Conny Stach
Acrylic on Canvas
12″ x 12″

Artist Statement:
This work of art portrays the light that happens from an approaching weather system. My inspiration for this painting was about how the light made me feel at that moment, exhilarated and the mood was peaceful. Derived from my own photographic image of the day, an overcast afternoon at the Matsqui Trail along the Fraser River where the light was fantastically bright and the rainy mist hovered like a blanket over the distant mountains and happened to cast an ethereal glow over the entire river and landscape. From this I was inspired to capture the essence of the lightness of being, present.

 I paint my landscapes in a realistic style using artist acrylic paints, working from a painted ground layer, from back to front and with the finer details being painted last, then two coats of varnish to protect the work.

My work is inspired through nature’s honest beauty and its imperfections, capturing its stories, its essence and mood in realistic landscapes.

Artist Bio:
My name is Conny Stach. I have lived, worked and painted in Abbotsford for over thirty-five years. I graduated from the University of the Fraser Valley in 1986 with a diploma in the Graphic Design with Communications program. My art career started by volunteering my art services in the Abbotsford School District schools. At Chief Dan George Middle School, my artistic talents expanded through painting large scale backdrops, set pieces, props and masks for their theatre productions over a period of twelve years between 2007-2019. These successful theatre productions were performed at the Abby Arts Centre. Following this, I further developed my artistic talents into painting large scale interior and exterior murals at six schools in Abbotsford. During three of these mural projects, I had the opportunity to mentor students while they participated and contributed to the process alongside me. I

was an Artist in Residence at the Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts for the 2019-2020 school year where I painted an interior stairwell wall mural with the participation of students in grades ten to twelve.

For the school murals that have been Indigenous focused, the period of time before the European settlers arrived and the draining of Sumas Lake was to be depicted in the art I was doing. Four of these Indigenous focused murals have been supported through the Indigenous programs in the schools. The highlight of my art career so far is that I have been honoured on two separate occasions at traditional Indigenous Blanket Ceremonies for my work doing historical Indigenous themed wall murals that I had painted at Chief Dan George Middle and Alexander Elementary schools. I am also a vendor artist within the Abbotsford School District #34, having a vendor number.

My art career has also consisted of designing greeting cards professionally which sold in two different retail stores in Abbotsford, designing professional logos for both the Abbotsford Police Foundation and the Abbotsford Diversity Advisory Committee and designing Christmas greeting cards for the Abbotsford Police Department for a period of five years. I am proud of having been commissioned by personal clients to paint works on canvas. I am also proud of having been featured in the September 30, 2016 issue of the Abbotsford’s Adult Living segment in the Abbotsford News titled: ‘Creativity Brings Confidence to the Set’.

I am passionate about art and inspired by creativity. I paint in a realistic landscape style with three dimensional qualities. My process involves client communication, research, creating countless drawings, making revisions as needed, prepping the area for the artwork to be done and finally painting onto the base specific to the project. I use acrylic latex house paints, artist high quality acrylic paints and always finish my artwork with two coats of protective varnish. Overall, I am very proud to call myself an artist. I feel very honoured to have had all the art career experiences that I have had so far and to have left my artist’s signature on the many different projects in Abbotsford.

Follow Conny Online:
Instagram: @cornelian_artsy