VITA Mr Schmitz is an enthusiastic hobby painter whose works can occasionally be seen at public exhibitions in Linz. Since 2005, when he retired, watercolour painting has been one of his great passions. Painting is the ideal medium for him to switch off. At the same time, watercolour painting offers him the opportunity to immerse himself in the world of colour and creativity. This is also made possible by the many painting courses and painting seminars he took part in in the Palatinate from 2005 to 2010. 　 Born in Neuwied/Rhine in 1943, lived in Linz/Rhine until 1970 Trained at Stadtsparkasse Linz as a bank clerk/savings bank business administrator Between 1970 and 2005, among other things, advertising manager at Bezirkssparkasse Rastatt, consultant at Sparkassen- und Giroverband Rheinland-Pfalz in Mainz, marketing department director at Kreissparkasse Kaiserslautern, active in associations and local politics. Since 2010, he has been living with my wife back in his old home town of Linz am Rhein. Since then, he has also devoted himself to watercolour painting in Linz and has expanded his knowledge by attending painting courses in the near and far surroundings of Linz. For him, the special attraction of taking part in painting courses lies in the variety of knowledge imparted by the various artists. Due to his social commitment to fair trade (since 2012 for the association Eine-Welt Linz e.V., since 2013 for the Weltladen Linz and since 2018 in the steering group Fairtrade Town Linz), he has lacked the time necessary for exhibitions in recent years. From 2020, his aim is to return to exhibiting his watercolours more intensively.