Where are you from and where is your Art practice based currently?

I was born in Northern Germany (Hannover) and after some moves I now live in Frankfurt/M.

I have my studio nearby in Offenbach, a town neighbouring Frankfurt, in an old fabrication building, together with 25 other artists.

Do you have a formal Art Education or are you Self Taught?

I started a formal education at the Art Academy in Kassel/Germany but didn’t finish with a degree. The reason was that I also had training as a lawyer and didn’t dare to pause too long in that profession.

Where do you look for inspiration? What themes do you find more interesting?

It might sound incredible but it is true, I’m always inspired to go on, my inspiration comes from looking around, seeing my environment dissolved in structures and colours, sometimes it comes from poetry, music or directly from seeing a specific colour.

At times it might also be a specific theme, for instance my paintings connected to the goddess Venus or other paintings centred around my everyday life as a woman.

I love being in my studio with all the paintings around, music turned on and then just dive into painting. As I really do what I want and what I love, I don’t get bored or loose my motivation.

Have any Women Abstract Artists influenced your work? Which current Artists do you admire?

Of course there are many female abstract artists that influenced me, I was involved in a four year masterclass with the great painter Leiko Ikemura,

I love the work of Martha Jungwirth, of Tracey Emin, of Elisabeth Cummings, of Helen Frankenthaler, of Rose Wylie, of Joan Mitchell and Cecily Brown. And there are more! They all inspire me!

Do you identify most with a specific Art Abstract genre?

I love to experiment and my art very often holds figurative hints. So it borders between figurative and abstract art. I don’t like to be consistent in the sense that I do the same things all over again. So sometimes I allow more figurative aspects in my work, sometimes it is totally abstract.

I love to stay playful and with a beginners mind. That’s why I can’t be labeled easily. Putting a genre name to my art seems to me a sort of limitation. But that being said I would probably best fit into the genre of Abstract Expressionism.

Can you tell us about your process?

I like my work to be intuitive, direct, intriguing, talking in the direct language of art to the subconscious of the viewer so my paintings develop in the moment. Normally, I don’t do drafts but follow the flow of inspiration, to be able to get into this flow I need preparation: before painting I try emptying myself of all concepts for the painting I am working at thus becoming empty for the gift of receiving.

Every painting for me is a new start of trial and error of finding something beautiful or not coming to anything. For me it needs a lot of courage to destroy, restart and find my true expression in the course of painting.

I like to scribble into my paintings to support the process and to gather all that is important in the moment.

My scribblings are my thoughts, my associations and memories, thus creating a meta-level different from the visible shapes and colours in my paintings.

In order to have my intuitive part speaking I mostly draw with my left hand and I also turn my paintings around a lot while painting in order not too restrict my view on the painting to early.

For some years now I work with oil colours nearly exclusively because I love their texture, naturalness and depth. However, it is always a challenge for me to have these interruptions while a painting needs to dry before I can go on. During this time I look at the photos I have taken, trying to find a new perspective and listen to the painting to find out what comes next.

Then magic occurs when I realise the painting is completed! Sometimes it comes sudden and as a surprise and sometimes I can see the state of completion before it is really there.

Check Petra’s Art here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petra.schott.art/

Online galleries:

https://www.singulart.com/de/künstler/petra-schott-14281?ref=ts

www.artfinder.com/petraschott/

Website: http://www.petra-schott.de

Portfolio: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/petra-schott