Meet Daniela Schweinsberg

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Daniela Schweinsberg a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Daniela, so happy to have you with us today. You are such a creative person, but have you ever head any sort of creativity block along the way? If so, can you talk to us about how you overcame or beat it?

I think everyone who works in a creative field has experienced creative blocks. Even though I’ve been painting for over 20 years, I still haven’t figured out how they form or what causes them. Only once it was clear, this happened to me many years ago after a painting course, when I lost my focus, my path, my clear direction.

In my opinion, everyone has to find out for themselves how to deal with it or which method or which way works to solve it. Because there are certainly other ways than mine! But what exactly is my way?

I start to describe it with a quote from Picasso I read many years ago and that I have never forgotten because it fitted exactly for how I deal with creative blocks.

He basically said, “Creativity will come, but she has to find you working.”

And that’s what I do, I keep working. This is perhaps one of the harder ways to deal with a creative block, because of course this can also lead to increased dissatisfaction with your own results, which in turn leads to more frustration.

That’s why I try to be more playful in these phases. I try to use new media or tools, try out new material. This way I can forgive myself better if the results don’t meet my own expectations. I earn my living through art, which of course creates a certain amount of pressure when having a creative block. Especially nowadays; you can’t afford not to show any results, any new work, for a longer period of time.

It is difficult to find the balance between this need and accepting that you can’t force it. But as an artist I have no other option because authenticity is the basis of my work. I don’t want to and can’t show anything that I don’t stand behind or that’s not 100% me.

So it’s a tough time mentally when I have a creative block. Luckily, thought it happens now and then, it doesn’t happen too often. And you learn to deal with it and once you’ve overcome it once, twice or three times, your confidence that you will do again and that it’s just a phase increases.

And, what is very important and even great for me, is that overcoming these blocks often leads to change or further development. By experimenting, playing and discarding more than usual, I also find new ideas and discover materials that then melt into my work. When this phase suddenly ends with a breakthrough, with a painting that completely blows my mind – that feeling is priceless!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I didn’t come to art in the traditional way. Like almost everyone, I was very creative as a child and teenager. A real hit back then were my large copies of record covers that friends had hanging around.

That stopped when I started working, did an apprenticeship, and later, parallel to my “day job”, I went to evening school to first get my high school diploma and then studied in the evenings and on weekends to get my diploma in business administration.

When I held that in my hands, it was clear to me that I wanted to do something just for myself, something I really love – be creative again.

So I went out, bought paper, brushes and paint and just started. That was more than 20 years ago. My goal was never to make a living from art. I just wanted to do something good for myself.

During the following years I attended painting courses, had different teachers and completed a master class. And at some point the desire arose to show my art. Initially at small local events, but then also on the internet, on art platforms and social media, then in galleries and on fairs. With the internet and social media there were many opportunities that wouldn’t have existed 15 or 20 years earlier!

Meanwhile, after a few years of classic representational painting, my work gradually became more abstract. I found that working without templates and specifications was much more engaging for me – experimenting and trying out, exploring the canvas, material und composition. In the meantime, I have been working exclusively abstractly in an informal way for well over a decade. Even today, when I start a new work, I am still inspired by the thought that absolutely anything is possible on this canvas!

I then worked for many years in parallel as an artist and in my “learned” profession (at that time I was the Head of the HR department in an IT company). But as artistic success grew, this became more and more difficult. My “day job” was complex and required overtime, even weekends sometimes. At the same time, the demands on time for everything related to art grew – photographing and publishing one’s own work, organizing exhibitions, and maintaining the website are just a fraction of it.

In 2017 it became clear that I simply couldn’t do both anymore. I faced a decision – and since it wasn’t an option for me to stop painting or only paint half-heartedly, I took the step, gave up my day job and became self-employed as an artist.

Today, in terms of hours, I sometimes even work more than in my previous job. But I like doing it because I’m doing what I love and I’m responsible for my own success. I decide what I do or don’t want to do. I can organize my working hours and work locations completely freely. When the sun is shining and I feel like it, I get on my bike (my second love) and work out on a 50 miles lap, then go back to the studio or to the computer in the evening. I definitely don’t want to miss out on this personal responsibility and freedom!

To this day I am convinced this was one of the best decisions of my life. Many people misjudge the hard work that goes into it – always makes smile to hear “how nice, you’re a painter” in response to the question of what I do. That’s of course true, it’s incredibly nice to do what you love, but if you want to make a living from it, it’s a full-time job, of which the painting itself takes up maybe 50%. At the moment I’m looking for new opportunities to show my art, so in April this year I went to an art fair in Los Angeles for the first time and showed my work and am currently thinking about where me and my pictures will go next year.

If you like my work and have cooperation or exhibition projects, or if you are a gallery interested in my work, just let me know, I would be happy about it!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

It may sound strange, but I believe that as an independent artist I benefit greatly from my business studies. Also from my earlier professional experience and dealing with a wide variety of IT systems. I can take care of everything myself, create my website myself, do the accounting and taxes, photograph and edit my pictures professionally, am my own marketing department.

In classical art studies, these things come up far too briefly or not at all; it’s all about the art, but not about all the things that are part of it if you want to make a living from your art as an independent artist.

I would therefore recommend everyone to look into the commercial aspects of self-employment in addition to their actual profession – as in my case, painting. Be it through (self-)study, courses or internships.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

Attending a trade show overseas, in LA, this April. That was quite a task.

I wanted to present new paintings, which worked out perfectly because I was very creative in the months before.

But beyond that there was an incredible amount of things to organize and clarify. My biggest nightmare was that the fair was starting and my paintings got stuck somewhere along the way or in customs! When they were on their way to LA about 2 weeks ahead of me, I had a few sleepless nights until they finally arrived safely. In the end everything worked out well and I now know that I can manage such a project.

And I learned a lot and gained new ideas – which will help me at the next similar event!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.daniela-schweinsberg.com/en-gb
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schweinsbergart/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SchweinsbergArt