Three questions with Leo Schindzielorz
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Caroline's colourful perspectives
"I love art, pictures, colours, nature, animals and people," explains Caroline Bonne Müller. We see this reflected in her art. By combining digital illustrations and painting, Caroline brings colourful perspectives and topics to life on canvas. Today we're chatting with Caroline and learning more about her artwork.
About Caroline
Amongst other things, Caroline works as an illustrator for a broad range of clients. "I can get inspired during a walk though my neighbourhood, looking at cows, sheep or seagulls. But I'm a city person so I get very inspired when I’m walking through the city, observing people, looking at buildings, visiting exhibitions, peering at shop windows or the clothes people are wearing," says Caroline. She previously lived in Malaysia for four years, but she's since moved to Switzerland with her four adopted cats from Malaysia. "One of my cats often crops up in many of my pieces."
From fashion designer to illustrator
Caroline began her career as a fashion designer after graduating from the Academy Charles Montaigne fashion institute in Amsterdam. She worked as a fashion designer for 14 years, but when she moved to Barcelona and had her first child, she began illustrating. "I started with illustrations for greeting cards, first with watercolours and later with gouache, until I found my medium: acrylic paint!" says Caroline. She followed lots of online courses so she could find ways to apply her art and sell more products. She found an agency that licensed her illustrations. "As well as that, I had this dream of illustrating children's books and that dream has come true seven times. I also love painting women in different environments and situations. I think it's fun to tell stories through pictures," explains Caroline.
Converting ideas to pictures
Caroline loves clean, confident lines that are preferably angular, round and simple and there has to be a lot of colour involved. "I'm a very illustrative painter, I tell a visual story." Many of Caroline's pieces stem from commissions for clients, but when that's not the case, she's always looking for inspiration. "That could be a challenge on Instagram or a mood board from my agent that I get a spark of inspiration from and it triggers a little pictorial story to form in my head. From there, I'll do my research and start with a line drawing," explains Caroline. When Caroline has an idea, she first researches the topic that she has in mind. "And then an image suddenly emerges in my head of something I want to add to what already exists. This process doesn't always go smoothly. Sometimes it takes a while for the image to come into my head and sometimes it's there right away, which is ideal!"
The creative process
Once Caroline has an image in mind, she starts the creative process. She makes sketches on her graphics tablet and then prints out the sketch to her desired size. "Then I trace over the lines on the paper that I'm going to paint on. Usually, I start by applying a layer of acrylic paint over the lines and then I continue from there," explains Caroline. She's usually satisfied with the end result. "However, the difficult part often happens in the middle of the process. There's always a moment when I want to throw away my piece and I consider picking a different profession," she admits. Fortunately, Caroline overcomes these doubts and she knows that it will all work out in the end. She adds: "I also love my 'happy mistakes', moments where I change my mind and paint over colours. That makes it exciting."
Portrait woman with tulips on red background
Caroline's favourite piece is often one of her most recent creations. "I made this painting with Valentine's Day in mind. I love this character because they look androgynous. That happened spontaneously and wasn't something I planned in advance. I'm wild about red and I'm really pleased with how the beautiful black blouse contrasts against the red background," Caroline explains enthusiastically.
