Portrait of Stephan in Hat & sun glasses Painting

My husband, Markus, and I have started working in collaboration. He makes the backgrounds to the paintings by carving, scorching, painting and sanding, leaving a coarse and craggy environment, creating depth, texture and context. I then paint delicately in oils on the primed space that he gives me. I adapt my painting according to the inspiration that I receive from the background. Each painting is unique and not of anyone in particular. The lack of expression on the faces leaves room for you to imagineand emulate, finding the essence of each of these ethereal paintings. I am fascinated by faces - all faces - and we both love people, with all their quirks and personalities, but we particularly want to celebrate the timeless human strength of character, creativity and potential. The touh of gold implies the emerging qualities of our inner value, no matter who we are or what we do - in some cases even where there are apparent flaws. And this is what we hope these Icon Paintings do - celebrate being human, with all our perceived shortcomings. Loosely inspired by the format of Byzantine icon paintings, but without any religious connotations or messages, we want to celebrate the great variety of human beings, with all their unique strengths, qualities, foibles and endless potential. Much likevthe Byzantine icons Thonett Icon Paintings are more like the moon, rather than the sun, as they reflect and express the qualities we may want to foster in ourselves, rather than giving off their own light - whatever they may be - inner strength, peace, determination, or even flamboyance. These pieces do not have frames, but are complete in temselves, like pieces of wall sculpture, mounted a little away from the wall. We are conscious of the environment, Markus using repurposed wood and surplus household paints while I use oil paints in thin glazes sparingly. The smaller icons are delivered in a beautiful black box, with a ribbon and tissue paper. These boxes are 60% recyclable, but more to the point can be re-used many times. For the collector, each painting has its own certificate of authenticity, displaying a title, date and signatures of the artists.