We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Deborah Brenner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Deborah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I absolutely love being an artist. I never imagined that I would be lucky enough to do something that I really loved. I didn’t always know that I was an artist however, I shaped my life being next to people who were great artists .From very early on, there were hints that an artist lived inside me.

In my early twenties, I married a man who was a literally a creative genius. Everything about him was fun, imaginative, humorist and slightly edgy, a little off the cuff, borderline crazy. I loved it.

Living next to unleashed creativity sparked my desire to create. Together we developed a business of whimsical sculptured, life sized wooden animals that gave both of us a great sense of fulfillment.

However, sadly, painfully, my husband died at a young age and at the infancy of his creativity journey.

There were so many lessons I learned from his illness, his pain, his incompleteness.
Most importantly, if at all possible DO WHAT YOU LOVE”, take chances and create opportunities.

So,I picked myself up and moved across the country from D.C. to San Diego. I thought I had died and went to heaven. I had just lived the nightmare of my life and now I was gifted a new beginning in a very special place.
This was a chance to reinvent myself. I was older, wiser and now who did I want to be.

I wanted to be, Deborah, an artist.

.Miraculously , I met a wonderful man. I feel rewarded and blessed. We married. Blissfully happy,
I began to create. First with pastels because I loved the texture of the chalk and the brilliant, vivid colors. Then with oils and finally, acrylics. I painted everything, the water, the flowers, all the beauty that surrounded me. I was healing with the meditation of painting.

I began to feel confident enough to show my art, first to friends. People wanted it. I began to display my art and look for ways to share my art…a gallery, a designer, a developer for projects. I work with designers, developers and a high end clientele
I gave a ton of art away, still do. I love to share my art.

The more I painted, the better I became. I could see the evolution of my art and it was beginning to show me what my expression wanted to convey.

It was merely me, putting my feelings on canvas. I was sharing who I was through my medium which was mostly paint and inks.
When someone loved my art, they were relating to the feeling I created with the painting and how it resonates within them.
The people that collect my art and buy my art are usually looking for a big statement, yet a place to rest yourself Art is a language and we don’t all speak the same language.

I truly believe that because I am doing what I am meant to do, people can feel that and that and they want a small piece of it so they buy a painting. I hope to bring “a touch of beauty” into their home.

So, my art journey is organic. It evolved through the years of pain and life and joy. Since I began to paint, I have stayed focused, disciplined, determined and most importantly believing in myself.

I don’t believe you can ever speed up the creative process. It is one that just evolves through the journey of creating.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

There are no mistakes!!!! When I first started painting, I thought that every mistake had to be extinguished. If I made a mistake on a canvas, I had to cover over it and begin again. I couldn’t get it right.

Today I know that there is no getting right because there is no right or wrong. And if I stay with the process and work through the angst of uncertainty, something that reflects me will evolve.. What looks wrong or unintended is just a jumping point, a movement to another place. I am building a painting and the mistakes are showing me that there must be more, yet another way. So, I must stay wide open and find a new perspective. And it always works out if I can stay with the process and not give up

It is so much like a metaphor of how to live life. Its the journey.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I paint for a lot of projects, many in a San Diego as well as Atlanta, Hawaii, Utah and so one. I love painting projects because I get a sense of the space prior to painting. I understand the feeling, the intention of the designer. That intention dictates the colors I use and the intensity of the artwork. It is what I am best at, looking at a space, understanding the feeling of the space and then creating art that blends within the space. My art does not compete, it is more a quiet beauty.

I painted several pieces for the Monarch school for homeless children in San Diego. It was the height of my career. I created big, joyous, hopeful paintings. It filled my heart watching the faces of the kids as the art was placed on the walls.

I would love to do more projects like that. Ones that added enjoyment and hope for children as well a myself. A win, win.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.deborahbrenner.com
• Instagram: debsbrenner
• Linkedin: Deborah Brenner