This is always the hardest part.⤵️
You’re excited about what happened in the studio. The painting feels alive. You’re tempted to keep going. Just one more mark. One more line. A little water here, a small gesture there.
But you know better.
Sometimes the most important decision is to stop.
Because every additional brushstroke carries a risk. The painting might open up even more—or it might lose exactly what made it special in the first place.
So you leave it. You walk away. You let it breathe.
And then comes the waiting. Looking at it again tomorrow. Or the day after. Trusting that distance will reveal what excitement cannot.
I still find this incredibly difficult.
Do you know that feeling?
#AbstractPainting #ArtistLife #StudioPractice #ContemporaryArt #PaintingProcess
This is always the hardest part.⤵️
You’re excited about what happened in the studio. The painting feels alive. You’re tempted to keep going. Just one more mark. One more line. A little water here, a small gesture there.
But you know better.
Sometimes the most important decision is to stop.
Because every additional brushstroke carries a risk. The painting might open up even more—or it might lose exactly what made it special in the first place.
So you leave it. You walk away. You let it breathe.
And then comes the waiting. Looking at it again tomorrow. Or the day after. Trusting that distance will reveal what excitement cannot.
I still find this incredibly difficult.
Do you know that feeling?
#AbstractPainting #ArtistLife #StudioPractice #ContemporaryArt #PaintingProcess
MANOEUVRE
I often think of painting as a form of navigation.
Not because I know where I am going, but because every mark changes the route.
Black ink plays a central role in this work. It leaves a trace that cannot easily be taken back. Every gesture remains visible. Every decision becomes part of the painting’s history.
I work with a wide range of tools: fine fountain pens and delicate drawing instruments, but also sponges, scrapers and self-made tools that create unexpected marks. Some works develop on paper, others on canvas. What interests me is the dialogue with the material and the discoveries that happen along the way.
Ink responds to speed, pressure, surface and chance. It demands attention, but also trust. The moment a line appears, the painting shifts. New possibilities emerge while others disappear.
For me, painting is often less about composition than about navigation. One gesture leads to the next. A route appears, dissolves and re-emerges somewhere else.
Manoeuvre reflects on movement, adjustment and the willingness to change course. It is about responding rather than controlling, and about embracing uncertainty as an essential part of the process.
#ManuelaKarinKnaut #ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #InkOnCanvas #ArtistStudio
This artwork is currently available for acquisition.
My team and I work with professional fine art shipping partners and arrange secure worldwide delivery.
If you would like to receive further information about this work, including pricing and details, or if you would like to view a portfolio of currently available works, please feel free to get in touch.
MANOEUVRE
I often think of painting as a form of navigation.
Not because I know where I am going, but because every mark changes the route.
Black ink plays a central role in this work. It leaves a trace that cannot easily be taken back. Every gesture remains visible. Every decision becomes part of the painting’s history.
I work with a wide range of tools: fine fountain pens and delicate drawing instruments, but also sponges, scrapers and self-made tools that create unexpected marks. Some works develop on paper, others on canvas. What interests me is the dialogue with the material and the discoveries that happen along the way.
Ink responds to speed, pressure, surface and chance. It demands attention, but also trust. The moment a line appears, the painting shifts. New possibilities emerge while others disappear.
For me, painting is often less about composition than about navigation. One gesture leads to the next. A route appears, dissolves and re-emerges somewhere else.
Manoeuvre reflects on movement, adjustment and the willingness to change course. It is about responding rather than controlling, and about embracing uncertainty as an essential part of the process.
#ManuelaKarinKnaut #ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #InkOnCanvas #ArtistStudio
This artwork is currently available for acquisition.
My team and I work with professional fine art shipping partners and arrange secure worldwide delivery.
If you would like to receive further information about this work, including pricing and details, or if you would like to view a portfolio of currently available works, please feel free to get in touch.
Longing for the South
Created shortly after my return from South Africa in 2019, this large-scale ink drawing carries traces of a place that shaped me profoundly.
The repetitive lines echo landscapes, distances, rhythms, and memories that remained long after the journey ended. Part map, part emotional archive, the work emerged from that curious space between departure and belonging.
Some places stay with us. They continue to surface in gestures, marks, and movements long after we have left them behind.
Longing for the South
Ink on paper
150 × 230 cm
2019
#manuelakarinknaut #inkdrawing #contemporarydrawing #worksonpaper #abstractart
Longing for the South
Created shortly after my return from South Africa in 2019, this large-scale ink drawing carries traces of a place that shaped me profoundly.
The repetitive lines echo landscapes, distances, rhythms, and memories that remained long after the journey ended. Part map, part emotional archive, the work emerged from that curious space between departure and belonging.
Some places stay with us. They continue to surface in gestures, marks, and movements long after we have left them behind.
Longing for the South
Ink on paper
150 × 230 cm
2019
#manuelakarinknaut #inkdrawing #contemporarydrawing #worksonpaper #abstractart
Room to Breathe
200 × 150 cm | Mixed Media on Canvas
Room to Breathe evolved through countless layers of paint, collage fragments, handwritten marks, and moments of revision. Built up and scraped back, each layer carries traces of what came before, creating a surface rich with history, tension, and discovery.
Words and fragments of writing move through the composition like unfinished thoughts—sometimes visible, sometimes buried beneath new gestures. The vibrant reds and magentas bring a sense of urgency and movement, while the open areas create moments of pause and reflection. Together, they form a dynamic balance between intensity and stillness.
Rather than illustrating a single narrative, Room to Breathe embraces the unpredictable nature of the creative process. It speaks of making space for intuition, allowing uncertainty to become part of the work, and trusting that meaning can emerge through accumulation, change, and time.
