The natural world, with its colours, shapes and textures, is the driving force behind Stefanie’s work. Each piece is started free of preconceptions with moving paint and water around on the surface, whilst letting shapes and textures emerge. In fact, Stefanie aims to erase or at least minimise her own presence and allow each work to come into existence as if through a logic of its own.

 

Hard edges define the shape of the object, and the soft edges provide depth and an increased sense of perspective whilst lost edges create tension and a sense of mystery.

 

Lost edges are the most challenging to create and the outcome can be unpredictable especially when working on Yupo, a synthetic paper that does not absorb water at all. The pigments remain in free flow on the surface until the piece is entirely dry, and the way they settle depends on humidity and temperature as well as their specific makeup. While the process of creating these pieces is therefore in no small part fortuitous, an understanding of how the materials behave and interact enables Stefanie to push the boundaries of what she can achieve with this medium that reinforces her enduring love of watercolours.