Painting is my meditation. I go inside the silence and find an inner focus and balance. From this place of harmony and contentment flows the inspiration for my work. I can't remember when I started drawing and painting; my only remembrance is that I was doing it naturally from when I was very young. As a child and young adult, I enjoyed following drawing and painting lessons in my free time at the art academy in Antwerp, Belgium. I remember painting murals on the walls of my parents' house. In the years after, I experimented with different materials like oil paint, acrylic, pastel crayons, aquarelle…. I came across a book, 'Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing,' and became fascinated by the organic way of this method of seeing and putting it down on paper without interference from the mental mind. The results were amazing. Another part of this way of expressing is the simplicity of the materials, pencil and paper. From this, I moved on to the ease of using a pen, ink, or just a marker on paper. The fluidity of lines and the surprisingly beautiful things that can arise from a simple drawing made me dive into and explore this world of grace and the unexpected. Out of this came the love for using lines, connecting them in all different ways, and seeing what the eye creates in the end. From this creation, I work forward. Before, I was already exploring the mandala with great joy, and now I incorporated my love for connecting lines with this form of art. In 2017, I started working on pieces of wood using the technique of pyrography and later worked on carving with ink, watercolor, pencil, gouache, gold paint, and gold powder. Since I came to live in Auroville, I feel much more free to explore the possibilities of expressing myself in my artwork. It's an exciting, sometimes flowing, and sometimes difficult exploration of my inner world and experience. A growing awareness about my inner and outer life makes my process of painting more reflective and contemplative. During the making of the painting, the image grows before my eyes; only then can I steer it in some direction. It is not me who constructs the paintings; it's a play between what the lines are doing with the space and what I see coming into existence. While painting, I am looking for something that is uplifting, that can bring me to a higher state of consciousness. Something that can improve my worldview, broaden it to new perspectives. Art is a world where I feel I can dissolve my person for a while, stand still, and dive into the unknown. When I want to create a piece of art, it needs to bring a message of hope, a feeling of goodness, a ray of light to the being, a fresh look at the world, an intimacy, and reconnection with the soul. In these series of paintings, the golden light is a central factor emerging again and again. No wonder these paintings were inspired by the sun here in India. Also, the tree of life, of existence, holds its central place. A mandala is a term for a plan, map, or geometric pattern that metaphysically or symbolically represents the cosmos. These three – the golden light, the tree of life, and the mandala – form the basis of these series of paintings. E-mail Contact: michielsenchris@gmail.com Crystal, Auroville