100328 a nice concept 30″ x 40″ acrylic and gold leaf on canvas

The Grays were chatting again.

Gray on the right :" Hey guys! That was a funny ride!"

Grays on the left :" Ha! For you? Sure! How often have you been over-painted again?"

Gray on the right :" Oh boy, don’t ask. Three or for times maybe? But I wasn’t the only one who went through this – just thinking about the Gold Leaf Bubbles…"

Grays on the left :" Ha, ha, ha. Yeah, well that happens if you are the last piece of a process ."

Gold Leaf Bubbles :*grumble*

Gray on the right :" Ha, ha, ha. I guess, the Flowers in the center got the best of it – inspiration and execution in one night and now they think they are special."

Grays on the left :" Thing is, they are but don’t tell them…"

100418 as above so below 12″x36″ acrylic and gold leaf on canvas

The White Opening on the left: " Look at all those pretty colors.

The Blue on the right, kind of scary, and The Blue on the left so contained. The Yellow above, touching The Gray and also raising out of sight. The Green below, grounding The another Gray, seemingly endless in depth, and also an island in the sea. The Red – heavy on the left side and sheltering on the right.

Comforting, isn’t it? What if I said ‘ It is not about the colors’? And if you had the shapes in mind, what if I said ‘It is not about the shapes ‘ ?

It really isn’t.’"

I wanted round, smooth waves and when I got to the shapes in the sky it went all awry.

While I was probing around in the foreground, I happened to see the background already before my eyes and first tried to paint it around the foreground shapes .

I realized pretty fast that this was not it.

Instead, I over-painted everything and now  the background is the foreground with scars of brush strokes.

The left light pillar: " No. We are not stars. We are light pillars. the stars are over there."

091227 Negotiation 18″x36″ acrylic and gold leaf on canvas

Its different, I know but its fun. There is something about waves around stones or music or wave patterns in general that allures me lately.

The color selection was bugging me for a few months now. Whenever I was building a painting together in my mind it repeatedly went something like this:

The Green " Hey! what about yellow and green stripes in the background?"

The Yellow:"Or bubbles?"

The Green:"Or a gradient maybe?!!!"

The Yellow:" I knoooow! Stripes with gradient!"

The Green:" Riiiight!!! AND the stripes have different thicknesses! *clap hands* "

The Yellow:" Fantastic! *jump up and down* "

As you can see, quite annoying and and since it seemed the colors were already having a good time together  I finally gave them a microphone and put them out there. Surprisingly the Pink and Cyan (especially the Pink clung her hands around wouldn’t let go of the mic – the Cyan just went along with it and didn’t care much) were quite happy about this and I cannot see a way to pull them of the stage anytime soon.

Happy New Year to you!!!

090725 Ripples Blue 24″x48″ acrylic and gold leaf on canvas

After I finished Ripples Red I felt like painting another, bigger one. In the beginning I imagined it red as well but during the week it turned into a deep ocean like manganese blue. Like a wide deep blue sea inside.

Do you remember this movie “The Sea Inside” ( “Mar Adento” or “Das Meer in mir” I like the German title because it implies “within” instead of “inside”) by this oh so well-gifted Spanish director which name I always forget although I have seen all his movies ( maybe not all but a lot ) Alejandro Amenábar? It is about dying with dignity. I remember beautiful but empty, abandoned landscapes -  a cold Atlantic beach shore and a person with an unmovable body chained to a bed but free in spirit and another person that was free to go where she wanted but seemed chained in her heart. Galizier Ramón Sampedro is disabled since his accident 27 years ago but leaves in his mind to visit his beloved sea.

This painting is as true to me as the red one – I could do the magic twice. After I finished it, I felt dissolved and ready to embrace a little break from painting. Over the past weeks I spend much time setting up the new web page ( so you can actually buy my art work directly from me – here and now – and I ship it around the globe   ) and was simultaneously engrossed in painting – the little down time comes as a gift. Sometimes inspiration comes in waves and it just rolls over me – I accepted it.

