Caelestis

NATURE adj. and n.

For as long as I can remember, I have been surrounded by plants.

I loved watching them grow, their new, freshly unfurled leaves glistening in the sun, and seeing them blossom in spring, filling the garden of my childhood with their fragrance.

The smell of damp earth after a summer watering.

The sound of rain on the branches lulled me and comforted me in my troubles.

The colourful insects and spiders on the petals seemed to belong to another world.

The cats loved to doze off in the pots, in the shade of the foliage.

The orange-red colours of autumn transformed the garden into a magical setting.

I was taught from a very early age to respect nature as a living being – a whole that allows us humans to live.

I witnessed the love one could give to nature and the power that this brought.

My paternal grandmother always had a balcony full of flowers. She always loved plants, and they loved her right back. Always growing taller, always more vibrant and colourful.

And she loved to paint this natural world.

A canvas would remain blank for only a short while before transforming into a veritable postcard.

I have been immersed in this world since I was born, oscillating between art and nature.

Yet, for a long time, I didn’t want to become an artist.

It wasn’t my childhood dream.

I’d heard too many gloomy and sad stories, even just within my own family, for it to inspire me to dream.

But nature has always been my anchor.

I chose this path to see how far I could go.

I did a technological A-level with a specialism in land-use planning, then a Higher Technician’s Certificate in Agriculture, specialising in Nature Management and Conservation.

The name sounds rather romantic, doesn’t it?

The reality was quite different.

I don’t regret my qualification; I learnt a great deal from it. But it also turned me off the industry.

Yes, the ‘nature’ we learn about is an industry.

And it’s not the one I experience in my daily life, not the one I see around me.

So, I changed direction.

I found a new anchor. And I’m still on that path today.

I don’t depict nature in its entirety. I show you the nature I perceive, the nature that surrounds me and from which I’ll certainly continue to learn throughout my life.

I love movement; I draw on my sensations to create.

My techniques differ between illustrations and paintings.

Experimentation is part of my creative process.

I’ll never stop learning new things. I soak them up and draw on them in my art.

What seems vague to you appears clear to me; what seems disparate to you is essential to me.

I’d like to share with you my unique perspective on the world I live in, blending the visible with the invisible, the material with the immaterial.

Here, creation is an exploration.

If these words resonate with you,

Welcome.