Petya Stoeva - The Joy of Living

Petya Stoeva is a Gloucestershire based artist, whose eye-catching work is exhibited at local galleries as well as cafes; she feels that people
should be able to enjoy art wherever they are. Petya works from her home studio and successfully juggles a job, family life and painting. Her creativity draws from life experiences, such as family and relationships, observations of creatures and nature, and perceived notions and ideas.

Petya is self-taught and painting is a lifelong passion which finally burst out onto canvases in2019. She uses variety of media including oil and acrylic, and often uses extra materials for embedding, in order to producedepth and texture; thus creating one-off pieces of original art. Some of her work is soft, subtle and modest, while other pieces are complex, deep and
provoking.

When painting, Petya feels most attuned to the magic that is art. For her, blending paints is like composing a tune, and the finished painting is a harmonious symphony; one that takes the observer through moments of peace and drama.
“Painting is my calling, a fire that I can’t put out. It allows me the space and time to let go of the fast-pace of daily life and play – blending colours, experimenting with materials and producing a piece to best represent the depth of this wonderful world and life that we have. I am a thinker, over-thinker perhaps, so my art represents the complexity of living, its unpredictability, our false sense of control, the mystery of human psychology. I might see a falling leaf, while waiting at the traffic lights during a school run, and from there my mind wanders – which tree is that from, how old is that tree, how deep its roots go, what has it seen through the years, do trees talk to
each other, can we pick up energy from other living things, how connected is everything in nature, how connected am I to life? There is so much to be inspired by.

Life is so fast, these days, our senses are overloaded with non-stop stimuli – painting slows me right down, the process of creating a painting makes me feel most receptive and connected, I feel meditative.”

Most of Petya’s work is colourful and striking, however, there are also paintings based on only a few tones. Deep and prominent marks can be seen lingering on the canvas, as the eye glides on. “I’d like to evoke deep feelings within the observer, questions and wondering – why, how, can I”, says Petya. “We have all had different experiences in life, I hope to touch people’s hearts, souls and minds, through my paintings, which are expressions of my own experiences.