The very beginning...

I was born in Munich in April 1967. I was planned to become an Aprils fool joke, but I missed this goal by 2 days. (:

"Pinselhexe" which might be translated with "the witch of paint brushes" was given to me by friends. It is not really a professional name. 

It was a nickname in the very beginning.  There was a party, it was a bit late, there was a nice assortment of great wines - we were a bit elevated . 

We had an exciting and transcendental discussion on the topic of rebirth. We invented some kind of historical lifetime  and "biography" for everyone of us. 

It was fun! (:

They decided that  my historical life had taken place in the time of inquisition.  The assortment of great wines made me a rebirth of a  "witch" burned in the Middle Ages.  Perfect  for a trashy novel ! (:

Well, in real life I used to write letters with a fine brush, brushes were equal to any other kind of writing device.  And I was a painter. 

This was the day when the "witch of paint brushes " was born. 

I never got rid of this name. So I decided to resign myself to this nickname - and made the best of it.  I got used to it. (:

 

Place of Residence

 Wolgast, a small town near the Isle of Usedom, nearby the Isle of Rügen in the very North of Germany near the Polish border.

I am a kind of nomad :) There seems to be no home in this life. The only thing I know is that I will never ever return to Bavaria. If there is some definition of home it would be   the sea and lowland.  I do not like mountains very much, there are too many barriers. 

Living at the seaside helps a lot to win peace. That is why I am here.   

 

Things with beauty

 Cosmopolitans, honesty,  direct ways of communication, transparency, and constructive review without any impeachment, broken biographies with a lot of facets, because you can find most interesting people there, fairness,  high spirits, quick witted people with a sense of humour (the sense of humour definitely helps us to survive) willingness to take risks, there is no development without taking a risk, miracles , children and the way they feel about things , people with a moral courage and the courage to survive (Have we got any choice otherwise? 

 

Things I would never ever miss - needless things

 Stupidity, pigheadedness, envy, competitive mentalities, costiveness, unidimensional mentalities, small minded people, confirmed pessimists, imperiousness, cynisism, deceiptfulness, intriques,viciousness, ambush and psychological blackmail,   bitchiness,   intolerance,  self-righteousness, and arrogancy, patriotism and  glorification of violence and everything which is subject to any kind of dogma.

I would like to travel around the World with an open limit of time and money .

If I were a bit younger I would have emigrated to some other country, probably into some English-speaking Country . Germany is a country perfect for people striving for safety, sustainability, perfectionism and caution. 

Germany is a place without any understanding for it`s artists und freelancers. You might be extremely successful with  some technological innovation, some new car technology, these kind of things. But artists and freelancers are not the kind of people Germany is fond of. It seems as if there was some secret order to prevent any attempt of innovation. 

I would like to have the talent to back off the time. I would love to avoid some things that unfortunately happened in "earlier lifes".  (One might ask, if this works... probably not. On the other hand it is much more useful to make no bones about it)

I would love to switch off some unappealing people just the way we deactivate some stupid movie on T.V. 

 

What makes you an artist? - an attempt of an answer to this question

Great question. This is one of those things which cannot be planned. Life puts us there, no matter if you want or not.  There is only one way left. We are forced to to do what we are made for. In my life however,there was no plan for a "normal" way of life. Some people are "different" (as a friend of mine eventually expressed this fact in his friendly style (: )

 This is not to say that you would make a bad job in a "normal" occupation, the point is you do not match. People with "normal" jobs seem to live in some other universe. ( I presume those people feel exactly the same way about "weirdos" :) )

You are classified as a weirdo by society and they won´t accept you the way you are. "Weirdos" are people who incommodate those with very narrow personal limits. "Weirdos" are disturbing factors for our standardized society. 

 My experience actually was that you are watched  and stared at as if you were some rare animal from some unknown galaxy  

In order to make your family happy and to be accepted by this family you start doing a "normal, solid" job. 

This kind of "normal" job then makes you unhappy and leaves you with the strong feeling that you are wasting your life. Your colleagues  definitely keep on showing you what they think of you. One time, two times... it goes round and round and round.  There are always the same kind of people in the same kind of job who treat you exactly the same way as before. 

At this point things changed  in my life. All of sudden there was a crossroad and I had no choice what to do. I could  have returned to the "normal" way of life which would have killed me someday and which would have made a zombie out of me.

 The other way was to become what I am today. A member of a fringe group with a slightly nonserious reputation. 

