Self-taught leaps of thought between geometry, nature, and cats

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May 20, 2026:

The original idea came from my desire to paint flowers again.

In my opinion, roses are neither the most demanding nor the easiest flowers to paint.

Furthermore, I deliberately wanted to try something new again and actually work with geometric shapes.

The painting was also intended to have a surreal character, which is why it was decided early on that I would paint two roses with geometric blossoms, i.e., triangular petals, which would also run parallel but in opposite directions. One rose would grow from the top towards the center of the painting, while the other would grow, almost as a mirror image, from the bottom towards the center.

In contrast to the angular and clean blossoms, the rose stems should be depicted as round and winding. A further contrast should be provided by a slightly oversized, striking, and also non-angular, but rather organic, leaf.

Some of you may have already noticed that I really like working with contrasts and opposites and challenging the viewer of my works.

What was not clear at the beginning was the shape of the cat and the oval outline of my central motif.

But the idea of including a cat, or something furry, was already in my mind. Since I wanted to work with geometric shapes, the cat in my imagination, unlike the roses, consisted entirely of triangular shapes in strong shades of brown and gray.

The background of the whole thing was intended to be a darker blue from the outset, as I thought that would be a striking yet still subtle background against which the strong, bright roses and the light-colored cat would stand out strongly.

With this idea in mind, I set about creating the new image.

I took a white primed canvas and began to draw the shapes from my head on it.

After this first step, I realized that the roses and the cat seemed somewhat lost on the rectangular canvas. So I took a compass and pencil and created a round border on the otherwise rectangular canvas. Another contrast.

Unfortunately, the oval with my central main motif still looked too lonely.

Intuitively, I kept the pen in my hand and drew further lines around the oval, partly with a ruler, partly by eye and feel.

In the end, a mosaic-like network of many triangular and polygonal structures had emerged.

I then leaned back again, looked at the drawing, and thought about which colors I would use for the background of the oval.

Well, I love strong, bright and high-contrast colors, so I could only conclude that I should create a brightly colored background for the dark blue oval.

You might already notice from my story that while I quickly get an idea in my head, this idea is never completely finished and concrete before the actual implementation, but rather develops further as I create a picture. That's also why I can say that while I always have a vision, I still never know what the final result will actually be.

Furthermore, I haven't studied art or painted since I was a child. I've only been seriously involved with art since last year and am developing my skills autodidactically.

During my school days I always received terrible grades and therefore didn't really take things that can actually bring joy and fun seriously.

Now, of course, I look at other artists and works, try to learn techniques, and still experiment a lot.

Something I consciously try to do less of these days is to actually paint something photorealistically. Anyone who enjoys painting and looking at landscapes should feel free to do so.

I find it rather boring to simply imitate and copy something.

My own mind, and especially my inner narcissist, simply won't allow this.

Creating art and being an artist often go hand in hand, but for me, taking the next step towards being an artist also means expressing myself, not just the finished work. There's always a part of me in my art.

Some might see it differently and say: you have to be able to separate the artist from their work. But deep down, we probably all know, at the latest when we've created something ourselves, that this isn't 100 percent possible.

It all starts with painting itself, with the decision of what to paint, and whether we're simply copying or copying something. Ask yourselves, for example, why you paint what you paint and not something else?

For some, this question is trivial; for others, it is virtually impossible to answer.

As mentioned at the beginning, I like to paint in bright colors, with high contrast, ambiguously, somewhat surrealistically, and almost always with cats. Why?

Because those are my influences, preferences, and thoughts. That's how my imagination works.

But enough about me, my ideas and resolutions for now.

On my website I not only sell prints and existing works of mine, but I also accept commissioned work.

I'm eager to hear what your motives, wishes, and thoughts are. As I mentioned before, a part of myself will always be involved in the execution, but I would also be happy to fulfill your individual wishes.

Your Simon alias SGrasshoffArt.

You can find the audio and video here:

https://youtu.be/k9TnIqKz1Sg?is=_Htytm58NFUDN1EP