Elmarie van Straten

My inspiration is fueled by an insatiable thirst for adventure and exploration. Nature and all its contradictions, the man made and the unexplored universe that is the imagination is what shapes my creative mind; space and world. Wanderlust, the scent of a pine wood forest or the cold damp smell of a concrete garage floor (slash studio); linseed oil, turps, the hustle and bustle of a Saturday market, textured fabrics, flowers and birds, antique furniture and banged up old gold leaf frames, the feel of a masters brushstroke on a canvas when no one is looking, the feel of a paint brush clinched between my fingers. All of this is what makes me an artist. I simply, sense, feel, and create. I create. Therefore I am… My deepest love of art lies in the idea that art is as much open to interpretation as it is misinterpretation. People will look at my work in awe and sense the vibrations of a distorted universe. A cacophony of philosophy, mythology and excerpts of my imagination.