Some people smile pitying at you, others look at you with despise, some people   admire your work and there are  others who are green with envy.

There are more vocations (faith? Kismet?) of this kind with this very low reputation concerning our society .

 Circus, musicians and actors . 

And, weird enough, most people love to see a Circus, they enjoy Concerts, and they go to the movies. And most people  favour  some decoration. 

I am fond of artistes, jugglers and Circus as such. But I do not like clowns at all. Clowns are a kind of species I am not in need of at all.  As to me Circus would be perfect without any clowns.   

But I love music, all kind of Arts, literature  and  I am a cineaste! (:

I think we were given a  special gift, and it would be ungrateful not to devolop this gift. Thats why we got it. Why should wie waste it? And I think everybody has got some kind of gift, most people are not aware of it. This is the sad thing about it.

I am a person who decided to share this gift. Doing things all alone seems to me like travelling without telling somebody. 

Besides it makes me happy to share my knowledge with others. I feel inspired by this. 

I am fond of networks. Unfortunately there is too much competition and  envy. 

It seems to me as if it was mainly a problem of competitive egos. 

It seems to be hard to find a sense of solidarity. 

But sometimes there are great networks.  I am happy to know some artists/painters who share the same ideals, we are working together, I love it!

I am happy the way I live. I will never be rich. Sometimes it is really hard to survive, but it worked out perfectly in the end.  And I found out that I am in the right place.  

We are very much in need of those minstrels of society, aren`t we?

As to me life would not be worth living in a world reigned by people without imagination, courage and "weird" ideas. 

  We are the  court jesters of society. Court jesters should never be underestimated, in spite of the fact that artists mostly are not given very much appreciation until they are dead (;

 

What does Art mean to me? A very difficult question and an attempt to find a personal definition....

knowlegde, talent, handicraft, creativity, originality,and inimitability,uniqueness and  truthfulness in the sense of being authentic as a person. You need a lot of courage, modesty and humility and an iron will as well as a free spirit.   

Sometimes I do not like the kind of Art I see. But I do not have to love it to know that it is Art.  

 

What kind of Art makes me happy?

My pictures are not the kind of art you can see in my living room. It would be too much of me in a place where I live. This might seem to be a bit weird, but there is no incentive for new ideas when there is too much of my work around me.  My favourite picture for a living room would be a painting of the famous dutch painter Vermeer .

But nevertheless there is a lot painters I admire: Hieronymus Bosch, Velasquez, Pieter Bruegel, Rembrandt,da  Vinci, Lyonel Feiniger, Kandinsky, Hundertwasser,  van Gogh, Goya, Ernst Fuchs, Toulouse L`Autrec ..... there are many more. There is a  personal collection of my favourite art. link 1  and link 2. 

 

Role models?

I haven`t any. 

As a matter of fact I am impressed by some people. There is Art which impresses me. Talent impresses me. I am impressed by people who successfully  managed to get away from drugs, alcohol or cigarettes. People who successfully coped with a  personal crisis. People with an  inner beauty and great charakter.  People with integrity und authentic people.  I am impressed by courage, intelligence, character, humour ... etc... this kind of things. 

I am definitely not impressed by doctorates, bank accounts, beauty, swimming pools or cars. 

But as a matter of fact you  have to have some talent to enjoy life, if not you cannot bring colour into your life. 

As to me money is  nothing but a means to an end. There is no place for jewelry, money, shares, houses, cars and gold bars in a coffin. It is absolutely useless  to save all that money for a gold-plated angel in the graveyard. 

 But no matter if we are poor or rich or something  inbetween our personal dignity never depends on money.  It  depends on self-esteem and self-respect .

 The  idea of life is to make the best of everything, because there is only one life. 

We won`t be any more adorable, beautiful, fairy-like, happy etc. by  chasing up money, vogue and glory. Things happen - or not. 

So there  is no use at all to negate ourselves, the only thing we can do is to make the very best  of what we are made of.  

 

Motto - this might seem to be a stereotype, but nevertheless a motto is a personal guide.... well, this is what keeps me running.

You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.

The idea of Memento Mori - There is only one life we can live. It is precious, far too precious not to be respectful with it. We should be aware of the fact that life is a gift. 

Presence turns into Past, life and death are part of a cycle, like a roundabout on a fair. 

life ranges between second-rate theatre, first class entertainment, drama, comedy,theatre in the absurd, trashy novel, vanity fair, deep truth, and great real values - in short - masks and the truth behind the masks.

There ist no chance to survice life without a sense of humour.