Sonja Elise is a creator. She uses her highly emotional states to create art. It doesn’t matter what mediums she has access to; whatever she has, she uses to express herself.

Sonja has many styles of art. She detests being labeled and put in a teeny tiny art box. She is not an abstract artist, an expressionist, a watercolourist; She does not draw, or make marks exclusively. She does ALL of these things and loves doing them.

Naturally, there are some mediums that Sonja prefers, each has its own draw depending on her mood and needs at the time.

When she feels the need for a sense of control and meditation, Sonja makes cuts in lino to create linoprints.

When sad or angry, or highly elated, acrylics and mixed media on canvas are perfect to express her emotion.

When she feels the need to focus, Sonja works on fine details in her watercolours.

Should she ever feel creatively stuck or just wants to ‘lash out’, Sonja turns to inks and makes marks on paper.

Sonja works at 100%, using all her nerve and fibre to create art. Nothing is half assed. She fights to overcome anxiety, paranoia, and self-doubt to create her art, which makes it all the more sweet when she does. Sonja believes deeply in her work and is enormously proud of her accomplishments.

Sonja has a natural desire for balance in composition, but she challenges herself by pushing against that natural desire to explore and extend her practice in new and exciting ways. Her desire for balance stems from a life of imbalance, and while she believes that it is good for us humans to be controlled and conform to a certain level of balance, art is a different monster.

Art demands a certain imbalance for viewers to ask questions of it, to form opinions, and to create or relate to their emotions.

As artists, we all want to believe that our little art practice will change the world of art; that one day, when we’re dead and buried, we’ll be like Van Gogh or Kandisnky. Sonja is no different, and unashamedly admits to having illusions of grandiosity. She imagines a ménage à trois (love triangle) with Vincent and Vassily, as they are a huge inspiration in her art, as well as in my life.

Like Vincent, Sonja has been diagnosed with a mental illness, and has previously been hospitalised as a result, although these days with modern medical research and treatment, she is not nearly as sick as Vincent was, but “to be just a little bit crazy helps in the artistic process, it helps to free the mind, to allow for the space for new ideas to grow.”

Kandinsky, on the other hand, was all about the ‘spiritual’ in art, using colours and shapes to express his ethos. This ethos resonates with Sonja and she considers her self a spiritualist. She has her own belief system, and her work is an extension of those beliefs, even though it may not be entirely obvious to you, or other viewers.

Sonja wants her art to resonate with her audience. She wants you to think….

“Why did she put that yellow stripe there?”

“What is the significance of that blue square that fades into infinity?”

“What does she mean by that title? How does it reflect the artwork? How does it relate to me?”