Nature in pictures

Artist reaches for a scalpel instead of a paintbrush

Anton Thurnberger prefers to work without guidelines: "I need the freedom."(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Markus Wenzel, Anton Thurnberger)

He was a carpenter, later earned his living as an interior designer - today Anton Thurnberger is a passionate artist. At the Energy Globe Awards ceremony in Linz, the 71-year-old from St. Georgen near Grieskirchen exhibited his paintings, for which he does not use a paintbrush.

"I see what others don't see and therefore run past it a hundred times." This is how Anton Thurnberger describes his view of nature, which is the basis for his artistic work. The 71-year-old from St. Georgen near Grieskirchen, who only discovered this passion twelve years ago, creates botanical sanding pictures. He is a master carpenter and was also self-employed in interior design for 25 years: "Then I wanted to do something completely new," he explains.

The 71-year-old's botanical sanding pattern is called "Old Vine".(Bild: Anton Thurnberger)

He developed a bonding agent himself and had his own press built to produce the pictures, which feature tree trunks, roots, mullein, ears of corn, thistles and the like cut to a thickness of just a few millimetres. Covering, pressing, sanding - this process is repeated over and over again.

Where does Thurnberger find his materials? "Usually not in a beautiful flower meadow, but in a meadow, on an embankment or in a backyard," he enthuses. He never sets off without a small pair of scissors and cable ties: "So that I'm equipped if the plants fall into my hands."

Help for his daughter as an initial spark
Incidentally, the fact that he works with nature in this way today is thanks to Thurnberger's daughter: she had to collect and identify a total of 200 plants during her time at school. Her dad helped with the mammoth task and realized how beautiful and diverse grasses, flowers and the like are.