EXPAT WOMEN Q&A
Living the artist’s life in Bangkok Artist and sculptor Elizabeth Romhild talks work and life in the City of Angels ■ IT’S a stressful time for Elizabeth Romhild, the renowned Danish-Armenian artist known for her wonderfully expressive and joyously extravagant portraits. Not only is she planning her next exhibition, a joint effort with celebrated Thai artist and architect Sumet Jumsai na Ayudhaya, which promises to be a rare treat for local art lovers, but she’s also contemplating an upcoming hip replacement operation. Of the two, the latter is, of course, infinitely more worrying, but long-term Bangkok resident Elizabeth is nevertheless
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completely resigned to its inevitability. “I’ve been in pain for some time, almost certainly the result of standing for too long and twisting my body to paint,” says 51-year-old Elizabeth, a natural beauty who has more than a passing resemblance to the opera singer Maria Callas in her prime. “So it’s time to get it fixed.” When it’s all over, and Elizabeth is back in the gorgeous tree-shrouded house-on-the-klong that for more than 20 years has served both as a comfortable home for her Danish husband Peter and
two children, and huge inspiration for her artistic endeavors, the painting that has dominated her life for the past quarter of a century will continue. Born in Denmark to a Danish mother and an Armenian father, Elizabeth credits her family for her talent. “From my mother’s side both my mother and grandmother have artistic talents, also my uncle from my father’s side, so I guess it’s in the genes.” She also points to her background as an additional source of creativity and the individuality that has made her such a successful artist.
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9/29/12 9:05:19 PM