It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Catrin Welz-Stein today, a german artist who lives in Zürich which is just round the corner from me. Thanks Grace for pointing me her way.. and now handing over to Catrin…
As a child I loved to draw and liked to be creative. I almost was born with a pencil in my hand.
I knew I wanted to do something related to arts. I have graduated from Graphic Design in Darmstadt, Germany and then worked for different advertising agencies in Germany, USA and Switzerland.
I stopped working in agencies after becoming a mother, and after a short time of being self employed I decided to quit work until my children grew older. Because of my children (4 and 6 years old) I can go through childhood again and I can
enjoy the world of fantasy and fairy tails. I like to look at childrens books and let them inspire me. „Where the wild things are“, from Maurice Sendak is a favourite book of all of us. Through the children books I rediscovered the love to illustration again.
As a professional graphic art designer I often had to make compromises for the clients. There were a lot of rules in visual communication and I often felt that I could not express my whole creativity. Now I enjoy creating art that does not explain itself from the beginning. My images have a dreamlike and surreal quality. They speak from inner feelings which we often hide in our daily life.
My inspirations are: Fantasy, children stories, medieval, Jugendstil, Folklore and Surrealism. I am inspired by the work of Nicoletta Ceccoli, Kelly Rae Roberts, Sabrina Ward Harrison, Olaf Hajek, Maggie Taylor, Natalie Shau, Colette Calascione and Nazario Graziano.
Well, there are so many great artists around!
As a graphic art designer I worked a lot with digital images.
My images are all digital made. I collect old 
images and illustrations and put them new together in Photoshop. The working process is based on combining and the division of photographs, with removing, filling and retouch. Using digital medium I have far more creative possibilities and I can work much faster then on the Canvas. Perhaps, my skills have been formed during the long years of working in front of my computer. Thanks to all that I can create my art best in digital.
My art world is Otto Dix, Frida Kahlo, Picasso, Gustav Klimt, Magritte and Boticelli.
Thanks so much Catrin– a pleasure to having you in the pub and I’m really looking forward to the poetic responses that your artwork creates!
Important: Catrin has allowed us to write poetry to six chosen pieces – so please stick with the pics that are displayed on this site and do not take some randomly from her blog. Please also link back on your site to 
http://catrinwelzstein.blogspot.de/
If you’re here for the first time, here’s how it works:
Write a poem, inspired by one of the six artwork pieces by Catrin
Post it on your blog, link back to Catrin’s site and give her credit for the pic
Click on the Mr. Linky button, insert your name and direct URL to your poem
Visit others that have taken the challenge as well
All artwork on this post is by Catrin Welz-Stein– thanks Catrin for letting us write to it
dVerse 
happy saturday everyone… hope you’re having fun to write to catrin’s wonderful artwork… looking forward to what you’ll bring to the table..
Wonderful artwork – I loved to write poetry on these – I am at a party with friends and will be back later to read and comment
nice… have fun at the party…
hey i am partying as well…ha.
are you all getting football tattoos at yours as well…
lol
i want a football tattoo… smiles
i’ll send you one…
No tattoos.. but plenty of wine… of to bed now… will comment and read tomorrow
You chose some lovely paintings for us to chose from, but I always look further; had a theme in mind, and had to find a Stein painting that resonated with it; lots of them, fortunately, to choose from. Thanks, Claudia, Stein’s work is very thought provoking and beautiful. I love abstract fantasy art.
hey glenn– good to see you– as mentioned in the post, catrin has allowed us to write to the above six pieces… if you write to another, you do it without her permission – so it is preferred to stick to the six above…
nice…i love the artwork claudia…thank you for the intro…i will probably be drawing inspiration off these all week….hope you are having a great saturday….smiles.
we are on birthday #2 of the week…still #3 to go…but today is Cole’s///5 more days til logans….so i may be in and out…i am up to my elbows in boys wanting to play football in the yard….
haha…have fun…
Happy birthday to your boys Brian ~ I actually wrote another one too, but might want to use it for G-man (skyfishing) ~
ha. already wrote to the same one…and will post it tomorrow….
and possibly another for OLN but i am going to need permission on that one….so i am sending an email….
and thanks…they are…
a little crazy right now…
they are having a dance off in the loft…
so it sounds like the house is about to come down….
smiles, yes… love her artwork as well… hope you’re having a great saturday as well bri..
