Leya Deschuymer Stewart's Page

Name

Leya

Artistic Medium

oil pastel

Birthplace

Brule,Alberta CANADA

Influences

my mom
Emily Carr
Vincent Van Gogh

How it all began...

My mom was an artist. She did watercolours and also had a business doing portraits. I would watch her draw and she would teach me a lot by just watching her. I did some work with watercolour and drawing but after she passed away my artistic side seemed to go away with her.

In the works...

Recently I have had a creative breakthrough.I had been really sick with bipolar disorder but I have worked really hard to reclaim my mind through daily meditation, yoga and exercise. I went to Vancouver Island for month on a retreat to reward myself because I was noticing great improvements with my moods. Doing art was not really something I thought about. Well all my hard work was rewarded. One day I went into the art studio and picked up oil pastels. I had never touched them before. Before I knew it I was producing a painting a day, sometimes two. I was so filled with joy and feeling so free after escaping the grips of mental illness that my art flowed out of me. I am back from my trip after doing an art show at the retreat. I continue to produce many paintings. I have almost fifty in two months. I am in awe and humbled by it all.

Down the road...

I hope to continue to paint. I feel my meditation and yoga practices really have helped release my art. I really want to show my art and feel a great urgency to do so. I think because I have been relatively unproductive creatively up until these last two months.

About me in general...

I am 31 and married for just over a year. I live in the Canadian Rockies in a beautiful little hamlet. I love to paint, play guitar and piano, sing, ski and spend lots of time outdoors. I also love to garden.

if you could collaborate with/meet any artist, past or present, who would it be?

There are many but because I just signed up for this in a spontaneous manner I will say Emily Carr.