Artist Statement

‘SANITY is the PLAYGROUND for the UNIMAGINATIVE.’  When I was a young girl and first saw this headline in a Nike magazine ad, I cut it out immediately and stuck it on my bedroom wall. I had covered my bedroom walls with beautiful glossy magazine ads to cover the boring wallpaper below. I grew up in a small West Coast town of Sooke, BC, surrounded by trees, the ocean and herds of animals wild and domesticated.  My Mother says she started teaching me to draw when I was still in the womb as she would lay paper on her belly and drew still life as she talked and sang. I was surrounded by art as a child, my Grandmother painted local landscapes in oil and my Mother always had me involved with art – paint, pencil, pastel and making molds.

As a child I felt safe when I had a pencil or paint brush in hand and often retreated to a corner to quietly go about creating my own world. As a teenager art became a way to meet people and share a part of myself without having to say too much. As an adult I am having a very different relationship with art. I used to create worlds to escape to, now I create visionary landscapes influenced by the beauty and creativity of the surrounding world. I am seeing, hearing, touching and feeling things I have never felt before, I feel alive with creativity and this is reflected in my work through my use of vibrant colors and energetic curves.

I love to learn new things and have challenged myself through working many different jobs in many different sectors. My time in film, modeling, fashion, sales, marketing, publishing, care-giving and veterinary care all relate back to my artwork in their own way. I have found that I am at my most happy and satisfied when creating art - ‘in the groove’ with paintbrush in hand, and it is a very good feeling. What I wish to convey with my work is simple; I want the viewer to feel the way I do when creating the work, I want them to feel alive with color, to smile and to see something new in the work everyday.

For the past few years I have been able to pursue my passion for painting every day and for the past year I have been lucky enough to make it my lifetime career. During this year, I have moved through several series of visions including; The Meadows: A 28 piece visionary journey through Las Vegas, Reflections – childhood relationships with water, Trees & Hills – majestic trees and landscapes, Toes – a series of brightly colored feet.

So for me, sanity really is the playground for the unimaginative and I prefer the other playground. When you are swept up by the need to communicate your feelings and ideas by way of a brush on a canvas, certainly some would not find that sane, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. 

                                                                                                            ~ Brandy Saturley 2008