About the artist

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Marta Stolarska (b. Poland, 1988) is a painter of light working from her studio in Oulton Broad, Suffolk, on the East Coast of England.

Born and raised in rural and coastal Poland, Stolarska relocated to Norfolk, England in 2007 at the age of nineteen. She has since lived and worked in Norwich, Hatfield and Birmingham, before returning to the landscapes of East Anglia that have shaped her most deeply.

In the midst of the global pandemic, having built a career outside the art world, Stolarska rediscovered her lifelong love of making. In 2022-2023 she completed an intensive Art Mastery programme with the Milan Art Institute. Her ongoing education follows an atelier model, learning directly from practising artists and masters - a path she has designed to develop particular aspects of her craft.

Stolarska works primarily in oils on rigid supports - boards she prepares herself in the studio. Her practice spans coastal and landscape painting, florals, and still life, united by a single preoccupation: the behaviour of light. For her landscape work, she paints memories and impressions of places rather than literal observations. For her still lifes and florals, she builds hand-constructed dioramas which she lights carefully to create what she calls light narratives - compositions in which the story is told entirely by how light falls, bounces, and diminishes across form.

Her work has been exhibited at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham Open, the RBSA Exhibition, and the Purple Gallery in Bournville, Birmingham, as well as in local shows across East Anglia. Her paintings are held in private collections across the United Kingdom, Poland, and the United States.

Stolarska is also the founder of the Coastal Mail Club - a monthly subscription delivering a fine art print, handwritten letter and poem from her Suffolk studio to subscribers across the UK, US and Canada.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Marta Stolarska is a curious painter of light.

Her work - characterised as contemporary realism - spans coastal landscapes, florals, and still life. But the subject, in each case, is secondary. What Stolarska is really painting is the light falling on it: the way it moves across water, catches the edge of a petal, bounces off glass, or diminishes into shadow behind a cloth.

She approaches every canvas with curiosity and excitement, and no predetermined solution. She draws what she calls the rhythm of the painting - enough to ensure the composition fits the canvas - and from that point, works entirely from instinct, experience, and discovery. Each painting is a first-time experience. She does not paint the same thing twice.

For her landscape and coastal work, Stolarska paints memories and impressions of places rather than literal observations. She goes to a location, breathes it in, and returns to the studio to paint what stayed with her - the feeling of the light, the mood of the air, the thing that wouldn't leave.

For her still life and floral compositions, she builds hand-constructed dioramas, which she lights with deliberate care. These are what she calls light narratives - compositions in which strong contrasts of light and shadow convey mystery, movement, and the passage of time. The arrangement of objects is the beginning. The light is the painting.

Working in oils on rigid supports she prepares herself, Stolarska considers the permanence of her materials fundamental to her intention. Each work is made to last - to accompany a collector across a lifetime.

Among the contemporary artists Stolarska feels a strong connection with are Kyle Ma and David A. Leffel. Artists of the past who continue to inspire her include Richard Schmid, Isaac Levitan, Peder Mørk Mønsted, and Ivan Shishkin.

A NOTE FROM THE ARTIST

I grew up in the countryside, spending endless days immersed in nature - captivated by shifting light through trees, the delicate textures of leaves, small twisted rivers and valleys. Then my family moved to coastal Poland, to the city of Szczecin - a place of massive ports, busy boating life, and the celebrations of the Tall Ship Races. With the Baltic Sea just a short drive away, with its beautiful sandy beaches and thriving coastal life, something in me settled. My heart had always yearned to be closer to the sea. It still does.

This early intimacy with the natural world shapes everything I make.

I am, above everything else, a curious painter of light. The sea, the garden, the pumpkin on a table, the marina at dusk - these are just the surfaces light falls on. That's what I'm really painting. The light, and its impressions.

I approach every canvas with curiosity and excitement - no preparatory sketches, no solving it in advance. I draw the rhythm of the painting, and from that point it's all instinct, experience, and discovery. For landscapes, I go to a place, breathe it in, let it fill me - and then paint my memory of it, not the location itself. For still lifes and florals, I build small dioramas and light them carefully, so the light tells the story.

Every painting is a first-time experience. I cannot paint the same thing twice. I don't want to.

This is where I find calm again. Where I find myself again. And if you find something of that in the work - I'm glad you're here. 🌿

Artists are like moths. All there is to us, is light.

Curious about my process?  Read how I make an original oil painting → how-an-original-oil-painting-is-made

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