Jeanette Routhe paints with her heart: "I want to create loving pictures"
2022-04-26
Jeanette Routhe paints in strong colors and gets inspired by poetry, love and the Cobra movement. She prefers to paint in her living room but she wants to do much more with her art.
Jeanette Routhe is self-taught. She has always enjoyed painting, but three years ago she started to explore it more profundly.
– I felt that it was a good way for me to relax and focus on being creative. At first, I painted more naturalistically, then I felt I needed some inspiration, so I took a painting course. It was amazing, and after that I really had to keep going.
Now the paintings are abstract and full of colours, often with figurative elements.
– I have started to experiment a lot and my biggest inspiration is Cobra. It's hard to paint like that but it's very exciting. You can be so creative and do so many special things when you work that way. I try to make my own thing out of it.
When Jeanette was asked by her boyfriend if she wanted to illustrate his poetry, she immediately said yes.
– It felt like a challenge. It´s not about trying to paint every word in the poem, but about making it easy and at the same time interesting. Sometimes they are complex but simple at the same time. The poems contain so many emotions, so many thoughts. It can be a challenge not to get too detailed and get stuck in every word. A poem can be short but have a lot of meaning, and then it can be hard to know how to paint it, how will it be enough? When the poems are very long, it is tricky to get everything in one painting. It takes time and a lot of thought. Sometimes I must repaint because it doesn´t make sense. But I like to be challenged.
Can you describe your creative process?
– Sometimes it is intuitive, and I feel like painting. I look at the canvas and start with a few colours and let my hand go with the flow. Then I get ideas along the way, and the painting develops by itself. Other times I read something and try to interpret it and sometimes I just try to study other painters. I also like to visit exhibitions to get inspired.
How would you describe your art?
– I paint with a lot of love for my paintings. I always have a heart in the pictures because I always paint with my heart. The art is loving, creative and abstract. I like to use many colours and experiment with simpler things. I often hear from others that they are constantly finding new things in my paintings. Sometimes they see things I haven´t even painted, some see whole stories, and for me it's amazing.
Why is art important in your life?
– I have found a way to express many feelings, and a lot of love. I am a positive person so I like to paint positive pictures, but I also have sad and angry days and then it's nice to get it out on a canvas. It gives me a room where to relax. I do not have to think about anything else, but I am just in the room and in the creative process.
Jeanette prefers to paint in her living room and she does not mind being interrupted in the process.
– It makes my home a living space where you can be creative. It is easy to go to the canvas and at the same time be with the others in the house. I also like that people comment on my painting while I paint, that they follow the process. It's inspiring to get feedback along the way if it's constructive. It can be something that I didn´t think about in the beginning and sometimes they come up with ideas that make me stop and think. When I paint more intuitively, it can be useful to hear other people's opinions if I get stuck. I love to hear that what I see, and feel is not what others see, and feel. Then I think I have succeeded. When others experience something, I do not dictate.
What happens in the future?
– I would like to work more with my art. I have been thinking of finding some way to implement it in everyday life. Maybe give children a free space to be creative in their own way? I have not thought it through completely, but I would like to go in a more creative direction.
Matilda Wirström
Writer
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