Depicting Nature WITH SABINE ZIMMERMANN

This season, we are delighted to collaborate with artist, art therapist, and all round creative visionary, Sabine Zimmermann. Born in Southern Germany, Sabine began her career as an art therapist in a psychiatric clinic, where she worked with patients to express their emotions and release their creativity through the medium of art. Now based in France, Sabine’s work has been exhibited widely across Europe. She also works as an art teacher at the German International School in Paris.

Sabine’s painting style is a world of multi-layered brush strokes, where gentle sweeps dance amongst soft curves and flowing rhythms, expressing her love of colour with strong contrasts and shades of spatial depth. An experimentalist at heart, Sabine always works in her garden (no matter the season) where she finds serenity and harmony in nature. Even in the depths of winter, she takes her canvas outside, where the paint freezes and ice flowers appear. The result is truly emotive paintings flooded with water and exposed to the elements, revealing a unique dialogue with nature. Water is poured, paint is splashed and sprayed wildly to mimic the unpredictable power of nature. Texture is key to Sabine’s work and she uses a combination of acrylic paint, self-cut stencils and natural materials (including sand, stones, salt and palm leaves).

Amongst the beautiful chaos of her work, streaks of colour and delicate glazes reveal themselves as floods of colour echo the movement of the natural world. Layered with experimental processes, Sabine captures the chance moments, where something slips away on the canvas. These magical pictorial spaces capture a moment in time. sazim__art

While nature is Sabine’s key source of inspiration, music also plays an integral part in her work. From the never-ending optimism of a wide skyscape, to flashes of light breaking through clouds, her love of the natural world is evident in every brushstroke. She regularly creates large nature mandalas in environments across the globe, from her garden to fields, forests and beaches.

Sabine lives with her husband and son in Garches, a Parisian suburb, in a belle époque style house decorated with faience. A large garden rich with trees, flora and fauna houses an idyllic treehouse where creativity blooms and thrives.

Sabine’s latest project ‘One Day, One Stone’ took a year to create. “Every day, in a precious little moment of attention, I collected one stone and put the 365 stones together to form one big mandala. This daily ritual taught me mindfulness and gratitude” says Sabine.