Whether she's painting the trusty Aussie roadside mailbox, the flowing lines of an iris in bloom or the elegance of a European stained glass window, Christine Groh's watercolours are bright and free, and capture the effervescence in their subject matter.

Although she has engaged in artistic pursuits most of her life, it was only in the last four years that Christine began to master the watercolour medium. The images shown here include Fantastic garden, inspired by stained-glass windows designed by Marc Chagall that she saw on a visit to Germany in 2002. "I decided to paint really bright, stylised flowers rather than Chagall's vivid stylised angels," she explains. Also in Germany, she saw architecture by Hundertwasser and this inspired the Tessellations and the City Mosaic/Scape series. Hundertwasser's incredible details on the buildings he designed included amazing rooftop vegetation, Persian-like domes and brilliant colours - all of which can be seen in these paintings.

"I just love approaching new topics but, in the end, I tend to come back to flowers," she admits.

"Strangely enough, way back in my oil-painting days and when I was first taught watercolour, I mainly painted landscapes - I thought flowers weren't really me. But once I tried painting them, I was hooked! Now I tend to come back to my favourite flowers even though I am constantly trying other subjects in between - and I'll probably keep on coming back to them." Currently she is working on a series of paintings depicting her favourite flowers - irises, poppies and sunflowers - to be painted in a landscape setting.

Christine grew up behind the Iron Curtain in what is formerly known as East Germany. Her father never returned from WWII so she grew up with her mother, and says, "understandably we were very close and had many relatives who lived nearby."

One imagines that her childhood was a struggle with little time for the indulgences of artistic pursuits - but, in fact, it was quite different. "Both within the family and at school, the arts were very much encouraged," she says. "Trips to the theatre, the opera and the art gallery were even part of the school curriculum."

52  Artist's Palette

Copy of Artist's Palette Magazine No.33 articles by Justyna Lupa and Christine Groh.

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