biographical text
I was born in Vienna, Austria on May 5th, 1957.
I work and reside in Vienna, Austria (May be of interest: Austria is the homeland of many famous artists such as Klimt, Schiele, Hundertwasser, Lehmden,Kokoschka, Rainer, Helnwein etc...)
My Grandfather, son of an Czech Architekt, was poor after the first world war and had to work as a shoemaker . With only a pencil or a pen he drew and sketched on every piece of paper or magazine he could find. That impressed me very much and I also began drawing faces whenever I had a pencil in my hand, mostly at school (the Lycée Francais de Vienne – a french school, which explains why several titles of my art works are in French – a language I love).
When I was about 15 years old I started to paint with oil on canvas and collecting art books of the famous artists (Lautrec, Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso...). Later I improved my knowlage through my studies at the Künstlerische Volkshochschule Wien (Art-College Vienna).
During a 3 months stay abroad in Paris I was fascinated by the exhibition „Sybolism in Europe“ at the Grand Palais and the pictures there had a lasting affect on me. I am still trying to put mysticism and symbolism into my paintings.
After workshops with famous austrian watercolour artists as Herbert Pasiecznyk, Bernhard Vogel, Kurt Panzenberger, I began my watercolour series of flowers and had my first exihibition.
Soon after that I began working with acrylic clolours (tought by Master Of Arts Catharine Reichel) and it remains my favorite and most often used media.
Nude drawing classes at the Art College Vienna and the Academy for Applied Arts made me like the femal figure and paint women.
Since my parents had a weekend house near a lake, my husband and I have a home near a river and we love to pass our holidays at sea, „Water“ is often a theme in my pictures.
2009 I lived in California which absolutely influenced my art work. Impressions of contemporary art in the different Museums and Galleries of San Francisco and San Jose including collage and mixed media workshops inspired me. I began to work with different materials, mixing acrylics with waste products, for example bottle caps or walnut shells.
I am lucky to have a beloved husband and 2 lovely kids. Nevertheless , there have been dramatic events in my life such as the death of my father and my cats and of course, some pictures deal with this or with transience in general.
What also shapes my art:
current events, news on TV, literature – books I am reading, my chinese sign of the zodiac (rooster), my feelings and memories and love.