Tamara Grand
Port Moody, BC
My paintings are simultaneous explorations of what I see, where I’ve been and how I want to feel. Like me, they are multilayered, complex and full of surprises.
MessageTamara Grand is a Port Moody-based abstract painter and mixed-media artist who creates colourful, expressive and joy-filled works of art.
After many years of using her creative talents in careers as a biological researcher, fitness trainer, writer and mother of three, a friend introduced her to acrylic paints. A new passion was born.
She immersed herself in the online world of art, painting daily to practice and expand her repertoire of techniques and hone her own, personal artistic vision.
Today, from her recently expanded home studio, she creates large and small scale paintings for private collectors in North America, Europe and the United Kingdom. Each piece is painted with the intention to calm or energize a space through the use of shape, colour and form.
Tamara’s paintings have been exhibited locally at Brave Brewing, Coastal Books, Black Sugar Coffee House and Willow and Wallflower. She has had work juried into a number of regional and Canada-wide exhibitions, including The Square Foot Show, PoMo Arts ‘Winter Treasures Market’, Place des Arts ‘Positively Petit’ group show, PoMo Arts ‘Art 4 Life’ and several exhibitions at the Federation Gallery on Granville Island.
Statement
For me, painting is a form of play and exploration. It’s a way to tap into my creative spirit and let my imagination run wild. When I’m painting, I’m fully present in the moment, focusing on the brush strokes and the colours on the canvas. It’s a meditative experience, a chance to tune out the noise of the world and connect with my innermost self.
My process is free-flowing and open-ended. I don’t pre-plan my colour palette or create a composition in advance, preferring to react intuitively to what’s already on the surface of the canvas. I think of it as ‘call and response’ in which each move leads to the next, and the next, and the one after that.
I’m constantly on the search for beautiful surprises in my work; those ‘magic moments’ that arise when two colours are placed just so, or the ghostly ‘hard edge’ of a buried shape is allowed to peek through, or a line leads the eye in a new direction.
Bright colours and organic shapes are signature elements of my paintings. I love exploring the interplay between different hues and experimenting with new colour combinations. Organic shapes offer a sense of freedom and spontaneity, allowing me to let my intuition guide me as I create. That being said, the viewer will undoubtably see bits of the many things that catch my eye and offer up inspiration; cracks on the sidewalk, pebbles on the beach, a jar full of candy, stained glass windows, streetlights seen through rain-splattered windows, and the hints of my favourite cocktails.
To learn more about my process and to watch replays of the weekly Instagram Live Show I co-host, please find me on YouTube at Tamara Grand Art.