Exploring the Journey of a Spiritual Abstract Artist: An Interview with Deb Chaney
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Serenity by Deb Chaney 36” x 36” x 1.5”, Prints and reproductions are available at Saatchi Art.
Art has the power to transcend the visible and connect us to the unseen, evoking emotions, intuition, and deeper understanding. In this interview, we sit down with Deb Chaney, a renowned spiritual abstract artist whose work captures these ineffable elements.
Deb shares her creative process, her journey into the art world, and the challenges she’s faced along the way. Whether you're an aspiring artist or someone who appreciates the transformative power of art, Deb's story is sure to inspire.
Interview with Deb Chaney
Vanessa: After doing some research and looking at your pieces, I was wondering how you decide to represent your spiritual abstract paintings and which mediums you use to make them ready to sell?
Deb: Thank you for taking the time to research and look at my art—it means so much to me! 🙂 My favorite piece I’ve painted to date is called Serenity. An actress in Vancouver has it in her treasured collection, which makes me so happy.
I decided to represent my art as "spiritual" because the spiritual side of life—meditation, healing, intuition, angels, miracles, energy, emotions, and feelings—are things we cannot see but can sense and feel. Abstract art felt like the perfect medium to convey this, as it’s less about depicting something concrete and more about exploring the unseen.
In my paintings, I use everything from acrylics to mica flakes, pastels, pencils, spray paints, collage elements, sand, and more. Creating with all these layers is fun, challenging, and deeply engaging for me. I feel incredibly lucky to work in this mixed-media style and love the process of layering.
To finish a painting, I seal it with an isolation coat (a clear gloss layer that separates the painting from the varnish) and then apply a final varnish. If you look closely at the back of my paintings, you’ll see a small “i” with a checkmark, indicating the isolation coat is complete, and a small “v” with a checkmark, meaning it’s been varnished (two coats). I also paint the edges and sign the back to complete the piece.
Ignore Reality (48” x 48” x 1.5”), mixed media on canvas. Original and Prints available at Saatchi Art.
Vanessa: When you were in school, did you take all the opportunities in art class, and did you know at the time that you wanted to be an artist?
Deb: I attended UVIC and earned a B.Sc. in Earth and Ocean Sciences (EOS). I had no idea during my studies that I would one day be an artist.
I’ve always loved the outdoors—hiking, camping, and exploring rivers, streams, oceans, and mountains—so studying geology, oceanography, and geography was fascinating and fun for me. Perhaps that’s why I enjoy incorporating sand into my paintings! 😉
In the EOS program, there were no electives, so I didn’t have the chance to take art classes. However, I do remember biking to school one day and passing a church basement filled with easels and paintings in progress. That moment spoke to me, but at the time, I didn’t realize it was a glimpse into my future.
My artistic career began much later, in my late 20s, after I graduated and moved from BC to California.
Panorama of Deb’s studio showing large scale Drishti paintings in process. See some of the finished works here.
Vanessa: There must have been some bumps in the road as you discovered yourself as an artist. Can you tell me about them and how you overcame them?
Deb: Absolutely—challenges are constant and come in many forms. I’m currently reading The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday, and I wholeheartedly agree that obstacles are opportunities if we see them from the right perspective.
Being an artist is not an easy or secure career path. It’s not like medical school, where you follow a set program and become a doctor. I didn’t attend art school, but from what I’ve heard, many programs don’t teach the practical skills needed to build a career as an artist.
The first challenge was navigating the art industry and understanding how it works—learning the differences between commercial galleries, vanity galleries, and artist-run galleries, for instance. Another challenge is the entrepreneurial aspect. Selling your work means running a business, which involves pricing, marketing, organizing inventory, and shipping.
The third challenge is emotional. Sometimes you create something meaningful to you, but others may not understand or appreciate it. As an artist, you have to develop resilience and create for yourself, staying true to your vision regardless of feedback.
Vanessa: Do you think anyone can be an artist? What traits are important when starting that journey?
Deb: I believe we’re all creators at heart. Every decision we make—how we dress, decorate our spaces, or style our hair—is a creative act.
However, if you’re asking whether anyone can pursue art as a career, the answer is more complex. It requires focus, determination, resilience, and entrepreneurial skills. Not everyone is ready to take on that level of commitment.
Deb working in the studio on her Drishti Paintings. See some of the finished works here.
The most important trait when starting out is clarity. Define what being an artist means to you. Success might look different for everyone—whether it’s selling your work globally or creating for personal fulfillment.
As Danielle Laporte beautifully said, “The journey has to feel the way you want the destination to feel.”
Vanessa: What would you define as art?
Deb: My definition is simple: art is something created consciously and then declared as art.
The dictionary definition resonates with me:
Art | ärt | (noun)
The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
Vanessa Martin is a current student at Victor-Brodeur school on Vancouver Island and interviewed Deb for her visual arts class project. She found Deb via the Art BC website and chose to interview and feature her for her project because; “I looked at a few sites, but none of the pieces stood out to me from the one that I saw, then I found you. I believe the thing that really caught my eye with your piece was that it was so complex, and I felt as if you could notice different things within it each time you looked at it. I was intrigued and excited to reach out and interview you for this assignment.”
