American born figurative painter residing in Spain.“A blank canvas is the stage,” she says. “When poised before it, I feel that anything is possible. Nevertheless, painting is not always a joyous experience but rather, something I must do to stay `Alive´ like breathing, eating and sleeping. It is my passion and without it I would be an empty shell.” In her figurative realist oil paintings, Teresa Brutcher renders her figures from the inside out and the outside intelling us their stories of folly and fear, joy, defiance and submission. She employs both elements of the surreal and literary symbols to make visual puns with her signature sense of irony setting a stage where every element plays a role in conveying her tale. Strong vivid colors and harsh lights and shadows, bulging veins and muscles, beckon the viewer into a world of emotions shared by humankind, of fears and fantasies which unite us all. Born in Arizona and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she earned her degree in Studio Art from the University of California at Davis where she had the good fortune to study under such stellar figures as Wayne Thiebaud and Robert Arneson. She currently lives and works in Spain, a country she came to know as an exchange student while getting her BA. Mesmerized by the old masters that populated the Prado Museum in Madrid and by the country itself, she returned there upon completing herdegree. Her work has shown in museums in the US and Spain (including the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona) and in galleries in Spain, Portugal, Germany and the US. Her work can be found in important collections around the world.