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Visual Artist

Gudrun Ebeling

About me

My own life journey has taught me just how strongly external influences can shape our decisions and the course of our lives. Engaging with the women of antiquity and the young people of today is therefore also a way of confronting questions that have been with me for many years.

My art is an expression of these reflective life experiences and my search for those precious moments in which I encounter myself with love – beyond expectations, conditioning and the images that others have created of me.

Growing up in a deeply conflicted family home, and later as a single mother to two daughters, these early life experiences have shaped me profoundly. They have deepened my understanding of people and taught me just how closely strength and vulnerability, freedom and responsibility, hope and pain are intertwined.

Painting has been a part of my life since childhood. Drawing, designing and creative work were never just a hobby for me, but a natural way of discovering, learning about and understanding the world.

From an early age, I was fascinated by the great masters of the Renaissance. Their masterful ability to bring personality, dignity and humanity to life continues to inspire me to this day. I painted my first portrait at the age of fourteen. My art teacher recognised my enthusiasm, nurtured my talent and gave me the space to explore my own ideas.

Through theatre, I discovered how costumes and make-up can alter our perceptions and the roles we play. Later, as an intensive care nurse and therapist, I encountered countless people in situations marked by hope, fear, courage and loss, but also by beauty and new beginnings. Through these encounters, I learnt to look beyond the visible. It was not the outward appearance that interested me, but what a face reveals without words.

Before or during external influences begin to shape one’s view of oneself and one’s personal life path, I seek out the unique personality at the very beginning of all its possibilities.

My passion for portrait painting has emerged from all these experiences. Whether it’s a person or an animal. In every portrait, I seek the expression that makes a person or an animal unique, creating a timeless and respectful memento when we are not reduced to something, we might never have wanted to be. 

I mainly use pastels and charcoal because they consist of pure pigment; their naturalness and authenticity therefore fit perfectly with the themes of my portrait art.

My independent series of works explores this search for identity, influences and role models through the lens of women from antiquity and young people.

My commissioned works give people the opportunity to capture precisely this uniqueness of their pet or a loved one in a portrait.

 

Over the years, I have learned and refined the craft and my artistic skills while working with various artists and portrait painters. In the process, I have found my personal style as well as my technical skills.

Training and further education

Fundamentals of Painting, Gustav Koletscka (Germany)

Nude and Figurative Drawing, Academy of Art (Germany)

Workshops

Portrait Classical Drawing and Painting (Italy, Germany, Denmark)

Paolo Campa , Oil Painting

Clio Newton, Portrait in Charcoal

Professional association for visual arts
Newcomer member,  Visarte Central Switzerland

Exhibitions:

2026 Longines, CSIO St. Gallen

2025 – Arts Crossroad, Kornschütte Lucern

Collaboration partner:

Atelier Schuwey,  Framing and passe-partouts, Lucerne