Stunning work, thanks for featuring her Claudia ~ Her site in Redbubble also features her work: http://www.redbubble.com/people/catrinarno
Happy Saturday everyone ~
happy saturday to you as well grace…
Thanks for this extra link, Grace.
Catrins work is amazing
yes
it is
Thank you Claudia for introducing us to the art of Catrin Welz-Stein. Happy Saturday!
grace pointed me her way and i just fell in love with her artwork on first sight as well… it gives such a lot of room for interpretation.. happy saturday…
Hi everyone, such beautiful art work, it was lovely being introduced to this lady’s work, thanks for that. In response to the wonderful, magical, “where starlight begins” I posted a link to a poem of mine called “the pools of light” It’s about some wonderful childhood memories and how light used to be, was it really different, or was I just younger then? The magic of lights at night, like the stars, or the magic of the world through children’s eyes, or the magic of art, of poetry, I’ll stop at that! http://wp.me/p1x8WB-c9
Wonderful art work… so dreamy and full of wonder. Thank you, Claudia, for introducing us to Catrin Welz Stein’s work.
this link should work to bring you to “the pools of light poem” Ink stained fingers crossed! Plus, poetic blushes, think the previous link was incorrect, oh well, serendipity and all that!
randy bell….comment removed…
be a bit more respectful and i might let you back in…
we have featured several artists that limit the choice in their works
that is their right. you dont like the choice,
dont play.
glad you did that Brian, was quite upset by the comment but did not want to engage in controversy, I love when the Poetic Pub offers us challenges and inspirations, at least that’s how I see them. Enjoying tonight’s offerings all round, great images to consider, thanks, Kevin
might be the discussion for pretzels on monday…so check back…
yeah i started a response and decided why bother
because it only garners it more attention than it deserves….
glad you are enjoying kevin…i remember your piece from before….
been meaning to ask, do you perform your poems somewhere live
beyond just recording them?
Yes, I love reading in Public, I’ve been on an Irish Language TV station here doing poems in Irish. I read at an Arts Cabaret called The Cáca Milis(sweet cake!!)
On a regular basis I read at a group in Wexford called The Fusion Cafe First Friday Poets,sometimes I read in Harry’s Bar in Kilkenny. Recently I stated another group in my local area called Hooked on Poetry! ( I love on The Hook Peninsula, SE Ireland)
hope the link works, it will bring you to a video on my blog of a poets flash mob I organised during an Arts Week in Kilkenny. It’s filmed in the shadow of a castle that’s about 800 years old, even the location is inspiring. I think poetry flash mobs is a great idea and can be done all over, would love links to more, thanks Kevin
just watched the vid – this is so very cool – love how the people tuned in with the ba-da-boom…ha… way cool kevin
Thanks Claudia, delighted you enjoyed that, the setting is beside the Castle in my home town, famous for it’s arts and crafts. We had fun doing that one, some of the people on the market stalls want us to repeat the performance, they enjoyed it and it added to their ambience they said. Kevin
it surely does – we also have an old castle from the 11th century where i live and in the summer they’re doing open air theater performances up there – that is very cool as well
Sounds lovely! I love open air theatre. In the gardens of an old georgian house nearby a touring company put on a lovely little show based on “The wind in the willows” It was great fun. To go to the Opera in Verona is on my bucket list, un bel di vedremo, one fine day, we shall see, Kevin
dude. a poetical flash mod sounds awesome…cool vid too…how fun to just bomb people with poetry…ha. i think i might just have to try to pull that off…
Fun event! Just the place for it too as everyone is ready for the unexpected. Good video.
I absolutely love this artwork! Thank you, for featuring Catrin!
hey hannah – great to see you
Thank you…it’s great to be here!
Double entry? Can’t remember doing that. So sorry. Please Brian remove one of them. I took the nice pictures out of my post, Caudia, hope I am allowed to write on the ones I picked this afternoon. And I am sorry, but I can’t write a third poem today on the allowable images: too much figure-skating on Eurosport and I can’t miss a second of that :-), my greatest passion.
