Interview with Mariella Ammerer about her Hobby: Painting

Mariella Ammerer is a warm-hearted, very good looking lady who loves cats and bunnies!!! Very likeable! She works with an international company, where she is responsible for the customers in Italy and in France. In her leisure time she is painting, some of her works can be seen here and on the photos below. I met her at a private reception with concert (an impressing “Winterreise” by Franz Schubert). We were gossiping and soon she told me that her hobby was painting. Light and warm as she is, so are her paintings, reflecting her joy for painting.

© Ammerer

Q: Would you please tell me how and when you started painting. Who inspired you? Was there an artist in the family?

A: I have been inspired by my mother Regina Ledoldis (http://rl-stones.at) since I was a child. She always encouraged me, she was a good mother and a good housewife and was always with me. This was perfect, we were still painting together when I was very young. She started with reverse glass painting, Art Nouveau style, I “copied” her works on paper. I liked this very much, it inspired me to do like her. Very often I was sent to bed when the TV program for children, the bedtime story at 6 p.m., had finished. I got up at 3 a.m. and painted. This was great fun! Sometimes I stole away, visited my grand-parents in their garden, played with their cat and watched them working as stonemasons. There it could happen that I “decorated” fresh painted walls. Not always to my grand-parents´ delight.

© Ammerer

Q: Were you since then always painting? Or was there a time you stopped it?

A: I painted since I was a child (I started in the age of 3) and never stopped, I am a self-taught painter.

© Ammerer

Q: Was there an exhibition of your paintings?

A: A good friend encouraged me to make an exhibition November 2014 together with my mother who is stonemason. It took place in the so called “Sensenmühle” (scything mill) in Deutschfeistritz, Styria and was well attended. This made me proud and happy.

© Ammerer

Q: Is painting relaxing? Are you listening to music when painting?

A: I love music very much, but as you ask me I realize that I never listen to music when painting. I am totally lost in painting. It is as if I were in another world, it is totally relaxing, I am energetic and creative. At the begin there is a vague idea in my mind´s eye. Only during the painting process the concept is formed and the tableau is developed.

Q: Is there an artist you admire?

A: I love Monet´s, Manet´s and Renoir´s paintings and would like to be able to paint like them. Generally I am inspired by landscapes when travelling with my husband and by the beautiful photos he takes. He, who has the perfect eye of a photographer, advises me during the painting process. Following his tips how to translate an idea into a painting I learned a lot. I am very glad that he is interested in my work.