My name is Angela Franke, I was born in March 1969 in Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany and I am a self taught artist.

Very early in my childhood I have discorered my interest in painting and drawing. First, I drew mostly in graphite, and later also in color. My favorite motivs were horses, later other animals. Than I also draw human portraits.
By the time I learned know the various media of arts, sophisticated techniques by my own.

Pastel is the art which inspires me. In combination of chalk and brush I can create very fine and silky structures; fur stripped by the wind, fine grasses of the meadow where the galloping horse on it, sun rays, which start in the eyes.
The crayons are versatile material. The preparation time is relatively short. Do I have to paint, I can let bygones be working without any harm to the image. It requires no drying time, creating an image in a relatively short time. The delicate to the chalk, however, is that you need a variety of colors, because they are not mixed together, such as oil paints. I use as surface sandy paper like pastelmat or pastelcard, sometimes velour paper. Each paper needs his own technique and requires a high degree of sensitivity and dexterity. As an artist I would like to commit myself not just in one technique. So I love to experiment with other materials such as oil, charcoal or graphite. Oil offers many interesting possibilities.

A good artist needs only a small number of colors, as these are well mixed together. I work with only 8-12 colors, and make all the nuances that I need for each painting by myself. Due to the long drying times, I can always work on the image, when one layer is dry. So a painting take 8 weeks - 6 months until the oil painting is finished.

Since 2010 I am working with watercolor art. It is an entirely different experience of painting, because in contrast to the pastel I need before I start the finished image in mind. When I paint watercolors must start from light to dark. Reflections I put so firmly in the beginning. In the technique pastel I can build the image in layers, much like oil paintings and lights set later.

Each material has its own fascination for me.