At 200 × 150 cm, the painting invites the viewer into an immersive visual experience, where every layer reveals a different rhythm, memory, or possibility. In a world that often demands clarity and control, this work is an invitation to pause, to let go, and to find room to breathe.
#AbstractArt #ContemporaryPainting #MixedMediaArt #LargeScaleArt #RoomToBreathe
Room to Breathe
200 × 150 cm | Mixed Media on Canvas
Room to Breathe evolved through countless layers of paint, collage fragments, handwritten marks, and moments of revision. Built up and scraped back, each layer carries traces of what came before, creating a surface rich with history, tension, and discovery.
Words and fragments of writing move through the composition like unfinished thoughts—sometimes visible, sometimes buried beneath new gestures. The vibrant reds and magentas bring a sense of urgency and movement, while the open areas create moments of pause and reflection. Together, they form a dynamic balance between intensity and stillness.
Rather than illustrating a single narrative, Room to Breathe embraces the unpredictable nature of the creative process. It speaks of making space for intuition, allowing uncertainty to become part of the work, and trusting that meaning can emerge through accumulation, change, and time.
At 200 × 150 cm, the painting invites the viewer into an immersive visual experience, where every layer reveals a different rhythm, memory, or possibility. In a world that often demands clarity and control, this work is an invitation to pause, to let go, and to find room to breathe.
#AbstractArt #ContemporaryPainting #MixedMediaArt #LargeScaleArt #RoomToBreathe
Some paintings take a long time to find themselves.
This one has had a particularly long journey. The earliest signatures on the back reveal that I originally painted it in 2010. Since then, it has been exhibited, stored away, rediscovered, questioned, revised, and reworked again and again.
Sometimes a painting needs years of distance. Sometimes it needs to disappear for a while before it can tell you what it wants to become.
And sometimes, after all that time, only a few small changes are needed to transform it into the painting you have been waiting for all along.
I always leave the previous signatures visible on the back of my works and add a new one each time I revisit them. I also note how many times the painting has been reworked. The reverse side becomes its own kind of diary — a record of decisions, doubts, discoveries, and persistence.
Every layer carries a memory. Every revision adds another chapter. And somehow, every layer makes the work richer.
This painting is called Alive. Measuring 80 × 80 × 4.5 cm, it may not be the largest work in my studio, but it carries many years, many kilograms of paint, oil, pigment, and countless moments of looking, questioning, and beginning again.
Sometimes the longest journeys lead exactly where they were meant to go.
Alive is currently available for acquisition.
DM for details.
#ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #ArtistStudio #PaintingProcess #ArtCollector
Some paintings take a long time to find themselves.
This one has had a particularly long journey. The earliest signatures on the back reveal that I originally painted it in 2010. Since then, it has been exhibited, stored away, rediscovered, questioned, revised, and reworked again and again.
Sometimes a painting needs years of distance. Sometimes it needs to disappear for a while before it can tell you what it wants to become.
And sometimes, after all that time, only a few small changes are needed to transform it into the painting you have been waiting for all along.
I always leave the previous signatures visible on the back of my works and add a new one each time I revisit them. I also note how many times the painting has been reworked. The reverse side becomes its own kind of diary — a record of decisions, doubts, discoveries, and persistence.
Every layer carries a memory. Every revision adds another chapter. And somehow, every layer makes the work richer.
This painting is called Alive. Measuring 80 × 80 × 4.5 cm, it may not be the largest work in my studio, but it carries many years, many kilograms of paint, oil, pigment, and countless moments of looking, questioning, and beginning again.
Sometimes the longest journeys lead exactly where they were meant to go.
Alive is currently available for acquisition.
DM for details.
#ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #ArtistStudio #PaintingProcess #ArtCollector
Echoes of Joy
300 × 120 cm | Triptych
For months, this work travelled through my studio — from wall to wall, from one space to another. It carried a powerful energy from the very beginning, yet I always felt that something was still missing. I lived with it, questioned it, and returned to it again and again.
Now it is complete.
And I couldn’t be happier.
Echoes of Joy is a celebration of vitality, possibility, and the simple wonder of being alive. It speaks of the joy I feel in this moment of life and of the deep conviction that there is still so much ahead to discover, experience, and embrace.
Open the window. Let the air in. Feel the movement. Feel the light.
I hope this painting offers some of the same energy it gives me — a reminder to remain open, curious, and ready for whatever comes next.
It never ceases to amaze me how colour, gesture, and movement can carry such emotional force. How they can transform a surface into something that is felt long before it is understood.
For me, Echoes of Joy is exactly that: a reflection of optimism, momentum, and gratitude for all that is still unfolding.
#EchoesOfJoy #ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #LargeScaleArt #ManuelaKarinKnaut
Echoes of Joy
300 × 120 cm | Triptych
For months, this work travelled through my studio — from wall to wall, from one space to another. It carried a powerful energy from the very beginning, yet I always felt that something was still missing. I lived with it, questioned it, and returned to it again and again.
Now it is complete.
And I couldn’t be happier.
Echoes of Joy is a celebration of vitality, possibility, and the simple wonder of being alive. It speaks of the joy I feel in this moment of life and of the deep conviction that there is still so much ahead to discover, experience, and embrace.
Open the window. Let the air in. Feel the movement. Feel the light.
I hope this painting offers some of the same energy it gives me — a reminder to remain open, curious, and ready for whatever comes next.
It never ceases to amaze me how colour, gesture, and movement can carry such emotional force. How they can transform a surface into something that is felt long before it is understood.
For me, Echoes of Joy is exactly that: a reflection of optimism, momentum, and gratitude for all that is still unfolding.
#EchoesOfJoy #ContemporaryArt #AbstractPainting #LargeScaleArt #ManuelaKarinKnaut