Interview with Henriette Busch: A journey from sales to art

Henriette Busch is a versatile contemporary artist who creates expressive semi-abstract landscape paintings as well as purely abstract pieces. Henriette works mainly in acrylics and oils. After a BA Fine Art Degree course (2003) she has exhibited all over the UK, as well as in Berlin, Zurich, Los Angeles and Singapore, and her work is in many private collections. Henriette’s paintings are available as originals as well as limited edition prints. Commission work is based on the client’s brief, including colour schemes. 

Here we chat with Henriette about her journey into the art world…

Can you tell us your backstory and how you got into the art world?

I have always been interested in art, from a very young age. My father was a painter so I was surrounded by his sketches, drawings and paintings. I started painting ladies with colourful dresses when I was about 6 or so. But then life happened, my father passed away after a long illness, my mother remarried and we all moved to West Africa when I was 12 years old. This changed my life completely – it became very colourful, very hot, exotic, exciting but also often difficult because we never had any money so did not live the usual expat highlife (because we were not expats..)

I met my husband there after I graduated from high school. Art did not figure in my life at this time, as too much else was happening. I got married very young, my new husband and I moved to the US, I had a baby very soon and then life became very different again.

It was when we moved to South America with my husband’s new job that I became interested in art again. I did a course at the local art college and explored painting and sculpture, I also did evening courses where I learned exciting things like enamelling on copper, and pottery. When we moved back to the US and my son started school, I was able to do things in the daytime too, and continued doing ceramic courses.

Once again we moved, this time to the UK where I found a job in direct sales in the IT Software Business – even though I had zero experience in this field but they needed me for my languages – English, German and Dutch. There was a lot to learn to get up to speed so this left me very little time for art, for quite a few years.

I became successful, won prizes, went on exotic reward trips with the company but something was missing…even though by then I had managed to find some evening courses near me in ceramics as well as drawing and textile design, I knew I needed to make a decision and do something more fulfilling and more permanent.

I needed to quit the high-pressured, cut-throat sales environment which was often very stressful and do something which made me truly happy – which was creating.

So, in 1999 I took the momentous decision to quit my very successful career as a senior software sales executive, and with it, my executive salary too – in order to enroll on a full-time 1 year foundation course at the University of Hertfordshire. This was a wonderful course which explored all the different art disciplines – graphic design, sculpture, photography, painting, and digital art.

I must admit – in the early days of this course, I did have my doubts about the decision I had taken. I missed my job, my colleagues, my customers and at lunch time I would go and sit in my car, phoning them up.…One particular moment, in the beginning, we were sitting there and cutting out images from magazines for a collage…that’s when I thought –  OMG, what have I done? I’m in playschool! Luckily that feeling didn’t last too long.

Between 2000-2003 I then pursued a BA Honours Fine Art Degree Course at the University of Hertfordshire. Since then, I have been painting and have exhibited all over the the UK, as well as Berlin, in 2020. My work has also been shown in Switzerland, Singapore and Los Angeles. My paintings are in many private collections in England, The Netherlands, Germany, USA and Dubai.

How would you describe your signature style and technique?

I am a very versatile artist as I paint semi-abstract, figurative as well as totally abstract paintings – it really depends on the subject matter, and what I want to achieve in each particular painting. For instance, recently I came across some old photos of when we lived in West Africa. I decided to paint some of these because – even though they were very faded, they were quite beautiful. I ended up with a body of work of 6 different paintings, all figurative, and quite powerful because they evoke that “long ago and far away” feeling – to me, anyway!

Even though I am versatile, people who know me and my work always tell me that they recognise my work when I post something on Social Media, before they have read my name. My paintings are very expressive, I often use vivid colours, and have a particular mood or feeling attached to them, it is hard to describe, really!

My technique is also quite versatile, I like strong mark-making but in terms of materials, I’m a typical “mixed media” artist as I use pastels, oils, acrylics, watercolours and sometimes epoxy resin – it depends on the subject matter and what suits it best.

I am drawn to beauty of all kinds – be it the beauty of nature or the beauty of the human body, or the beauty of shapes, forms and colours and how they fit together. My paintings are also influenced by the years I lived in Africa and South America – the houses I lived in, the colours, the music and the beauty of these places have left their imprint on my soul and permeate much of my work. My current landscapes are often based on the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside.”

Can you tell us about your latest work? Where did you find inspiration and what is the story behind it?

I recently decided to do some really large paintings on canvas and board. Just because I felt like it and thought it would be liberating “to go big”. The size I’m currently working on is about 110cm x 130cm, it’s loose canvas, not on a stretcher, so I stapled it to a thin board which keeps buckling.. It’s actually quite challenging to fill such a large canvas. Even handling it isn’t easy because you can’t just turn it around quickly. It’s very abstract but based – loosely – on a landscape.

My plan is to do 3 of this size, and then maybe some galleries might be interested in them – who knows 😊. Of course, the challenge is then to have them framed which won’t be cheap…

Are there any exhibitions or events you are planning? 

So far this year, I have taken part in 3  exhibitions:

March:  “Landscapes and Seascapes”, Spring Art Exhibition at the Open Gallery, Halifax

March-April:  “International Women’s Day” at CasildART Contemporary, Marble Arch, London

May 3-6 – Kimpton Art Show, Kimpton Hertfordshire.

Also in May, I was longlisted by the Visual Arts Association (VAA) for their Artist of the Year competition, next stage is the shortlist, that will be announced soon.

I was also recently approached by the OPULENT GALLERY who are partners of Artsy, one of the biggest international online galleries in the world. So now I’m also on Artsy, with 25 different paintings.

I’m going to take part in a wonderful sounding 5-day painting course in the Scottish Highlands in September. After that, I will be taking part in the Hertfordshire Open Studio, on the last weekend in September which will be from Friday 27^th – Sunday 29^th of September. It will be well advertised and nearer the time I will post all the details on my Social Media accounts. It will take place in my own garden studio.

What is the best advice you received as an artist?

You have to put yourself in your work, ie the work has to be authentic and reflect something of the artist’s soul or feelings. Soulless work is everywhere, sadly it also sells very well, but people who understand art can see the difference. These words are mine, but are distilled from many things I have read and also reflect my feelings about my own art.

For more information please visit Henriette’s website: henriettebusch.com

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