“Picking up painting again felt like returning to an old friend I hadn’t seen in years.”
Rediscovering Passion: The Artistic Evolution of Patricia Steinmann-Britt
Art has always been an integral part of Patricia Steinmann-Britt’s life, yet her journey as an artist has been anything but linear. Known artistically as pastbritt, she masterfully blends abstraction and figuration, creating works that reflect her deep connection with nature and the transformative power of travel. Her creative path began with a background in teaching, where she found joy in nurturing young minds through artistic expression. However, it wasn’t until later in life—after raising her children—that she truly immersed herself in her own practice. Returning to painting felt like rekindling an old friendship, reigniting a passion that had been waiting patiently beneath the surface.
Her art is characterized by bold colors, textured layers, and organic compositions, each piece offering a visual dialogue between the tangible and the abstract. Inspired by the landscapes and cultures she has encountered in places like South Africa, Colombia, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and Bali, she channels these experiences into compositions that capture both the serenity and unpredictability of nature. More than just visual representations, her paintings serve as emotional landscapes, encouraging viewers to slow down and engage with the deeper layers of their own memories and emotions.
Through her work, she strives to bridge the gap between the external world and internal reflection. She believes in the power of art to transport and transform, creating a space where the viewer can escape the rush of everyday life. Infused with an underlying sense of optimism, her pieces are designed to evoke calm and positivity. This emotional depth, combined with her keen eye for color and texture, results in artworks that are not only visually striking but also profoundly resonant.
Patricia Steinmann-Britt: A Dialogue Between Abstraction and Reality
At the heart of Steinmann-Britt’s artistic identity is her ability to balance abstraction with figuration, allowing both elements to coexist in a dynamic interplay of color, movement, and depth. Her creative process is intuitive, beginning with broad, expressive brushstrokes that gradually evolve into more refined details. Texture plays a crucial role in her compositions, with layers of paint, collage elements, and unconventional materials lending a tactile quality to the surface. This fusion of controlled precision and raw spontaneity creates a visual tension that keeps the viewer engaged, inviting closer exploration.
Nature remains her greatest muse, influencing not just her subject matter but also the very essence of her technique. Her paintings often reflect the fluidity of landscapes, where light, weather, and perspective are in constant flux. The contrast between vast, untamed wilderness and intimate, fleeting moments informs her thematic approach, mirroring the duality of human experience. Gold accents frequently make their way into her pieces, adding a luminous quality that speaks to nature’s quiet grandeur and the interplay between light and shadow. Negative space, too, plays a significant role, offering a sense of openness and breathing room within the composition.
Rather than capturing specific places, Steinmann-Britt’s work aims to distill emotions tied to movement, memory, and connection. By blending recognizable forms with expressive abstraction, she leaves room for personal interpretation, allowing viewers to find their own narratives within her pieces. The imperfections in her work are intentional—raw edges, unfinished areas, and layered textures all contribute to an organic, living quality that mirrors the imperfections and beauty of the natural world.
A Creative Sanctuary: The Space and Process Behind the Art
Steinmann-Britt’s studio is more than just a workspace—it is a sanctuary where creativity flourishes. Overlooking the Swiss mountains, her studio provides the perfect backdrop for inspiration, grounding her in the natural world that so deeply informs her work. Music plays an essential role in her process, creating an atmosphere that fuels both concentration and spontaneity. Her approach to painting is fluid and intuitive, allowing her to follow where the composition leads rather than adhering to rigid plans.
Experimentation is key to her artistic method. She employs a diverse range of materials, from acrylics and spray paint to charcoal, colored pencils, and collage elements. Layering is a defining characteristic of her work, both in terms of texture and meaning. She often begins with loose, expressive strokes, gradually building up the surface through scraping, blending, and adding unexpected materials like sand or fabric. This hands-on approach allows for a direct and physical connection to the canvas, reinforcing the sense of movement and energy in her work.
Despite the immersive nature of her process, distractions are an inevitable part of any creative practice. Rather than resisting them, she embraces moments of stillness as an opportunity to reconnect with her vision. When focus wanes, she takes a step back, observes the work in progress, and lets intuition guide the next step. This balance between structure and spontaneity ensures that each piece retains a sense of authenticity and organic evolution.
Patricia Steinmann-Britt: Art as a Reflection of Time and Transformation
Among the many pieces she has created, one holds particular significance—a 160×160 cm painting that originally adorned her daughter’s childhood room. Painted during pregnancy, the artwork became a constant presence throughout her daughter’s early years. As time passed and her daughter entered adolescence, Steinmann-Britt made the poignant decision to transform the painting, layering over it with new textures and colors while preserving its essence beneath the surface. The result was a symbolic reflection of growth, change, and the passage of time—both in the painting itself and in their lives. The piece now hangs in the family’s living room, carrying within it the layers of memory and transformation.
Beyond painting, she has long envisioned expanding her artistic expression into a multi-sensory experience. One of her dream projects involves creating a collection of room fragrances inspired by her travels, pairing each scent with a corresponding painting. This concept aims to merge visual and olfactory experiences, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in the essence of different places through both sight and scent. By combining these sensory elements, she hopes to deepen the emotional impact of her work, offering an even more immersive connection to the themes of memory, place, and transformation.
Her artistic influences extend beyond traditional painters to include the textures and forms found in nature, as well as the artistic traditions of the cultures she has encountered. While she draws inspiration from abstract expressionists and contemporary artists who experiment with materiality, it is her lived experiences—her travels, her connection to nature, and her evolving personal journey—that truly shape her vision. By continuously pushing the boundaries of her creative practice, she invites viewers into a world that is both deeply personal and universally resonant, where art becomes a bridge between the seen and the felt, the past and the present, the abstract and the real.
