”Why are we here, that is the question…in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear.
We are waiting.”   – Samuel Beckett

Like so many other artists I am driven by the intense longing to share with others what I feel. Sometimes I see and hear something that resonates in me, that touches me and makes my life so much more in every aspect. Sometimes I am experiencing an extraordinary feeling that’s composed of emotion, light and color and when that happens I just have to bring it to life. Sometimes I dream a chaotic mixture of thoughts and flashing images that I forget as soon as I wake up but which is able to haunt me until I pick up my pencil and brush and go on the journey. It can be a line from a poem, a song with special lyrics, a melody, the sun that falls onto the ground in the middle of a wood, the grey of an on-coming thunderstorm in the sky over budding copper beeches, a certain face or an intensive look, a life…in all of this can be a certain magic that appeals to me.

These are the things I want to share with you.

Early in my life I knew I wanted to spend it doing something creative, something that would leave an impression on the world, however small. I was realistic enough to know that spending your life as “the starving artist” is overrated so I studied Graphic Design and got my degree in 2004. Since then I learned that being a graphic designer is pretty cool but working 9 to 5 in an office and being told what to do isn’t. So I looked for something else. I had the luck to be able to work as an illustrator for children’s books and software and also to have some spare time to pursue my painting. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out the best way to put a whole story in just a few pictures and to create a world where kids would have fun and could explore but then came the day I became restless again. I asked myself: is this it? Do I want this to be “it”? So I remembered all the the things that make me feel free and happy: paint, brushes, paper, canvas, pencil and my intuos, being able to tell stories that I want to tell, not re-tell the stories of others. Eversince I am sitting happily in front of my easel and my computer and all the paintings that have been slumbering inside me can finally come to life.

My paintings always tell a story. Stories of forgotten things, ancient places, mysterious passages, myths and legends – in all of it there is a feeling that I try to convey. Sometims the stories hide behind trees, sometimes you can see them in the water and other times they are right in front of you. They don’t have to be the same stories for everyone and some might never even see them but they are always there. They make my life so much more and in trying to bring them into visible form I hope I can give something to you as well.

- Caroline