Art that points to eternity and energizes the soul ...
I am Stephanie, the artist and designer behind Studio Gerbrandt Art & Design. My aim is to offer hope and encouragement to those who are feeling overwhelmed with the chaos of daily life. I offer printed and original art for sale with themes focused on spirituality and the eternal. My artwork is a bridge to bring people to a place of hopeful expectation and joy for the bright future that awaits them.
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There is a world much more real than this one,
And that world is called Heaven
How I got started doing art
Watercolor has been my favourite medium from an early age. I enjoyed drawing pet portraits as a child and soon discovered watercolors for painting sunsets and wildlife. As a child and a youth, there was something that bubbled up in me when I drew and painted and I could only describe it as a deep, inner joy -- I didn't know how else to explain it -- yet somehow it was more than a joy that I experienced when I painted.
Back then, I always thought that joy was tied to the subject matter I chose to paint, as I always chose themes that inspired me with purpose for my work. However, entering into early adulthood and my college years left me feeling purposeless in my art pursuits. I somehow had lost my reason for painting, as it seemed to depend on my chosen subject matter alone. And regardless of how much I tried to change up my painting subjects, there wasn't purpose enough for me to continue pursuing my art. I couldn't understand how or why I had lost purpose in the work I had loved so much.
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Some key points
along the way
So I began to explore design-related and scientific fields and to seek purpose in those pursuits. I indeed enjoyed those endeavours and found some meaning in them, as I have always loved endlessly learning and exploring. Studying and working in architecture and astronomy research was rewarding and filled with opportunities for deep-dive explorations that kept me plenty busy; nonetheless, however intriguing I found it all, the trade-off was the loss of that deep joy that I had felt when drawing and painting. It was noticeably missing from these newer pursuits, notwithstanding how gratifying and rewarding they felt.
I did experience echoes of that joy, however, whenever an idea for a painting would pop into my mind, amidst the busyness of my architecture work and during my astronomy research. That spark of joy in those brief moments was accompanied with questions like: Where will art fit into my life again? and Will I ever feel that joy while painting again? I didn’t proceed with those painting ideas during those years, since there was still an emptiness in me about further pursuing such ideas, even though the brief glimmer of joy had compelled me to ask those questions. It was as if I had determined that I no longer had any purpose to draw and paint.
... He has put eternity in their hearts ...
~ Ecclesiastes 3:11
Everything I do matters for eternity
Despite pausing my artistic endeavors to pursue technical interests, my spiritual pursuits remained constant. Personal experiences and family tragedies reiterated the recurring theme that this world is temporary and, paradoxically, that my actions in this transient world have eternal and lasting significance.
During that time, those profound truths took deep root in my thoughts and led me to this declaration:
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I choose each day to maximize the impact of my actions for eternity.​
Joy and purpose renewed!
Fast forward to a few years ago, when I picked up a 2B pencil and began designing buildings and developing architectural compositions freehand - a quest that I had for a while pondered, but was preempted from pursuing due to the busyness of my work and studies up to that point.
Putting pencil to paper again renewed my love of thinking with my hands. After a few technical perspective drawings, I began exploring the possibility of creating a business of my own. With some more time to consider, I pursued painting more seriously again, starting with some of those spiritually themed ideas that had been floating in my mind in those years long gone by when working on architectural designs and astronomy research.
To my delight, the instant I put brush to paper, that joyful sensation bubbled up in me again! Just like that! How could I have waited so long? I finally understood what that inexplicable deep, inner joy actually was - it was me knowing I was doing what I was designed to do while on this earth!
The joy returned because I am pursuing the divine calling for my life! That's my purpose! Not only was I thrilled with the realization that my purpose in creating art doesn't change based on subject matter, but I was also amazed that during the part of my life-path where I wasn't actively pursuing art and was filled with questions of why that was the case, I had actually been simultaneously accumulating an invaluable set of skills to be used for the time I would need to weave them all together into the unique artwork I now offer through my current explorations which straddle the artistic and the technical.
