next month and take care everyone!

From the heart,

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