Artist Lecture Series- July 26th, 2016 Sign up Here
Teaching "Switch on the Light-Luminous Paintings" July 30th, 2016 Sign up Here
SCAS: Tell us the basics: Where are you
from?
I was born in Berlin,
Germany. I lived close to Munich and in Berlin until I moved to the US in 1995.
SCAS: What type of art/medium if your favorite to work with?
I LOVE my oils. The juicy
consistency, the ability to build up texture, the luminosity, and the fact that
oils dry exactly the way you apply them are the main reasons why I prefer them
to other mediums.
SCAS: How long have you been sculpting/painting/drawing? How
did you get into it?
Even as a child
drawing and painting were my favorite pastimes when I was bored. Cartooning
kept me sane during suffering through business school. After moving to the US I
painted murals for over a decade. I plunged myself into oil painting after
standing in front of one of Ken Auster’s beautiful San Francisco scenes. That
moment I knew I had to learn how to paint in oil. The stars aligned and I found
exactly the right teachers. Since then I have not stopped learning and hope I
never will.
SCAS: Who has been your biggest influence and why?
The artists I most
admire are Sargent and Sorolla. But the artists who have most influenced me are
all contemporaries I have studied with: Ken Auster, Camille Przwodek, Peggi
Kroll-Roberts, Morgan Samuel Price, Elio Camacho. All incredible artists and
very giving teachers.
SCAS: Why do you like teaching? Do
you have a particular style of teaching?
In 2011 I was invited to teach a weekly plein air class. I wasn’t
sure if teaching was for me and I was very nervous in the beginning. But I
found out that I very much enjoy sharing everything I know about painting with
others and feel it’s a privilege that others let me be part on their journeys as
painters. I love when I see a light bulb go on because I showed a student
something at their easel.
I definitely have a particular style of teaching. It evolved after
spending a lot of time thinking about why some classes and workshops I have
taken myself stood out to me and were my favorites. The most important factor
for me to like a class was (and is) when the instructor could tell me the reasons
for their choice of composition/color/brushshtrokes etc. I do exactly that,
breaking it down into small steps, explaining my choices when I demo or why a
student might benefit from changing something in their painting. I try to help
my students to eliminate randomness from the painting process and to replace it
with intention.
SCAS: We're excited about your workshop.
What skills we learn? What will we do?
I’m super excited about the workshop, too. You will learn how to
see values better, how to nail them in black-and-white studies, and how to
connect the appropriate color to those values. You will learn how to make clean
and luminous colors and how to fill your painting with light. We will use still
life set-ups to paint from and will start with exercises to separate the values
in the light from the ones in the shadows. I will then show you how to use that
exercise to add color to your study. And usually I sprinkle in a lot of useful
little painting tips, too.
SCAS: Anything else you want to
add?
I’m looking forward to teach in California and to meet painters
who feel as passionate and enthusiastic about painting as me. The workshop will
be fun and informative, and of course there will be a lot of painting. One
comment I get during every workshop is: “Why didn’t anyone tell me that
before?”. I share a lot and I’m sure you
will make progress by taking the workshop.
SCAS: Once again, thank you! We're
so excited to have you sharing your skills with our artist community.
The pleasure is all mine.
Be sure to sign up for both her Lecture and Class coming up in July!
