Candida Ferreira

"My relationship with painting started when I was just a small child. Seeing my interest, my parents regularly bought me canvases, paints and pencils. <br><br> "Painting became even more important to me after I got married. My husband Claudio and I moved to Minas Gerais, in the mountainous southeast of Brazil. To kill the solitude, I painted while my husband worked. I painted with a very academic style then; today, I paint with freer, unorthodox strokes. <br><br> "Learning to paint was a very solitary process for me. I believe that it is necessary to work, to work and to work, and that it is only through learning from errors that we learn to do right. <br><br> "I try to represent Brazil in my work by using quite a lot of color. I find inspiration in the images that surround me in my daily life, like magazines and history books. I sit down in front of the canvas and I start to draw, to mix my paints, and little by little a new work appears. It's the best thing in life, an inexplicable sensation. I like to work during the most silent hours. Before dawn I am already painting. Eventually I realize that the sun has risen and the day has begun. <br><br> "I am thankful to have had the opportunity to attend some of the most renowned fine-arts schools in the country. I was also fortunate to receive training from the famous artist Fernando Tupper. My paintings have been awarded various gold, silver and bronze medals at various expositions."