terraBrie Stewart

All of my life I have been drawn to art and artists, yet felt that creating visual art myself was just out of reach. My artistic experience was limited to drawing horses as a young girl (a symptom of my obsession); copying sketches of mushrooms out of old library books as part of my studies in university; and experimenting in colour play with acrylic paints from the dollar store.
A few years ago I developed a overwhelming urge to experience painting with oils and signed up for my first art class. I immediately fell in love with the medium-- the strong, vibrant colours, the malleability of the paint, the alchemy of colour mixing, and most of all, the ability to create texture and paint with knives.
I have chosen fungi as my primary subject as they have captured my curiosity for all long as I can remember. It seems to me they exists in the borderlands between what is real and what is imagined, frequently making appearances in the pages of fairy tales. Their diverse forms, colours, and lifestyles would rightfully earn them a place in Nature's Top 10 Most Mysterious Life Forms.
I approach oil painting as a form of moving meditation. Through the process of painting I find my way through the stormy chaos of life into the stillness within. I painting has given me the gift of learning to slow down, to observe the dance of light and shadow, and absorb the expression of colour in our world.
As well as developing my skills as an artist, I am studying to become a Journeyman Locksmith, learning short-track speed skating, and mothering my three feral-hearted children.
A few years ago I developed a overwhelming urge to experience painting with oils and signed up for my first art class. I immediately fell in love with the medium-- the strong, vibrant colours, the malleability of the paint, the alchemy of colour mixing, and most of all, the ability to create texture and paint with knives.
I have chosen fungi as my primary subject as they have captured my curiosity for all long as I can remember. It seems to me they exists in the borderlands between what is real and what is imagined, frequently making appearances in the pages of fairy tales. Their diverse forms, colours, and lifestyles would rightfully earn them a place in Nature's Top 10 Most Mysterious Life Forms.
I approach oil painting as a form of moving meditation. Through the process of painting I find my way through the stormy chaos of life into the stillness within. I painting has given me the gift of learning to slow down, to observe the dance of light and shadow, and absorb the expression of colour in our world.
As well as developing my skills as an artist, I am studying to become a Journeyman Locksmith, learning short-track speed skating, and mothering my three feral-hearted children.