If somewhere a line stops, somewhere else one starts.

©AC

 

Playing outside as a child was one of my greatest pleasures. I loved to watch the animals at the Zoo. Their sound, their forms, their movements, their colors. Later, as an adult, I would scribble fantasy forms on the back of notepads when there was downtime at my job as a telephone operator.

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1996 While traveling I felt the urge to bring pencils and paper with me. Waiting for the next train, I would scribble whatever was in front of me.

I attended art classes. Under the tutelage of Sirpa Suhner I got to experience anthroposophic painting with watercolors.

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2000 I decided to attach a two-meter high painting board to the kitchen wall. On it, I tape large white papers. This surface became my sounding board. My initial improvisations show chaos. I was frightened by what I saw. I was rediscovering my feelings that had been buried for so long. With the tool of painting, I offered them a way to emerge and be expressed. Something began to breathe, to move, to relax in me. The inner fog cleared.

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« This time again an empty paper staring at me!  I look for the center, set a point. A line emerges. It is narrow, flowing, expanding. Sometimes, a second line would appear. They meet, separate, come back or search for the width. »​

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After a couple of months, I put the paintbrush aside. wanting to express myself differently. Previous papers felt too big. I chose to express myself on a smaller format. ​

During my training as a drawing therapist, we students immersed ourselves into the world of colors, forms and feelings. We tried things out and had new tasks to solve. We opened our hearts and left behind unusual, colorful pictures on the painting walls. In the first year of school, we were asked to do something creative every day, I took this opportunity to continue experimenting with lines.​

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In 2005, I open my own art studio, where young and old visit me. Some of them eventually became artists themselves. Others processed their stories in my creative space, others sought comfort in drawing and painting when serious illnesses afflicted them, and still others came here just for the fun, to be themselves and to occasionally dismantle the prejudice of "I can’t paint" or "You can’t paint".  Yes, it takes courage to try something new. I observed with joy many young and older people walking out of the studio with a smile after one or two hours of creative work.

​During a six-month internship in the art therapy department of the SPZ in Nottwil,  Switzerland, I experience first-hand just how healing and supportive the tool of painting can be for people with limited mobility.

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2013 I look after visually impaired senior citizens in a home. The theme of light and shadow  is daily present. Through my eyes, these people experienced what they could not see themselves, and I experienced with them the fine nuances of seeing and not seeing.​

2018 brought a turning point. Colors found their place in my linear drawings.

2019 I use simple lines to make portraits.

2019 is marked by internal and external changes, To distract myself, I observe the various birds in my garden. I wonder where they come from and where they are going. Their sound touches my soul. Their wings work hard to fly with the wind. Courage and strength are asked of them. I take this on in my life.

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2020 We are all subject to the restrictions of a global pandemic. I combat the isolation juggling  with my felt pens and paint brushes. Covid forces me to overcome my fear of technology and I start giving line drawing workshops via Zoom.

I discover photography and take pictures with my small Iphone. An inside voice whispers " Hey, look there". I turn around and press the button. What a surprise each time !

I use Instagram as a way to produce and share daily a piece of art and to learn to appear on media. Together with an artist friend, I work through The Artist Way by Julia Cameron every day. I start creating art again daily. I long for more music in my life and learn to play the guitar.

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2022 I experiment with Wall Art. Images emerge before long, colored lines. Dec. 2022 Sometimes, insomnia hits. I sit down and write « Once upon a Time Stories »

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2023 Old fears, come back to knock on my door, The surrender moments in the morning are replaced by poems that emerge and long to be shared.​

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On days off, from work, I use my free time to allow new creative ideas to appear. I write them down immediately so they can emerge when the time is ripe to share them with the world.

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This all happens if I let go and release all expectations.

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