Ross Stewart is an award winning director and art director of animated film and visual artist and has worked on 4 Oscar-nominated movies SECRET OF KELLS, SONG OF THE SEA, PARANORMAN, WOLFWALKERS and THE PROPHET. His semi abstract paintings inspired by the Irish land and culture are exhibited throughout Ireland and the UK and held in collections world-wide.

ROSS STEWART says of his work "Since finishing production of our feature film 'Wolfwalkers' last year I have returned to my painting studio after a long break. It has

been a therapy and almost an exorcism of the rigid processes of animation. These art works are part of a continuation of my explorations of composition and linear abstractions of landscape. I am interested in taking elements of landscape studies and reducing down to simple shapes, whilst keeping a level of atmosphere and mood of the original study. "I work in animation and am always struggling with keeping traditional media approaches to an ultimately digital end-product. This ties in perfectly with my painting which is predominantly as organic as possible–probably as a reaction against the constraints of animation.

"The creative process involved is spontaneous and very intuitive–In my work I tend to let the environment set the mood of my painting. I react to the place, the atmosphere, the mood and create from that. Most of all, this last year has been about rediscovering the freedom of a blank canvas and paint.