Debra Stroud, is a British Contemporary artist who was born in Guildford, England and remains firmly rooted in Hampshire.  Her studio is based not far from the sea and the picturesque South Downs. She’s clearly in love and awe of her surrounds and speaks in excited tones about walking over the great rolling hills which characterize this neck of the woods between Sussex and Hampshire; paying specific respects to Butser Hill and The Trundle and describing in detail how Debra Stroud is permanently inspired by the way in which the sun beams down its shafts of light out onto the distant carpet of sea. Indeed, it’s these rich and opulent colors which most influence the strident hues and saturated colors which habitually reside in her finest landscaped moments on canvas; these brilliant blues that are almost tangible. Photography is key too, as Stroud confirms that she facilitates her camera as a pivotal part of her whole design process, citing how she develops much of her final illustrative flourishes from the strong chromatic colors which are presented in transparency form. And again Stroud borrows, begs and steals from her camera days when stressing how she’s equally influenced by the minimalism more often than not depicted on film. Clean, crisp, uncluttered, clear lines as Debra Stroud refers to them as, ultimately representing this  non chaotic symmetry seldom furnished by contemporary landscapes.

Debra Stroud chooses solitude in which to paint, and feels that this works best in her pursuit of the perfect art, maintaining that peace and quiet allows her to focus and channel her creative energies into the task at hand. Not entirely unusual for an artist it has to be said. She also champions the cause of both watercolors and oils, and dependent on her mood at the time will seek to employ either for capturing the dramatic sea and coastal landscapes which she’s made her own in recent years. the sea itself continues to be Stroud’s greatest source of inspiration as already touched on, yet the artist herself cannot emphasize enough as to just how these vistas move her. Yet Stroud’s luminous and narrative fulsome pictorials do time after time, as she tells the ever expansive stories of the sea and the way in which its presence impacts her daily life and times. From the wild white breakers of the Atlantic coast which cascades on Cornish shores such as Holywell Bay and Sennan Cove to the almost translucent azure aquamarine tints found around Studland in Dorset and Salcombe in Devon. Despite having visited the likes of the Seychelles, California and South Africa whilst on previous travels, Stroud concedes that there really is no place like her South West home.