090720 Ripples Red 36″x24″ acrylic and gold leaf on canvas

I love this painting. After I hung it at the wall I was astonished about its beauty and thought – where did that happen to come from *turning my head to the left and right*?

I worked focused over the past days and it just spilled out of me. It welled up in my vision by the end of the week and I seldom created a piece with such great acceptance as I did with this one. I didn’t question, I didn’t expect, I didn’t lead – I let it be what it wanted to be in every moment – a big surrender to the flow. I also seldom enjoyed painting a piece as I enjoyed painting this one – Pure bliss.

090718 Orange Garden 18″x24″ acrylic on canvas

This was a painting I dreamed of on May 24th along with “deep blue” , so you kind of have to imagine them next to each other like this because this is how I actually saw  them in my dream and started modeling them:

It was, I guess, inspired by the the  orange garden of the hearst castle near the pool and my general fascination for orange trees. It changed in the process, I never painted orange in it, in stead gold showed up and blue, creating a reference back to “deep blue”. The orange-green color combination is something that has been on my mind for a while and I just didn’t know in what structure I would want to paint it. The possible place where the orange would fit in this painting still exists – as I saw it in my dream – I decided not to painted it. I would like to explore it within a painting of its own – where the orange trees are in focus. I know how it will look like and if the right inspiration crosses my path to activate it, I ‘ll do it .

090717 Flaws 18″x24″ acrylic on artist wood board

I dreamed this painting during the night of 4th of July. I saw it very clearly and detailed in a close up. I saw the structure and the colors – it came out imperfect and the imperfections caused  diversions, it evolved under my hand and I actually like it better than I saw it in my dream.

The little flaws are made of modeling paste and I could work with lot of carving because the underground is not canvas but  artist wood panel – first time I ever painted on it and an excellent choice  for the nature of this art work. I hope you like it. It goes well together with another painting I am working on right now and I think it will fill up the spot over my couch since my beloved “currents” that matched so well with with the leather was  for the gallery of major interest as well.

24″ x 36″ acrylic on canvas

I f******* love this painting.

I waited a few days prior to this post. Waited if I would come up with anything else than this statement. I didn’t. I told the background story in an earlier blog post of mine, so this is done. What else is there to tell except that it turned out better than I though it would, except that it has more depth than I thought it would have, except that it has so much more diversity than I thought it would have, except that I think I did an awesome job with the sky  and that the details are just gorgeous.

( p.s. to a friend of mine: No – these are not bar stools but water tanks, thanks, I love you girl!  )

090612 Currents 36″x60″ acrylic on canvas

I started the painting “Currents” on April 17th, so I worked on this one almost two months. I didn’t have my entire focus on it all the time and I even put it aside for two weeks or so but still, what remains is more than a month of work – night shifts, it is a 100% night painting – if you know what I mean – a LOT of work – 080627 Intense took a about a month and I thought THAT was a challenge.

I am very proud. I finished it although it turned out to be more than just a painting. I mean, the process of painting wasn’t the main issue in the end. The fact that it was such a long process made it a challenge of a different kind. I just couldn’t leave it unfinished, though. I can’t leave things unfinished that I have my heart in. Who could?

I knew the title of the painting from early on what is very unusual – it sometimes takes me months to come up with the names of paintings ( after I got some distance ). This time I knew it after I decided about the colors. It is a very personal painting and a still of where I was in life during those two months. I will share the story with the lucky one who will own it one day, if he or she would like to listen – it is a very good story – a story of growth.

For now, it is done and got the spot over the couch, what is like the winners podium for my paintings and replaced 080602 A Passage that reigned for a year. And it fits better too. The magenta in it goes so well with the dark brown leather.

AAAAAnd. It was the first painting that I signed with my name! I would usually just note the date of completion and the title on the top right of the canvas frame but this time I signed it good visible with my last name on the front right bottom – a totally new experience for me and a partially return of the “ö” back into my life.

A truly BIG painting by all means. Big Time.

I have quite a documentation too – check it out below. I started by asking my people what they would like to see in it and it was a great help to find my way through the long creation progress. Thank you!

Enjoy and CARPE NOCTEM!