Lovely choice of prompt.
smiles…you’re good… enjoy the figure skating…smiles
yeah? did you figure skate as well aprille? or just enjoy watching it?
Brian, I was put on a bike when I was three and on skates a year later, and I couldn’t be more grateful for both. I’m all for pushy parents 🙂
ha. very cool aprille…the bike was def my freedom….
very cool…we used to play roller skate hockey when i was a kid… we had so much fun… and i used to spend my winter weekends on the ice rink as a teenager…
I was about to reply to that RB guy ~ Thanks for clarifying that we have asked permission directly with the artist & gotten permission to post only 6 pictures in this blog ~ Now I have noted that some are using other pictures, please use whatever was provided and if you like to use others, kindly email or contact the artist ~
Love the artwork, great prompt! Be back soon to read, looking forward to see what everyone came up with. Hope everyone has a great weekend and Happy Birthday to Brian’s boys.
thanks lisa…i am all grass stained and sweaty…taking a break from playing football…ha…not sure how much sleep i am going to get tonight…first sleep over party….oh my
Hey Claudia, Catrin, Brian–very cool images–so interesting–they fit into this big surrealist world as well as the world of the subconscious–and they are very well done. Thanks so much. k.
yes – i like their surreal character as well – and they seem to be full of stories – love that… happy saturday k.
You too, Claudia. A beautiful day here. Thanks. k.
I linked your post K ~
Thanks so much, Grace. I thought I’d done it, but I am working on an iPad and iPhone a lot these days because of traveling and so may not be doing things right. k.
Here goes…and, well, interesting issues above about use of images. Personally having the constraint made the writing go quickly.
nice…constraint doesn’t always have to be bad.. true that..
What a talented artist. Licking my pencil and hoping I can come up with something worthy of her talent.
smiles i hope you do come up with something…i have to try that pencil licking maybe..smiles
Such stunning art! Don’t feel like I was at my best today but wrote what flowed. No form to speak of. Maggie Grace style. Thank you for introducing us to Catrin.
good to see you maggie… read yours and off to bed now… midnite over here already and my daughter’s just invaded my room..ha.. usually they’re storming in…hug and tickle me, then look around and ask if i painted something new…then they’re doing art critique… ha… much fun… smiles… alright…see you all tomorrow…
oy, art critique eh? smiles…hope they are gentle on you in that…ha
smiles…of course they’re not… they say: if we just say it’s nice, it won’t help you… well…i can’t complain…that’s how i raised them…smiles
Absolutely stunning art! I wanted to use them all 🙂
oh by weeks end i just might…ha.
🙂
I need a house-elf to take over my duties….
I need a house-elf to take over my duties….
ha. if you find one, let me know…smiles.
Wowee! Such outstanding artwork!
Wish I could write with you all tonight on these great pieces. Unfortunately, I’m ultra- tied up for the next few weeks. Hope to see you again soon.
Peace~
look forward to seeing you again soon…
Thanks, Brian~ 🙂
Thanks for the interesting art to choose from this week, Claudia. Sorry I wasn’t around earlier, but I was out of town all day and just got home now. I will be making the rounds to see what others have written. Happy Saturday / Sunday all!
nice….what were you doing out of town mary? anything fun?
Ha…. I attended an Oktoberfest celebration in my growing-up hometown & had an opportunity to see a niece and nephew I seldom see, as they returned home this weekend as well!! Thanks for asking. Smiles.
What lovely art. The selections are def ones that tickle the imagination of a poet.
hiya myrna! smiles.
I love Catrin’s work. Thank you for the introduction ,Claudia. Hard to choose which painting…might have to use all of them:)
thats what i am talking about….smiles.
These are fabulous images. I am madly busy with a renovation project but was inspired to rework something I did some time ago.
just coming from your site…that renovation projects sounds huge indeed…glad you found time to join the fun.. and travel light..
Pure joy! What an imagination full of balloons and heights and fish and moons. I love the art and the wording of this prompt. Thanks Claudia and Catrin.
smiles…. yes..love the surreality as well…
What amazing artwork! I love these dream-like creations, rather like my mind in the early morning. Unfortunately, a hell-week of busyness is descending upon me, starting today, so I don’t think I’ll be able to take part, but will try to read as many poems as possible.
oh i do wish you much strength for the busy week ahead…
and your reading is much appreciated as well..
