Stephen St. Claire was born and raised in the northern suburbs of Los Angeles, California, graduating from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Working with oil paint since he was a child, he has spent most of his adult life exploring different facets of art and design, winning numerous international awards for his work.

“I grew up painting mostly landscapes and still life, but after studying the techniques and symbology of Greek Orthodox icons, I was captivated with what happened with paint when applied in many thin layers on top of gold leaf. Since then, nearly all my time has been spent experimenting with textures, layers, and symbols, all on various types of metal leaf. About three years ago, I began sandwiching my layers of paint and metal leaf between several layers of clear resin. The result is something highly reflective, rich and projects color differently depending upon where the viewer is standing in relation to the source of light, which is why I named this technique Dialuminusm (“light coming through”).”

“I began using this technique painting mostly abstract pieces but over the years, as the technique has morphed, I’ve been painting more and more “abstracted landscape” scenes, depicting different times of day and different locals from the mountain lakes, lazy rivers and coastal wetlands. Most recently, I’ve begun experimenting using my techniques and materials to create paintings reminiscent of the stained glass windows and wood block prints of the Arts & Crafts movement of the early 1900s.”