STEFEN MARNER BACKGROUND...
Stefan Marner was born in 1974 in Plymouth. He did not know his dad and has no memory of him as he has never been in his life. He has always been very close to his mum as a result. Stefan Marner left school at 15, with zero qualifications as he was constantly moving up and down the country with his 'eighties power mum!' After leaving school he got accepted into West Suffolk College in Bury St Edmunds on the strength of his portfolio alone, and began his diploma in graphic design, achieving an A* in photography. After that he was accepted into Cambridge UEA to study for a BA hons degree in graphic design. He says 'I absolutely hated it and was there for barely a year. Why did I hate it? Because it was all computer work, which felt utterly soulless to me, I should've chosen fine art instead. So I left University and concentrated on running several small businesses and carried on in this direction.' Over the years he continued to sell his artwork ...
Click here to read more
both privately and via several local galleries. Stefan Marner met his wife who loved his work and forced him to have faith and approach Washington Green with his portfolio! He says 'She got her way and I haven't looked back since!'
STEFAN MARNER IDEAS & INSPIRATIONS
'Toys, Lego, Animals, Babies, Music, Question Time(!!!), the list goes on, and at the risk of sounding cliched, because of the style of my work, I can get inspiration from almost anything. Obviously I'm inspired by other artists alive and dead, but there's far too many for me to list here.'
STEFAN MARNER FROM PALETTE TO PICTURE
He says 'Ideas pop into my head all the time. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to have a canvas in front of me, but usually I'll scribble it down on anything nearby, like a napkin, or a scruffy piece of paper, or my own arm, or my T-shirt.'
The process starts with the background, once he's happy with that, he then moves onto painting the outline of the image. After that the canvas is placed totally flat on a surface and the paint is spooned onto the canvas and pushed and manipulated into place using his favourite rubber tipped 'stick thing!' People often ask him if he uses stencils or if there's some trickery to his pictures, but he can assure you, every single line and block of colour is painted one hundred percent freehand. He says 'I'm astonished that I haven't exploded, or gone mental, or chopped one of my ears off!'
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF STEFAN MARNER...
'Every day is completely different depending on how long i've slept for, and if i've had any family stuff to do! There is no am or pm in my life, I paint for as long as I physically can and try and go on as little sleep as possible!!!! I suppose the most typical routine would be to rise about 3pm, kiss my wife and kids, drink 20 gallons of coffee, shout at my pets (not that they pay any attention), and then lock myself away in my studio emerging now and again for coffee, or when my wife calls me at feeding time! We'll spend a couple of hours together and then I'm back in my studio until roughly between 6am and 9am.'
