To believe in faeries is to step into an enchanted space where the rational mind meets the irrational heart, and all things become possible.

I always believed that the picture itself should tell the story.

Faeries are not fantasy, but a connection to reality. Faeries are irrational, poetic, absurd, and very, very wise. Faeries say there is nonsense in dogma, and sense in nonsense. Faeries express themselves with high seriousness and low humour. Faeries are resistant to all definitions.

I paint the spirit and soul of what I see.

I live in a house that's incredibly old, and it's typical that part of it is slightly in the ground. It's very earthed. It's almost like living in a hobbit house.

I feel that what you should illustrate is the space between the words. It's the betweenness, the otherness, that gives depth and dimension.

I had a job as an illustrator, and I wanted to change the direction of my work. I moved to the country, and immediately I started to paint fairies and trolls.