Inspired by visits to the English coast and a love for the sea, Dorit Braun’s colorful paintings explore the way the weather affects colour, form and movement.
“I love the sea, the sound of it, the smell of it and the feel of it. I try to evoke what it feels like to be there in my paintings.” she says.
Having spent most of her young years drawing and painting, and initially with the ambition of becoming a textile designer, she changed the course of her life when, as a teenager, she disagreed with the formalized teaching of art in school. After being in constant conflict with the Art teacher, she decided to study Economics instead, pursuing it in higher education.
She then spent most of her life working in the charity sector. As the years went by, she found herself more and more drawing towards wanting to paint, especially after she moved to London. “It was so easy to go and do brilliant courses at Central St Martin’s, find new techniques, new ways of thinking about art and unlearn some of the nonsense I found I had been taught, and so I just kept going.” she recounted.
Dorit’s paintings lie somewhere in between abstract and figurative, with the use of colour and textures as the main points of attention. “Quite often it will start more figuratively and become more abstract as the process continues. I became more and more interested in abstract art, and having the freedom to express emotions, senses, movement and rhythm. I am still fascinated by texture and colour, and how a minuscule thing on the edge of a painting can change the entire image.”
The main challenge when going abstract is to know when a painting is finished.
“You can just go on and on, and there is always the danger of overworking. There’s something about the roughness of something that is not completely resolved, but at the same time it leaves you a bit disturbed. I find this process really hard. I paint over and over things, and sometimes I will come back to a painting I thought I liked, be furious with myself and paint the whole thing all over again. Other times, I will come back to a painting I wasn’t sure about and think I actually like it. Time brings a new insight.”
Dorit currently works part-time for our tenant Family Rights Group helping with business development and spends the rest of the time painting from her atelier.
“For me, painting is like eating, it’s something I need to do.” she says.
You can catch Dorit’s exhibition “Water, Weather, Wonder” from 1st August 2019 to 5th September at the Print House Gallery. Find out more here.
