Meet Cecile Broekaert. She will paint a lot during her residency in July and she will show new work during Vruchtbare Grond togehther with a lot of other visual artists.
We asked Cecile some questions:
Tell us about your favorite medium.
PAINT: acrylics, oils, gouache, chalk paint, … I like them all. It just feels like I can endlessly explore with this medium. It took away the challenge of a writers’ block because with paint you can always go on. You can easily change things by painting over it or by wiping, scratching, or masquerading things that you no longer like. Which for some people may sound like an endless (painting)battle but for me it gives it the opportunity to make mistakes, to bring texture and layering and most importantly to be free from any restrictions.
Where do you find inspiration?
Mostly from movies or (self made) videos. But in fact the inspiration comes from everywhere: old magazines, picture books, toys, other paintings/ers, flea market finds, botanical gardens, historical or theatrical clothing and accessories, old national geographics, rustic buildings, … I can go on for what seems like forever. It’s mostly texture and color combinations that trigger me. It’s like I want to mimic or capture them in case they get lost or forgotten. And next to it is the playfulness of making new combinations with existing imagery to indicate a new narrative.
When is your favorite time of day to create?
For some reason it’s around 4 in the afternoon. I find that specific hour to be the most fulfilling one of the day. It’s around that time that I often have a sketch or a painting finished or in the finishing stages. The hours before that I am still figuring out which direction I want to go in my work by making sketches in sketchbooks or tryouts on different backgrounds. So it’s satisfying to close that try- and-error phase with an (almost) finished work.
How do you manage a work-life balance as an artist?
Currently when I go to sleep I am surrounded by my own artworks, so physically there is no balance at the moment haha. But I try to maintain a healthy balance by switching between a lot of different techniques and materials. For instance I'm really into sculpting, needlework and lately stop motion/animation. I try to find a new curiositie in those areas to lift off the pressure on my (painted) artworks, if that makes any sense. And besides that I have a very fulfilling job as an art teacher where I get inspiration - distraction - motivation and admiration from, that can also be very helpful.