Anna’s daymares

Your motto, “Because I couldn’t change the world, I started to create my own,” beautifully captures both defiance and hope. How did this idea first take shape for you, and what personal experiences led you to express it through art?

Very good question. I think, art can be so much but especially a form of escape from reality. We all are powerless over what happens in the world at lange and behind the scenes, but we always have the choice and to shape our own. If someone started with themselves instead of sowing hatred, war, fear or negativity, a lot would already be achieved for humanity. It’s a lot about introspection and focusing on the things we can control and perhaps change them for the better, simply through our vibes and actions. I am simply trying to do my part to provide a little more soul food and color for a sometimes dreary and dull world that had been forced to be numb and feel less. The Corona period was a start for me to do just that. I changed almost everything. The people who surrounded me, my habits, my job, my mindset, even my previously held worldview. To this day, I don’t watch TV anymore.

And so it just happened that I began to paint for my inside freedom and more happiness, as if it were meant to be that way. I had to follow that impulse . Perhaps because, without all the outside noise, I could suddenly hear my own whispering voice again.

Anna’s daymares | All Brave Hearts | 2024

Your works feel like visual diaries – full of dreamlike narratives and spiritual symbols. How do your dreams and visions translate into the storytelling structure we see in your paintings?

Through neutrality, through “nothingness”, through absolute dedication to the process. I feel more like a kind of medium through which the painting is carried. I only offer my hands and body. The less I think, the more emerges and happens in the painting. Perhaps I transfer these subconscious thoughts and voices onto a surface. While I am working on a piece, my mind completely calm and everything feels relaxed and somehow it really often happens, that I lose the sense for time and space.

Each of your “daymares” seems to blend divine light and human fragility. Do you see your art as a dialogue between faith and the subconscious?

You’ve phrased that brilliantly. Yes. It’s a dialogue between the other world (call it the divine), the people who are meant to see it, and myself. I’m convinced that these works are perceived by precisely those to whom they are meant to give a hint, a message or a sign. So, those whose gaze lingers on one of my paintings for a longer time are invited to take a closer look for their own interest and growth. There could be a personal treasure hidden for them.

Anna’s daymares | Maskerade | 2024

The intricate detail and density of your compositions invite viewers to “get lost” inside them. What do you hope people discover when they spend time exploring the hidden layers of your works?

I hope that they will rediscover themselves in them, that they will discover lost parts of themselves, that they will courageously reflect themselves in these pieces and thus regain access to their hearts and emotions. I also wish, that they will give themselves permission to dream, to make space for hidden wounds and thus stimulate a valuable healing process.

One could say that my art has the capacity to open the door to the human soul/psyche. The viewer simply has to allow himself to walk through it.

Anna’s daymares | Peace | 2025

Your use of color and symbolism – from butterflies and flowers to surreal faces and mythic creatures – feels almost musical. How do you decide on your color harmonies and the recurring motifs that connect your paintings?

What an intriguing question. Hmm, I think everything I depict is guided intuitively. The images always emerge from a central point, and around this, everything “blooms and grows” on its own. There’s no pre-conceived vision in my head. I simply let it flow and only understand the message of the image in retrospect. It’s always very exciting for me to interpret what it was trying to say.

Anna’s daymares | The Neverending Story | 2025

Your journey from sharing art on Instagram to exhibiting in castles and galleries across Europe is inspiring. How has this evolution shaped your confidence and relationship with your audience?

I am so freaking grateful for all the colorful and rich experiences I have encountered on my creative path so far. Looking back, I can only marvel at this appreciative, deep response. It seems as if I have been able to touch a nerve in many people or quench a thirst for more feeling. More truth, more color and depth. Often the path reveals itself beneath the feet of the walker. In my life so far, I have particularly experienced that exactly the doors that are needed in each stage of life open up. Doors that have to be opened with force or pressure are only draining or ultimately unfulfilling and not productive. I have spent far too long in rooms behind doors that were not intended for me. But these doors have also made a valuable contribution, because I have been able to learn and grow from them. What I mean by this is that we are always in exactly the right place at the right time to gain experiences, whether good or bad. I truly feel a deep appreciation and love for my customers, supporters, and followers. Through art, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many interesting, wonderful, and profound people. Learning to protect my personal boundaries is also part of that. My confidence is stronger than before because it is an invigorating and intense feeling to see that I can give people something profound through my energy and vibes of art.

Anna’s daymares | The Kiss Of Sky & Sea | 2023

You describe your paintings as “projection surfaces for self-discovery.” What have you discovered about yourself through creating these vivid worlds of imagination and emotion?

I discovered that an entire cosmos seems to live within me. A parallel world that had existed for so long but hadn’t been able to find a suitable outlet, and so had often found its way into destructive behaviors. This included eating disorders, depression, excessive dreaming, sleep disorders, and even vague anxieties. I simply had too much inside me, and what was once a knocking sound somehow developed over time into an unmistakable kicking, a pain, an emptiness, and an unquenchable longing, until I embraced the right outlet for this diversity: the creation of art. I was also able to experience—which, incidentally, is the most valuable experience for me—that God almighty is within us (Jesus = Je su(i)s/I am) and acts through us the moment we are ready to let go and follow our own intuition out of unconditional love.