Before dedicating myself as a full-time portraitist in 2017, I worked in three interconnected fields of art and craft. I crafted bespoke furniture for private clients, meticulously documented hundreds of preserved Gothic choir stalls for Germany's Department of Cultural Heritage in cathedrals across the country, and served prestigious auction houses specialising in antique furniture.

A profound spiritual shift occurred after I walked the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in 2015, prompting me to leave my previous professions and relocate to Spain. Unexpectedly, I was taken by a very different culture, a new language, and a dramatically changing perspective on life. The truly German attitude to live for work broke open to the Spanish way of working to live. Perfectionism was unable to survive 40 degrees in the shade. Stillness and isolation were overwhelmed by the constant river of company and chatter. I even learned to become patient. I found time to draw. I found artists and Old Masters to learn from. I found out that I was living in a country that still needed portraitists - one that regularly, ex officio and in the event of a change of government, employed the services of such painters. That art actually was something one could live from. It could even hold the status of work. And I got to know artists who were living as such. And so I made my decision. Today, I operate from my atelier in the south of Germany, close to the enchanting Black Forest, where I am working for clients in the United States and all over Europe.