
An Awakening, 2019
Gill Bustamante
Oil Painting on Canvas
Original Painting, 121.92 x 121.92 x 5.08 cm
Gill Bustamante Art
OurExpert's
Perspective
Gill Bustamante is definitely a dreamer as her ambition is to paint a way out of this universe into a better one! Most of her artworks feature pathways, portals and little mystery roots to other realities.
Her painting style is a fusion of expressionism, impressionism, semi-abstract and art nouveau. All depictions of fairytale landscapes, dreamy animals, mystery birds, horses and deer. Her techniques and ideas stand out to such an extent, they make a statement for themselves.
This artist is worth following if you just have the urge to escape out this world and dive into some wonderful places.
Curated byKelly Kaimaki, Creative Writer / Curator
About Gill Bustamante
My paintings are completely unique in style.
I often paint from memory as it better allows me to move beyond traditional realism, and into magical realism using colour, texture and light to express the magic I sense in wild meadows, forests, seas and rivers.
Animals, pathways, and portals are recurring motifs in my painting’s, often as symbols of transition, curiosity, and the mysteries that lie just beyond the visible. I am fascinated by the folklore and hidden stories woven into the countryside, and I strive to share that sense of wonder and connection through my art.
My technique is rooted in traditional oil painting, but I build each piece with layers of glaze, texture, and intuitive, art nouveau like, brush stokes, letting the painting evolve organically as a controlled chaos.
My goal is to inspire a deeper appreciation for the natural world and to encourage its protection as well as to provide a place to escape beyond the mundane.
Each painting is a captured universe—a place where viewers can lose themselves, dream, and perhaps glimpse the magic that still lingers in the land and in nature.
About the Product
The Awakening is a large oil on canvas painting 48x48x2 inches of a vibrant woodland path in autumn. It is semi abstract and expressionist in style and is another in a series of paintings featuring Sussex inspired woodland landscapes. I often walk in rural England and I particularly like forests and paths in ancient woodland as they have their own atmospheres and hint of magic attached which is unique to them.
Some are beautiful and uplifting while some are vaguely sinister. I love to walk along such paths glimpsing fields and hills and lakes through the gaps in the trees where I often spot deer or foxes or birds. The best bit on a sunny day is coming to the end of a path and wondering what I will see next. It is sometimes a stunning landscape and sometimes just a muddy ditch. But whatever it is, it is magical and that is what I am trying to articulate in the painting.
It is large, in order to better deliver the impact I wanted, and I used a technique of laying oil paint over many different layers called glazing. It gives the painting different aspects and the colors tend to change throughout the day as the sun moves around it. It is called the awakening as country walks often inspire ideas and hope and alterations in perspective and I hope it will inspire more people to simply go out and walk! It has deep edges, white, and is ready to hang, frame not necessary. https://youtu.be/YsKoxri0PrQ












