Born and raised in Germany, painter and sculptor Christel Maria Nolle relocated to Denmark in the 70's where she has lived and worked as an artist ever since. Her work is seriously inspiring today with her gorgeous portfolio of abstract and mixed media work on canvas and paper -- she is seriously making me want to paint! I love her lines and shapes and how she uses color to captivate, arouse, distract, and pull in the viewer. Her work makes a very clear statement: Christel is a free spirit who has no problem with expressing her emotion through art. I love how she translates her many travels into her work as well.

“To me, the finished painting is like a woven rug – a pictorial narrative comprising many details", says Christel. I loved reading about her process and inspirations here and found it both informative and inspiring.

Her work is not only bold but versatile -- I can see it in a beautiful country home like the one that BY+FRYD lives in (here) or I can imagine it in a more traditional home like something you'd find in London with a chesterfield sofa in posh digs. I can easily see it working well in a home with a slouchy black leather sofa, white walls with high ceilings and wooden floors like a flat you'd see in Stockholm or Berlin. The key with choosing art, at least for me, is to fall in love with a piece and don't select fine art based on your decor but based on what speaks to you and what taps into your emotional side like no other piece you've seen in a long, long time. If your heart guides you, it will most likely look great in your space and if it doesn't then perhaps your space doesn't reflect your true self and lifestyle and so you need to make a few small changes in your decor so that it reflects who you are.

Do you purchase fine art? If so, where - galleries, the artist, exhibitions, auctions? If you've purchased fine art before, why did you make the investment, can you go into detail? I'd love to know and I'm sure other readers would enjoy your comment too.

(images christel maria nolle)