Linear Drawings
If a line stops, somewhere else one begins ©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 whenever 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 taped large white papers. This surface became my sounding board. My initial improvisations showed 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 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 is 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. These fine lines meet, separate, come back or search for the width. »â€‹
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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 a smaller format. ​
During my training as a drawing therapist, as students, we immersed ourselves in the world of colors, forms and feelings. We tried things out and had new tasks to solve. We opened our hearts and left behind our 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 opened my own art studio, where young and old visited 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 experienced first-hand just how healing and supportive the tool of painting can be for people with limited mobility.
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2013 I looked after visually impaired senior citizens in a home. The theme of light and shadow was present daily. 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.​
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2018 brought a turning point. Colors found their place in my linear drawings.
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2019 I used simple lines to make portraits.
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2019 was marked by internal and external changes, To distract myself, I observed the various birds in my garden. I wondered where they came from and where they were going. Their sound touched my soul. Their wings moved through the air. Muscles were used and time seemed precious. I took this on in my life.
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2020 During the pandemic. I fought isolation juggling with felt pens and paint brushes. Covid forced me to overcome my fear of technology and I started giving line drawing workshops via Zoom.
I discovered photography and took pictures with my small iphone. An inside voice whispered " Hey, look there". I turned around and pressed the button. What a surprise each time !
I join during 2 years the plattform Instagram as a motivator to produce and share daily a piece of art and to learn to appear in social media. Together with an artist friend, I worked through The Artist Way by Julia Cameron. I longed for more music in my life and learned to play the guitar.
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2022 I experimented with Wall Art. Images emerged after drawing long, coloured lines on thin cardboard paper.
At night, not always able to sleep, I would sit down and and write « Once upon a Time Stories »
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2023 Old fears, came back to knock on my door, the moments of surrender in the morning were replaced by poems that longed to be shared.​
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On days off work, I use my free time to allow new creative ideas to appear.
For example why not create an art quote with the word line in it. I immediately write these thoughts down, so they can be used 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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