Recent work
Art does not depict the visible but makes visible.
What I want to show in my work is the idea that hides behind so-called reality.
I look for the bridge that connects the visible with the invisible.
Paul Klee
Biography
Born in Beringen-Mijn and living in Hasselt (B).
Profession: Education at Hasselt
Training
- Kindergarten teacher - Hasselt Normal School
- Graphics at the Hasselt Academy
I was introduced to the world of watercolor around the 1990s. It was mainly the transparency and subtlety of the watercolor technique that attracted me the most. The interplay of water, pigment and paper seemed mysterious, exciting and, above all, very challenging to do. I started exploring the technique in a limited painting group but also through only internships and workshops with domestic and foreign watercolorists.
Furthermore, I am self-taught.
Since 2001 I have been a member/core member of the Watercolor Institute of Belgium where I participate annually in selections for the biennial watercolor show.
On a regular basis, I participate in international exhibitions of the ECWS and by invitation in foreign Aqua events.
Vision
I don't feel like an artist.
What I do is just convert feelings into color on white paper.
But if you look at it with different eyes from mine
perhaps what I do elevates to art.
Monique
When you paint you gradually learn to let go of control and surrender yourself to your intuition. While painting, you work yourself through all kinds of feelings which, in the end, come together like pieces of a puzzle and where color, exerts a great influence on my soul. The merging of colors often evokes emotions that cannot be contained in words.
As I love the simplicity in all things, so too my work must find its beauty through the simplicity it exudes. Hence, my work reflects my deepest being.
Quote:
Monique is a watercolorist who quietly and modestly creates masterpieces. The clean style and the particular color palette are typical features. She always works abstracted because she believes that not everything has to be said. Less is more, is a position she holds. Here I also refer to Godfried Bomans, the astute writer of the fine anecdote, who said, "Simplicity is not the mark of the beginner. It is the hard-won stamp of the master."
Bruni Mortier 2011
Quote:
We see the virtuoso use of the watercolor technique: the perfect composition and the equally perfect use of color. Monique seems to have mastered everything. At least that is what the first view teaches us. I experience in both of them a story of human vulnerability. It is up to you dear viewer to discover the deeper truth.
Luc Van Cauter 2013
Monique Tevenie - info@moniquetevenie.be