Born 1970 and grown up in the German Rhineland. Being a daughter of an art teacher I was exposed to painting, scetching and art history since I was little. Like my mum I scribbled and produced drawings as soon as I could hold a pen. The window sill of my room was clustered with plants and kakteen.
During my school days I produced small abstract drawings with back ink and early oil paintings. Black&White photography became a passion. My mother allowed me to install a small photo laboratory in the cellar of her house.
After matriculation I moved to Berlin and studied art history and archaeology from 1990 to 1991.
I attended drawing classes at both universities and even dabbled in pottery. Even in the smallest student appartments space was found for my photo laboratory.
Feeling a dilemma between vague art history and hasardous study of art I decided to subscribe for law as a matter of reason.
1996 I passed my first state exam in law and worked in public service until I became a junior barrister. During this time some more abstract oil paintings were made. In 1999 I completed my second state exam at Kammergericht Berlin and worked as an inhouse lawyer until 2002.
In 2005 I moved with my husband to Düsseldorf where I started to work at a real estate company. My farther`s death after a long and serious disease in the same year was the turning point to decide to starting to live as an artist. 2007 I quit my bread winning job and concentrated on oil painting.
Apart from abstract painting I set up a serial of studies of plants and glas objects and experimented with the colour green. Dealing with the theory of colours helped me to expand my personal colour sceme, for instance, to use pink and the contrast of red and green as means of expression. At the same time I develeoped electronic works with structures of plants based on digital photographs.
„If colour carries the main expression, the composition of the painting must be started with spots of colours“ – this statement of Johannes Itten (from the book „Art of colours“) still serves encouragement and understanding for my own creative process.
On many travels in Europe and Asia I studied and photographed plants and their structures (e.g. leaf-veins) but this has a rather indirect impact on my paintings.
Most of the time the starting point is the emotional attitude towards colours.
After years of intensive work on mode of expression and technique I had to stop my work between 2015 and 2017 in order to nurse my mum until she died followed by coping with a serious desease myself.
My love for painting helped me to march through these troubled waters and enables me to learn from what I experienced in these years.
Feel invited to have a look at a selection of my works.