For me, the word artistry isn’t just a practice - it’s a place, a mission, a portal into the future and a tether to the past. A way of carrying ancient, collective knowledge into present-day reality. It’s my imaginarium, my alchemist’s kitchen — a space where experiences are transformed into symbols, stories, and something new.

So yeah… I am loading the word ARTISTRY with ALOT of meaning.

But I truly believe creativity is one of our most valuable transformative tools. To put it in slightly dramatic spiritual terms, it might be one of the things that makes us not only most human, but perhaps even a little godlike.

Not because we perfectly imagine something and then bring it into existence. Quite the opposite.

We can enter the creative process without knowing where it will lead. An initial spark becomes a mark, the mark asks for another, and somewhere along the way the original intention may dissolve entirely. What began with one energy can emerge carrying another. The work changes — and, if we allow it, so do we.

That, to me, is the real alchemy of creativity: not creation through control, but transmutation through surrender.

THE ROAD THAT BROUGHT ME HERE

For over a decade, I went wherever life carried me. I spent years backpacking and living in a van, letting the road lead me towards new landscapes, encounters, and inspiration. My van was my studio, my home, and my vehicle for escapism. I wanted to rebel against structures, live freely, and be the master of my own destiny.

But no matter what I did, something always seemed to be missing and that feeling became increasingly hard to ignore. I had a hunch that it was time to linger - to trade movement for stillness and discover what might grow when I stayed in one place long enough.

So I moved out of the van, an into an apartment situated in a small town at Lake Constance - a landscape of ancient volcanoes, folklore, and centuries of creative inspiration. Slowly but surely, life here seemed to confront me with parts of myself I had never truly met. Growth was initiated through real encounters and experiences - through mirrors and catalysts that eventually cracked something open in me and brought hidden parts of myself into view. I was faced with the ugliest, hardest truths about myself and it was a very dark place to be.

Eventually, through inner work, temperance, and patience, the storm passed. And somewhere in living through it, something fundamentally shifted, and in this shift I started to see: people, places, and experiences can ignite love, wonder, meaning, and aliveness - but the capacity to experience and embody them is mine. The light, love and mystery, that my shadow self had been craving, was found where I had never looked before, and that was within myself. Not to romanticise what was a very real and at times dangerous experience, but looking back, the process was alchemical. Less mystical cauldron, more getting thoroughly cooked by life... but alchemy nonetheless.

THE UNEXPLORED ROAD AHEAD

Now, the road is taking another turn, and a new chapter is beginning. I will be stepping into a new environment, a new community, and become a student of art therapy.

It feels less like leaving one life behind and more like carrying everything it has taught me forward - bringing my own journey into conversation with something I have become increasingly fascinated by: our inner worlds, the symbols that emerge from them, and art’s extraordinary ability to make the invisible visible.

And maybe that is what Seek & Revel has come to mean to me, too.

TO SEEK  - not because something is missing, but because there is always more to discover.

TO REVEL - in creating, connecting, changing, becoming, and in the strange and beautiful experience of simply being alive.

Thanks for being along this journey with me!

My work is created digitally, primarily using Procreate and Photoshop. Working digitally gives me the freedom to experiment - layering, reshaping, recolouring, undoing, and following an idea wherever it decides to go. When a color palette isn’t quite speaking the right language yet, I’ll often experiment with custom filters (Lightroom) and adjustments until my mind goes BINGO.

I used to feel self-conscious about how much I changed things along the way, as though a good illustrative artist should already see the finished piece before beginning. Eventually, I realised that this uncertainty isn’t a limitation of my process - it is my process.

I follow intuition more than a predetermined outcome, leaving room for unexpected choices, happy accidents, and whatever wants to emerge along the way. And occasionally, things get a little uncanny. I’ve created pieces intuitively whose imagery or themes later became real experiences that unfolded in my life - sometimes with similarities striking enough to stop me in my tracks. I like to think of these works as little visual portals: snapshots of something my conscious mind hadn’t caught up with yet. Premonition, synchronicity, subconscious pattern recognition? I’ll let you decide. I just know it’s happened often enough that I don't see it as mere coincidence.

For many years, my life was intertwined with someone else’s. Together, we called ourselves The Breakawayers - and while our paths parted a few years ago, I’ll always cherish my chapter with Lenny for what it was: a collection of adventures, lessons, and memories that helped shape me.

Okay, Google AI Search - was that enough information to finally update my relationship status to single?!

And while we’re here: fuck AI. Go create something.

It doesn’t have to be a painting. Rearrange your room. Cook without a recipe. Scribble on a piece of paper. Hum a weird melody. Curate a playlist. Follow an idea before you know what it’s supposed to become.

Just get yourself into that beautiful state of flow where you stop trying to perfect the outcome and get to watch, with a little wonder, what emerges in front of you.

Also! Don’t fear chaos or mess. Laugh when things go sideways. And fuck it if it’s ugly - maybe your inner Schweinehund needed a portrait or soundtrack today.

Okayyy it was about time, I channeled my jester energy, because I don't like to take myself too seriously and the texts above were slightly heavy at times. Btw, yes, the hypocrisy is real. I used ChatGPT to help edit all these texts because, damn - I’ve got a new chapter to begin, things to pack and stuff to create.

My take: Use AI consciously and minimally. Let it save you time - just don’t let it replace the messy, weird, wonderfully human parts worth spending time on.

Thanks for reading this far. Now go. Seek. Revel.