Saw an entry on my feed by Freya and just had to check this page out and oh what a visual treat this artwork is!Thank you Claudia and am so happy I chanced on your wonderful site:-)
It was a difficult task to choose just one of the six but managed and just submitted my post ,hope I adhered to the rules.Am thrilled to see a lot of known names like Bjorn,Freya,Maggie Grace,Nandini,Roslyn,Susan and am sure many more,whom I am not seeing on this post as of now.Looking forward to reading all the entries later tonight and excited about learning new things:-)
smiles…nice to meet you Atreyee
welcome to dverse…
back for round 2….good morning everyone
Thk u for the warm welcome Claudia:-)What a beautiful blog you have-glad that I chanced upon this amazing community:-)
Thank you Claudia – I too thought art as in drawing and painting was what I was destined for, as the years went past, writing took hold and I seriously doubt if I could pick up a paint brush again. Interesting post and I went and had a look at Catrins website and there are some spectacular pieces. I have run out of time and a little too tired to enter for this. I wish everyone well in their endeavours and look forward to reading, at some stage tomorrow….(and nice to see Atreyee joining the flock)
i just picked up the paint brush again after years of not painting and i find it so relaxing.. that is just enough…i feel there’s something in me, that needs not only letters but also a bit of color to become visible..ha… curious where this will take me…smiles
Thank you for introducing her art to us, Claudia. How fanciful and beautiful it is, and quite a source for inspiration. Will read as many as I can this week. Wishing you well.
cool to see you lydia – and cool piece you brought to the table as well..
good morning everyone….catching up the last two and then off to church…i am preaching today, so…should be fun…smiles. catch up this afternoon with anyone else that joins…
oh very cool on the preaching…
Thanks for the introduction to Catrin Welz-Stein’s work – beautiful. I was not familiar with it but feel immediately in love!
Getting ready for a short trip be back tonight to read and comment. Have a lovely day.
nice..enjoy your trip
Hey! What a wonderful and creative opportunity.
Thank you Claudia and of-course many thanks to Catrin Welz-Stein.
I hope I’m not too late… It’s been a while 🙂
hey debbie…so cool to see you.. it’s been a while indeed…smiles
Wow, Claudia … here work is so WONDERFUL! I love most the polar bear.
i love the polar bear as well…i wanna touch his fur…ha.. smiles
nice…just swinging back in from a little celebration we had over here and need to do quite some catching up… heading out on the trail in a minute..
just caught up myself a few minutes ago…a nice sunday crowd today…
thanks to those out there making everyone feel welcome and visiting…
such charming and fanciful artwork – cheated a bit and added two poems – couldn’t choose – thanks for bringing the artist to our attention! K
I love this prompt and the artwork that inspired it…thank you Claudia & Catrin (^_^)
Have had a busy weekend, but these images have not left my brain. Just stunning. I combined another challenge with this one. Thank you… this was fun.
hiya margaret…though busy i hope it was a nice weekend….smiles.
good to see you…
good morning…just read the overnites…uncombed and in my pajama…ha..smiles.. will take a shower now and afterwards close the mr. linky…
thanks to everyone who did not only take the challenge but also the time to visit some of the others…much appreciated… thanks again Catrin for allowing us to write to your fantastic artwork…and see you for pretzels in a bit..
Doing Monday Brunch at the Pub, I will try to read them all again, post if I can, getting excited already. I just love poetry with pics. I do not know why? A quirk, I guess. I am smiling. Off I go. I am always late for Mr. Linky, I try to wait a day before I post to decide if I like the write at all. Then I will post it. Sorry, I miss out a lot. But I still like reading here.
I WILL be visiting and commenting – but a little later this evening. Can’t wait to see how everyone interpreted this art.
I once saw a bumper sticker that said, “I may be slow, but I’m ahead of you.” Well, the only person I’m ever ahead of is the one who doesn’t write at all, because I surely am SLOW!
I love Catrin’s artwork! She is the digital Magritte!