Deborah Brestel is the artist/owner of Painter's Gap Art Gallery in Rutherfordton, NC. She has exhibited for many years in galleries and juried art shows from St. Maarten in the Caribbean, to Englewood and Sarasota, Florida. Her work is currently displayed at Painter's Gap and she has participated in several local one-woman shows and group exhibitions.
Primarily a self-taught artist, Deborah Brestel was first introduced to painting at the Art institute of Boston. She continued to develop her unique, stylistic realism with classes at the Ringling school of Art & Design, and with private instructors. A Maine native, Ms. Brestel has lived in some of the most dramatic and striking settings in the world, including the Windward Islands in the sparkling Caribbean. There, her innate passion for color was further enhanced by her lovely, vivid surroundings. The gorgeous volcanic island of St. Maarten inspired her daily to capture its capricious moods. Deborah has now settled in the foothills of North Carolina, where she has begun to try to capture the beauty and majesty of the Blue Ridge and smoky Mountains on canvas.