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Even lingering questions I had had about the business side of art were also resolved through an incredible mentoring program and world-wide community I joined along this path to rediscovering my joy in creating art. The technical and logistical side of my art business benefitted from the various skills and knowledge that I had acquired while on pause from creating art!
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Looking back at my journey thus far, I am in awe of a curious paradox: in studying architecture as well as physics and astronomy, I wasn’t moving away from art—on the contrary, I was actually taking the most direct path right back TO it, and I am now much better suited to pursue it full-time!
My nonlinear path of discovering my true calling ...
Looking back at my life journey thus far, I am in awe of a curious paradox: in studying architecture and science, I wasn’t moving away from art like I had thought—on the contrary, I was actually moving directly back to it!
Revived with hope and for a purpose
Recently my mind has been revolutionized with the hope of Heaven. Now this hope is not defined as wishful thinking - rather, it is an anchor of the soul in an incredible stormy sea - this hope is the very anchor that will have its fulfillment of joy after this earth-life, leaving no room for disappointment.
Having been on a journey of healing my heart from the sorrowful loss of my sister and best friend in August of 2020, who had walked through much suffering in this world, it seemed that any subsequent sorrows that I have experienced have been intensified as a result. More recent losses of some of my companion birds only added cumulatively to the tenderness of a sore wound from losing my best friend.
These experiences had me aching overwhelmingly in the past couple years, yearning for something - just anything - to give me hope and purpose for my earth-life. So one night I asked God for something to encourage me, and that same night I received a vivid, divine dream. This dream meant the difference between night and day in my heart, and has positioned my heart literally already in Heaven, ever since I dreamt it on September 30, 2022. The encouragement of that dream was even more vivid than the sights and sounds I experienced in it, and that inspiration will last forever in my heart! It is nothing other than a divine revelation and I will never be the same since after having dreamt it.
You may read about my dream and the artwork that it inspired in my blog: My Dream of the Water Fountain Spray & Play Room.
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For nearly a year afterwards, as I continued to feel the reassurance of that dream, I also felt a prodding to draw and paint what I had seen in it and eventually could delay drawing it no longer. Now up to this point, I had been on an extensive hiatus from creating art in any serious way - for at least two decades - so it took me some time to finally embark on the drawing. I sensed that if I could see it hanging on my wall as a completed piece, I would be reminded of it on a daily basis and empowered by it: it would be a form of healing for my sorrowful heart because it would help me exchange my heartache for an active pondering of my bright future. After having completed it, the artwork did indeed do exactly what I had predicted it would do! The day I finished it, I was filled with emotion: I raised my hands and shouted, "I did it! I finally did it!" Joy flooded my heart! Reflecting on that artwork in the day-to-day has amazingly further reinforced the confidence that I received from that dream! It gives me life and deep hope for my future here on this earth and into eternity ! Excited anticipation continues to whirl about inside me since the night of my dream and any residual sorrow has dissipated completely!
So why on earth would I keep this revelation of hope and excitement for myself? I’m enamoured with the idea that I can (nearly) bring to life, and thus, share the sights I saw in that divine dream, which can ultimately help lead others to be likewise revived, so that they, too, can feel hope fulfilled and more than the strength to go on! My mission is to share that same hope, encouragement, and life that comes from pondering eternity and the bright future that awaits, so that others can experience the same excited anticipation and deep joy in their day-to-day lives that I experience ! My drawings and paintings can be used as a bridge to bring people to that place of hopeful expectation and joy for the bright future that awaits them. The very hope I have for eternity gives me purpose for this transient earth-life. Having such a renewed perspective of eternity makes each moment on this earth that much more significant, and so it gives purpose for living this earth-life to the full in the here and now, as well as for eternity beyond.
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Let me know if you have been inspired and encouraged by my story!
If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you ...
Find out about my behind-the-scenes art process in the studio and the latest
revelations and encouragement from my current creations underway in real-time!
Thank you for reading about my story!
