The Daily Muse: Catrin Welz-Stein, Digital Artist

Elusive Muse has been in love with the work of digital artist Catrin Welz-Stein for years. Her creativity is just astounding.
To learn more about or purchase work from Catrin Welz-Stein visit any of the links below:

..and now a word from Catrin

What is your life motto?

Enjoy life, think positive, precious the big as well as the small moments.

Tell us about You – your philosophy and the experience in visual arts

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.

What are your greatest inspirations?

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!

How did you gain so much knowledge in this area?

As a graphic art designer I worked a lot with digital images.

What creative mediums do you prefer the most and why?

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.

Your art world is…

My art world is Otto Dix, Frida Kahlo, Picasso, Gustav Klimt, Magritte and Boticelli.