Artworks by Linda Coppens

I engage in my own quiet battle against this increasingly frenetic world we are living in with colorful and vibrant abstract artworks that offer a moment of beauty and harmony.

I work in both acrylics and oil or mixed media on paper, canvas and panel. 
My works start with marks or shapes on which I build layer by layer. 
As a process-oriented painter, I never plan a painting or work from sketches, I just decide to start and one mark, shape or color will suggest the next color or gesture.
I love to play and experiment with color and materials. For me, being an artist is all about finding my way as I go. The not knowing when I approach a new canvas or paper is challenging and liberating at the same time. My goal is to bring about breathing life onto the surface of the painting with stream of consciousness gesture, mark making and energy. I build up and destroy. With each layer I seek answers and I add or subtract elements to obtain a new equilibrium, reflecting life today and the balance we need to find within.

The human mind and the influence of our past experiences on our current experiences is another theme throughout my work. I found that oil & cold wax with its soft, transparent consistency is an ideal material for expressing the layered nature of memory. I create the rich and complex surfaces with physical depth by applying multiple thick and thin transparent and opaque layers of oil & cold wax while scratching in it with different tools. 

With my paintings, I want to offer the viewer a moment to balance and a space to wander.

I live and work in Spain most of the year.
In early life, I was always scribbling and drawing but becoming an artist was not really an option in a family with no artistic antecedents.
I got my Master in Psychology but my interest in art remained and twenty years later, I decided to do it properly. 
I entered the Art Academy in Liedekerke, Belgium where I completed both a Drawing Certificate and a Painting Certificate and discovered my passion for abstract art. I then explored art on my own, complemented with advanced art workshops before leaping out into the art world in 2009.
I have since then participated in numerous exhibitions, in Belgium and internationally.