Andrea Ehret

I am a Slovak artist, painter, lecturer and art therapist. I live and work in Prague. In my work I especially focus on abstract expressive oil-painting. I like to discover new ways and approaches to creation. I regularly organize workshops of art therapy for children and adults, where in accordance with their own world perception, I apply art work as non-violent kind of human transformation. I am also interested in live performance painting in interaction with music and dance. I studied painting at academic painter Dusan Srvatka and Mgr. Art. Prokipa Kolysnik. I deeply believe that art has a healing power. I present my works at individual and also collective exhibitions in Slovakia, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Germany and also in the United States of America. My works are included in individual collections all around the world. Besides painting I love my family and especially my son Liam. My motherhood taught me humility. My husband and I are really aware of that our son makes us better, more present, more sensitive every day. I am grateful for my family and my artwork and also art therapy job. I realize that I live the way that I have always wanted to live.  When I am not painting, I love to spend most of my time with my family and friends. We like traveling and or we just take things easy, barbeque and talk. Prague is wonderful because when you wake up in the morning and decide to see some art in the evening, you always have plenty of possibilities. As a teenager, I always wanted to be an artist and I had various romantic ideas about the life and work of an artist, which were mostly about painting at night with a glass of wine in my hand. I loved biographies of famous people. I often read tragic stories of Bohemian artists at the end of 19th century. Now I know that artists cannot stop working on their talent, and that they must continue to look for new ways, possibilities, work on their technique and personality. Then they may expect that piece of luck that can push them to new opportunities. Painting is a process. I often have a feeling that the painting is finished. Then, I leave its first version to dry on the stand. And very often, it needs to mature, so after a few days or weeks I come back to it and finish it with a stroke of my brush or I even paint it all over.   In my abstract works I see life, dreams and imaginations, wind on the roads. The biggest inspiration for me is the life itself, every human, children, loves, my dreams, and my wanders across my inner landscape. My secret recipe for luck is to live now and in gratitude. I perceive every life situation, even if it is a difficult one, as a lesson, and I try to understand why it came to my life. I also try to be honest to myself and kind to others.