Bella Soul's Featured Artist

 Biography 

Mandy was raised in Woodinville, Washington, where she grew up playing in the five acres of pasture and woods surrounding her home, and developing a deep appreciation for the beauty of green trees and growing things. 

Mandy’s interest in art and design in junior high and high school led her to earn a BFA in graphic design at Montana State University in 2000. Following graduation, she worked as an inhouse graphic artist for a few years in Montana and then moved to Oregon, where she became a baker while searching for a new design job. In her free time she painted with acrylic on masonite, wooden boxes and other surfaces she found at antique stores. She became inspired by a collection of vintage magazines she found and began to incorporate paper in with the paint. Mandy showed her first collection of abstract art in a cafe in Corvallis, Oregon. 

Following a move back to Woodinville in 2004, Mandy started a small business in graphic design and art, Lucky Girl Designs. She worked part-time jobs while doing freelance work and showing art at local businesses and cafes. 2008 brought a significant life change, which created a shift in her attention. She got a job as an after school art teacher on the east side of the Seattle area and made art with kids, continued to paint and worked on freelance design projects. During this time she met her life partner, married, and had a long-awaited baby boy. As mothering became her number one priority, and the time to work in her studio became limited, Mandy began to make up-cycled flower arrangements with the caps and lids she’d been collecting. Ever inspired to reuse and repurpose, she also made small scale collages using mint tins filled with paper, glitter and resin. These new forms of art brought her out to sell at local farmers markets and art festivals. The events created time and space for connections with people who appreciated and delighted in her work. Through these connections, Mandy began to fully realize the significance of sharing herself and her art with people out in the world. 

Preceding her family’s move from Lynnwood to Leavenworth in 2021, Mandy retired from graphic design work and focuses now on raising her two kids, painting, and making up-cycled art to sell at local markets. She spends her spare time riding bikes, snowboarding and gardening with her husband and kids, volunteering time to enrichment events at local schools, and nurturing her spiritual growth and connection by practicing yoga, being outside, and connecting with others on their healing journeys. She also loves snuggling her two cats. 

Artist Statement

My mixed media art is a visual expression of my emotions, thoughts, and beliefs about

the world. It is an expression of my inner healing and spiritual growth. Most importantly, it is

about connection.

I love mixing paint, creating an interesting combination of colors, drawing a line with

freedom from perfection, scraping and scribbling through wet paint, creasing, folding and

tearing paper, finding the perfect place for each little piece. When I’m in front of a blank

canvas, I am eager to begin again with any color I choose. I can be messy and loose. I feel

free. As I work up the layers I become more focused on details and intentional with

composition. I am thoughtful of it’s emerging title as my feelings about social, political and

cultural issues, along with recent experiences and new discoveries in my personal life

become integrated. I yearn for balance and simplicity (in my work and my life), yet there

is usually a bit more to add, up until it feels complete. This is my natural flow through life.

Some days are messy - mentally or emotionally, while other days, or even just moments, I

feel at peace. It is important for me to pay attention, to all of it.

The words and phrases, sometimes paragraphs, that appear as I work bring

momentary awe and wonder, sometimes grief about the world. Amidst the busy-ness,

struggles and joys, and the massive learning curves of parenting, my artistic process

provides me with space for reflection, meditation and rest. It is one way I practice inner

healing and spiritual openness.

Painting brings me peace of mind and eases my discomfort with the hardest parts of

life, and the end results always reveal more reasons to have faith in something bigger than

me, and evidence of the Divine.

I hope my art makes your eyes dance and your spirit twirl. I hope you get lost within a

little world of color that brings you delight. I hope it inspires you to pause and wonder

about your own meaning. It might do none of those things. I’m okay with that too. Thank you

for taking time to look.

mandyterryart.com

Danielle Jude is an emerging abstract artist who lives and works in the Seattle area. Her love for the arts was sparked as a child in elementary school and has been cultivated throughout her life in formal studio classes and in her own personal practice. In 2008 she graduated with a MBA in Marketing and worked in that field for several years, always gravitating toward the more creative aspects of the job. She began focusing more on her painting practice after becoming a mother and feeling the need to fill her cup creatively. 

In 2022 Danielle studied under American abstract artist Ty Nathan Clark in his Artist Mentorship Program. Danielle is currently studying and investing her time into a disciplined studio practice with a goal of showing in local galleries and national group shows by 2024. 

Danielle Jude constructs abstract pieces that aim to capture a brief snapshot of the beautiful, wild and precious lives we are lucky enough to experience together. Her pieces feature movement as a main element - a metaphor for the fleeting path our souls enjoy on the earth and through time. She is especially fascinated by the idea that no matter our differences our souls will each live out a varied existence - often intersecting but many times not - before heading to the same mysterious end. 

Jude works through her paintings intuitively, letting the canvas guide the next best stroke by releasing attachment to a preconceived idea of what a finished work “should” be. She meanders between letting go of control with fields of color and adding in smaller detailed spots of interest, ultimately, crafting a story of a soul’s path through this lifetime.  Acrylic paint, ink and wax pastels are her tools of choice and she often creates in concert with multiple sister works, symbolizing the connection we all have to one another.

 Danielle Jude (@daniellejude_art)

Ellen Busteed grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. She moved to the Seattle area 23 years ago and currently resides in Kirkland. After a successful career as a registered nurse and a part-time artist, Ellen now focuses exclusively on her career as an abstract artist. Throughout her life she has been passionate about art. Ellen is well versed in a multitude of painting techniques which, in conjunction with her innate artistic qualities, allows her inner reality to become visualized through painting. 

In the past 30 years Ellen has been fortunate to work and learn from a number of accomplished abstract artists. She is currently attending Lianna Bennett’s mentor program. An important component of Ellen’s artistic development has been a ten-year involvement with an abstract painting collective that has nourished and supported her development as an artist. 

Artist Statement

I am a fully committed abstract artist. I paint from the inside out. Although I make deliberate choices about color, technique, line and form, my subconscious is my guide. I never know what will evolve, I love the unknown outcomes and freedom the process of painting provides me. The key is to just let it happen. Painting is for me a joy, a becoming, an affirmation, a source of adventure and tremendous fun. 

I have learned many lessons from painting. I have learned to let go, to move with the process, and to trust that exactly the right expression of my inner self will emerge. There is a relief that comes to me when I express what is within to the broader world. The spontaneity of painting allows liberation from preconceived conclusions, anticipated outcomes and expectations. My hope is that you connect with the freedom, color and energy of my work.

 Ellen Busteed - Artist