I would not be the same artist if I was not a trained lawyer, working full-time as an internal security expert, and a mother as well.
What I see and experience in my life has a profound influence on my art and my desire to paint. And through the lens of an artist, I see my work and the daily challenges that I have to meet in a different light.

My name is Céline. I’m a German and French lawyer with a PhD in terrorism prevention, working full time in a demanding job in the field of internal security. I have a loving family. I have close friends. I like to travel.

And I am a painter.

Allowing myself to reconnect with my creative self in the midst of a busy life has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Actually, I started to rediscover my creative self in the most unlikely places: in 2011, when I joined the German office of a US corporate law firm as a competition lawyer. Our managing partner was a passionate art collector, and a few pieces instantly caught my eye. So I invested my first "big law"-salary into a canvas and acrylic colors and spent a whole Sunday painting on my kitchen table, inspired by the summer sky paintings of Greg Kwiatek in our law firm's main conference room.

This is how I discovered that painting gives me relaxation and a way to forget the world around me, fresh energy, a new identity beyond my work role, and room to express and form plenty of new ideas – sometimes crazy, sometimes useful, sometimes inspiring for others. And in any case liberating and eye-opening.

I haven't stopped painting since I created that painting on my kitchen table, over 15 years ago.

Over the years, little by little, through trial and error, frustrations and new beginnings, I found a way to be a painter an a full-time law professional. And then also a parent. And I kept my art practice and refined it while changing jobs and cities.

So I have gradually developed a method to make art an integral part of my daily life. By honing my skills how to make painting a non-negotiable part of my day, and not giving up when I feel stuck. By studying the masters of creativity, productivity, neuroscience and mindfulness. And by weaving the insights of all of these different worlds together.

That's what gives me energy in times where hope and creative solutions are needed.

And when you ask me "What's the driver of your art?", I'd say it's the desire to translate the mix between my love of life and my duty to remain optimistic, despite the small and big challenges that our lives and our society is faced with.