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